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“You’ll never know unless you try.”
Throughout history, some form of that advice has been given to people who doubted their own entertainment ambitions. Almost no one gets a movie part without auditioning, or has a hit as a recording artist without stepping up to the microphone.
But the competition is stiff and there is no sure-fire metric to guarantee that following the path pays off. So nearly every creator who has chased their dream for any length of time questions periodically whether they should quit.
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That makes HunterGirl’s debut single, “Ain’t About You,” one of those personal songs with universal relevance. In 2021, she had been in Nashville for five years, playing the bars, writing songs and networking with other aspiring artists and musicians. As some of them made important steps forward, she continued grinding it out with no visible opportunities on the horizon, and as her fatigue increased, so did her pessimism about the road she had taken.
“Nothing was really happening, and a lot of my friends were getting record deals and publishing deals,” she recalls. “I was honestly just kind of the friend falling behind and not really knowing if I was on the right path or if I made a mistake.”
One day in autumn 2021, HunterGirl seriously contemplated giving up on her dream. She gritted her way through a lunchtime performance at a bar on Nashville’s Lower Broadway, which she thought might be one of her last shows in Music City. At 6 p.m. that same day, she faked a smile during a Tuesday-night Zoom writing appointment with veterans, whom she regularly helped process their experiences through songwriting in the Freedom Sings program. One particular woman, who had been holding back for months, announced that she was ready to put her story into a song, and HunterGirl helped her find the words and begin to release some of her turmoil. As often happens in those sessions, they ended the exercise in tears, and the veteran offered a heartfelt thanks: “Hunter, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
After the call, HunterGirl shed more tears, and she instinctively picked up her guitar and began questioning what it would have meant to this veteran if she had given up on music. She began writing about her feelings — essentially processing her inner world the same way she asked the veterans to do it.
“I call this one my 45-minute conversation with Jesus,” she says. “It was supposed to be my thinking-about-leaving-Nashville song, and ended up being my staying-in-Nashville song.”
She crafted an opening line about how she had begun the day, reviewing all the reasons she should quit. But the feedback from the veteran about what a difference HunterGirl had made for her changed the journey in the song.
“That’s where the thought, ‘What if it ain’t about you?’ came from,” recalls HunterGirl. “It’s about how many people that you could be letting down, or the people that you can touch.”
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That line would become a key part of the “Ain’t About You” chorus, which she decided should change each time it occurred. The first chorus was easily written about a little girl who needed encouragement to believe in herself, the second chorus acknowledged a young boy who needed permission to cry — and the final chorus, about providing hope through her music, was written with the veteran in mind.
She devoted the second verse to the trap of comparing one’s life against other people, a problem compounded by social media. She felt that it needed a bridge before she could conclude, and that posed the biggest hurdle — though with “Ain’t About You,” that lasted only a matter of minutes. She ultimately decided to put quitting in a spiritual dimension, cinching her decision to stay in Nashville.
“If you throw it all away, you’re telling God He made a mistake, but He never makes ’em,” she says. “Whatever He was planning was bigger for me than anything that I could imagine and greater than I could come up with, and I just had to be patient.”
HunterGirl had no intention of ever playing it for anyone, but it at least changed her mindset. During the next week, friends encouraged her to audition for American Idol. Days later, she played another bar show, and at the end, a former Idol crew member suggested she tryout. She took it as a sign, and the audition led to participation in Idol’s 2022 season, where she finished runner-up and earned a recording contract with Wheelhouse.
She still had no intention of sharing “Ain’t About You” until a barbecue where fellow Idol alums Noah Thompson and Chayce Beckham asked her to play something she had never played for anyone else. Their overwhelming reaction made her more open with the song, and at a later event, BMG Nashville president Jon Loba walked in as she was about to play it again. He insisted it needed to become a single.
So HunterGirl cut the song at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios with producer Lindsay Rimes (Nate Smith, LOCASH), who helped her make “Ain’t About You” a little more consistent by repeating a prechorus melody that originally appeared only once. The session was her first time to record in a significant studio, so he gave her a mini-tour to make her feel at home and took efforts to get her comfortable with the musicians. Since “Ain’t About You” was so personal, he asked her to perform it for the band so they could fully understand how it fit her.
Guitarist Ilya Toshinskiy fashioned the acoustic foundation similarly to the way she played it, forming an intimate undercurrent.
