Keith Urban Covers a Judds Hit in Tribute to Naomi Judd: She ‘Sowed So Many Important Seeds’

Keith Urban honored the late Naomi Judd during a concert performance on Tuesday (May 3) at the O2 Apollo in Manchester, England, by performing an acoustic rendition of mother-daughter duo The Judds‘ signature 1990 hit “Love Can Build a Bridge.”

Urban shared a video of the performance on social media, along with the caption, “Naomi Judd sowed so many important seeds in her precious time here. Here’s one of the many. On the other side of the world in Manchester tonight they were all singing ‘Love Can Build a Bridge.’ Thank you Naomi. We love you.”

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Just prior to the performance, Urban told the crowd, “I want to send a quick and very heartfelt acknowledgment out to the late great, very influential Naomi Judd. What The Judds did was astounding through the ‘80s, and she was the queen and the matriarch of it all. And she wrote this song, which is pretty amazing.”

Judd wrote “Love Can Build a Bridge” alongside Paul Overstreet and John Barlow Jarvis. The uplifting anthem earned a Grammy award for best country performance by a duo or group with vocal, and became Naomi and Wynonna Judd’s signature hit. Through the 1980s and 1990s, The Judds notched 14 No. 1 Billboard country hits.

Judd died on Saturday (April 30) at age 76. Her daughters, Wynonna and Ashley, revealed their mother’s passing in a statement, saying, “We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”

One day later, on Sunday (May 1) the sisters took the stage in Nashville for a bittersweet ceremony that not only honored their mother, but also celebrated The Judds’ induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, alongside fellow inductees Ray Charles, Pete Drake and Eddie Bayers. The sisters tearfully accepted the honor.

“I’m sorry that she couldn’t hang on until today,” Ashley said of her mother, and recited Psalm 23. Wynonna briefly described the moment their family said goodbye to Naomi and added, “Though my heart is broken I will continue to sing.”

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