“I didn’t want to take away from the guitar, and the vocal — that was sort of the DNA of the song,” notes Rimes. “I wanted it to sound like she was sitting there playing the guitar, even though obviously, Ilya was playing the guitar. That’s the foundation of the song.”
Only three musicians played prior to the first chorus, when the entire band joined the proceedings, though they still approached it lightly. Electric guitarist Sol Philcox-Littlefield weaved in faint atmospheric touches, then hinted at an emergency siren in the background of the decisive bridge.HunterGirl recorded the final vocals at Rimes’ studio, where he again took steps to make her feel comfortable. They revisited the difficult emotional circumstances in which she wrote “Ain’t About You,” and she ended up in tears again as she delivered those feelings in her performance.
“The most important thing is whatever is happening in my room here between the mouth and the microphone,” Rimes says. “That’s the magic. I think the environment, my energy — everything contributes to a great vocal.”
Wheelhouse released “Ain’t About You” to country radio via PlayMPE on Oct. 2. HunterGirl is believed to be the first female country singer on a major label to appear as the sole writer of her first single since Mary Chapin Carpenter in 1989. The experience has affected the way that HunterGirl writes songs.
“Sharing the most personal parts of my life -— like all my insecurities, everything that I was dealing with at the time — it made other people feel comfortable to feel that way, too,” she says. “And so this song completely changed the way that I wrote from here on out. Everything after this is going to be full heart, my full honesty, everything in me 100% because there’s no telling who else is going through the same thing.”
CTM Outlander has inked a deal with four-time BMI songwriter of the year winner Ross Copperman, including both the acquisition of Copperman’s catalog (via Iris in the Sky with Diamonds) as well as a publishing deal for his future works.
Copperman has had songs recorded by Keith Urban, Tyler Hubbard, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani, Gabby Barrett, Kenny Chesney & P!nk, Dierks Bentley, Brett Young, Darius Rucker and more. CTM will create new opportunities for Copperman through a creative partnership with SMACKSongs. Copperman was previously with Sony Music Publishing.
As part of the arrangement, CTM Outlander also acquires Copperman’s writer share for songs previously published by Plain Jane, including “Love Ain’t” by Eli Young Band, “Happy Anywhere” by Blake Shelton feat. Gwen Stefani, “Get Along” by Kenny Chesney and “Living” by Dierks Bentley.
Copperman said in a statement, “I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to work alongside remarkable individuals like CTM and SMACK in my new team. CTM’s visionary leadership has already brought us exciting opportunities beyond Country, expanding our horizons. I’ve always held immense respect for SMACK, and I eagerly anticipate the promising collaborations and accomplishments that lie ahead.”
André de Raaff, CEO at CTM Outlander, said, “From the first moment we met Ross we felt his energy, passion and drive for music. His goal is set to break new artists and help creative new opportunities with the ones he’s already been working with. We are here to support him in any type of way and see Ross as somebody that is helping to develop the country music genre into a global genre.”
CTM Outlander is a partnership between the innovative and disruptive Dallas, Texas based Outlander Capital led by Les Ware and Mike McKool and the Dutch-based leading independent music entertainment company CTM, led by industry veteran André de Raaff. CTM Outlander previously acquired Shane McAnally‘s catalog earlier this year, in addition to other SMACKSongs works. In 2022, the CTM Outlander acquired catalogs of Natalie Hemby, Michael Tyler and Ben Burgess.
Mike McKool, director of CTM Outlander, said, “When we created CTM Outlander, we had no specific agenda as far as genre was concerned. It was only after meeting and developing relationships with the songwriting community in Nashville, that we decided to place an emphasis on country music. As we continue to invest and grow our portfolio, Ross is another example of the kind of artist we want to be in business with. We couldn’t be more excited to work with him moving forward, while also furthering our relationship with SMACKSongs.”
Robert Carlton, president of SMACKSongs, added, “SMACK is proud to further our partnership with CTM through this deal. Ross has been one of the premier writers and producers in Nashville over the last decade. We’ve been fortunate to share quite a bit of success with him through co-writes, but feel truly honored that he chose to entrust SMACK with this next chapter of his career.”
A second round of performers has been added to the 57th annual CMA Awards, led by Morgan Wallen, Kenny Chesney, Luke Combs, Kelsea Ballerini and Alan Jackson. Also performing are Dan+Shay, Jordan Davis, HARDY, Cody Johnson, Post Malone, Mac McAnally, The War and Treaty and Zac Brown Band. Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning will again […]
Nashville music publishing company Boom Music Group has severed ties with SESAC Nashville Music Awards’ 2020 songwriter of the year Matthew McGinn, after felony and misdemeanor charges were filed against him on Oct. 28 in Davidson County, Tenn. “Boom Music Group is extremely saddened about the reprehensible events that transpired this weekend with Matt McGinn,” […]
Jason Aldean and Brittany Aldean took the political route for their Halloween costumes this year, taking to Instagram on Tuesday (Oct. 31) to share a skit in which they acted as Donald Trump and Joe Biden during a presidential debate. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In […]
NBC’s The Voice is getting another fiery-locked, country superstar to join its ranks.
On Tuesday (Oct. 31), NBC announced that Country Music Hall of Fame member Wynonna Judd is set to serve as a mega mentor on season 24 of the hit show. Judd will join coaches Niall Horan, John Legend, Gwen Stefani, and fellow Country Music Hall of Fame member Reba McEntire, helping to mentor the remaining contestants heading into the show’s competitive Knockout rounds on Nov. 6.
In a video posted to Instagram, Wynonna appeared alongside McEntire to celebrate joining the latest season of the hit singing comeptition. “[You are] one of the reasons I decided to do this show, because you’re here and I wanted to work with you,” Wynonna told her in the new clip. McEntire returned the compliment in the caption, writing “Wy is the perfect person for this and I can’t wait for you to see all the great advice she gives to these talented artists.”
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Wynonna is currently headlining shows on her Back to Wy tour, where the singer-songwriter performs her first two solo albums — her 1992 self-titled album and its followup, 1993’s Tell Me Why — track-by-track.
Prior to launching her solo career in the 1990s, Judd was part of the mother-daughter duo The Judds, alongside her mother Naomi. The Judds’ enduring legacy was recently feted with the release of the multi-artist project A Tribute to The Judds, which featured McEntire, Jelly Roll, Trisha Yearwood, O.N.E. The Duo, Wendy Moten, Megan Moroney and more.
Of course, Wynonna is no stranger to television; in 2016, she appeared on Dancing With the Stars and in 2011, The Judds debuted their own six-part reality television series on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. Over the years, Judd has also appeared on television shows including Touched By An Angel, Army Wives and Kath & Kim.
Wynonna Judd will appear as a mega mentor on The Voice starting Monday, Nov. 6 at 8 pm E.T. Check out Wynonna and McEntire’s Instagram announcement below:
The “Biggest Party in the South” is back for 2024.
Pepsi Rock the South 2024 will return to Cullman, Alabama for a three-day festival July 18-20 withheadliners Eric Church, HARDY and Jelly Roll along with Oliver Anthony, Parker McCollum, Flatland Cavalry, Warren Zeiders, Priscilla Block, Wyatt Flores, Nelly, Gavin Adcock, Nate Smith and more throughout the three-day event.
As Rock the South continues to grow, organizers have increased the festival site by over 45 percent, invested in infrastructure improvements for campers, and added ways to beat the heat with the Honky Tonk Hideaway, a large-scale air-conditioned Nashville Broadway Experience outfitted with an acoustic stage, line-dancing lessons and more.
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Tickets will go on sale Friday (Nov. 3). Pre-sale registration is now open and ends Wednesday (Nov. 1) at 10 a.m.
“After being named the Alabama Tourism Department’s Event of the Year, we’re excited to announce this year’s event, building on the success of our record-breaking 2023 and are prepared for 2024 to be the most incredible year yet,” said Nathan Baugh, Pepsi Rock the South partner. “Our biggest focus is always producing an incredible event with music’s biggest names. We love hearing the level of impact Rock the South has in our County and regionally.”
“Crafting the lineup for Pepsi® Rock the South 2024 has been an incredible journey. We’ve listened to our fans and aimed for the stars,” said Shane Quick, partner of Pepsi Rock the South. “This year, we’ve brought together an amazing lineup of artists that truly reflects what our fans want to ensure they have an unforgettable three days. We have so many great things in store for Rock the South 2024.”
Learn more at rockthesouth.com.
When the Coastal Country Jam relaunched Sept. 16 at Marina Green Park in Long Beach, Calif., after a four-year absence, headliner Blake Shelton looked up before he took the stage and saw his name sparkling like a floating marquee in the sky.
Gwen Stefani and her kids cheered the moment, says Activated Events founder and event producer Steve Thacher, but they weren’t just seeing Shelton’s name in lights. They may have seen the future of country festivals. The Coastal Country Jam is one of at least four country gatherings that employed drone shows for the first time in 2023.
“We’re always looking for new, fun, wow factors to incorporate into our event,” Thacher says. “We thought this would be one of them.”
The drone show is a still-developing technology that had its biggest audience during the global broadcast of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in 2022, when 1,800 drones were used to create a complex series of images suspended over the stadium. The technology has been utilized in a number of different events since then, including a coronation concert for the United Kingdom’s King Charles III in May and a New Year’s Eve celebration that Keith Urban witnessed in Australia.
Courtesy Southern Entertainment
“It’s surreal what they can do and how many of them can be synchronized or coordinated to do insane things,” says Urban. “It’s really amazing, like a modern version of skywriting.”
Activated Events debuted the drone show at the Coastal Jam after the company worked with several municipalities that were replacing fireworks displays with the new technology. Drones appeared before the headliner both nights during Coastal, presenting a series of images (an American flag, a whale, a surfer and the Queen Mary tourist attraction) before employing a “Next Up” announcement, leading into Shelton’s name on the first night and Tim McGraw’s on the second. The company presented a different version of the show during its Boots in the Park festival in Tempe, Ariz., Sept. 22-23, with Shelton, Sam Hunt and Brooks & Dunn.
Similarly, Southern Entertainment held a drone show one night each at two different East Coast festivals: the Carolina Country Music Fest in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on June 9 and the Barefoot Country Music Festival in Wildwood, N.J., on June 18. They employed their own images — including a patriotic red, white and blue eagle — ahead of the direct-support act, with several visuals that hinted at income-generating possibilities.
At the Carolina event, organizers used the drones to announce one of the 2024 headliners, Morgan Wallen. They also created an in-air QR code for sponsor Selfie.Live, a Lee Brice-affiliated company that enables consumers to get celebrity autographs on their own digital photos. Six thousand of the 35,000 ticket holders downloaded the QR code, a number that impressed Southern Entertainment co-founder Bob Durkin. The QR code holds other possibilities, including guiding fans to the festival website to buy tickets for the next year’s show.
Additionally, the Carolina drone show included two giant beer bottles with Coors emblazoned on their virtual labels. The display was not monetized in 2023, though it’s easy to see how it could evolve into a source of advertising revenue.
“It was sort of an added value for our sponsor,” Durkin says. “They got to see their brand portrayed in a different way, and the greatest part was [Molson Coors chairman] Pete Coors was at the Carolina Country Music Fest. He said, ‘I’ve seen it all, but I haven’t seen that.’”
Drone shows, which Durkin says can range from $25,000 to $100,000, require significant advance work. Both Activated Events and Southern Entertainment booked outside drone production companies roughly nine months ahead of their festivals, allowing time to design the presentation and program each drone. Promoters also have to navigate local regulations, which can vary widely. Drones pose security risks, as well as potential safety problems — imagine a flying object losing its charge and falling out of the sky on top of an unsuspecting patron. That complication is one reason that some promoters are reticent to get involved in the drone business. But three of the four country festivals were held in beach communities, allowing the light display to take place over the water and away from pedestrians.
There’s also a fair amount of give-and-take between the promoter and the drone companies. The concert promoters suggested messages and images they would like to see during the show, and once the production company came back with an initial presentation, the two sides tweaked the lineup and sequence and were able to time out the event. At Activated Events, DJ Luwiss Luxx built a playlist to go with the light show once the display was scheduled out.
The overall mix of sights and sounds won over a captive audience as it marked time between acts, and led to a positive social-media response.
“In every email or text message that I got, it was ‘Oh, my god, that drone show was epic,’ ” Thacher says. “I had random people reach out on LinkedIn, literally saying, ‘Hey, I never do this, but I just have to tell you, not only was the experience great, but that drone show was absolutely amazing.’”
Both Thacher and Durkin plan to do it again next year, and they may get more bang for their programming buck since continued advancements will likely make it possible to incorporate more material in the same time frame.
“I know there’s a few country festivals in 2024 you will definitely see use it,” Durkin predicts. “It’s not a great big industry, so we all kind of know each other. And they’re all like, ‘Holy cow.’ You know, everybody’s trying to one-up one another.”
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This week’s batch of new music includes ERNEST’s bluegrass-tinged latest, a promising debut from Alexandra Kay, a heartfelt, timely song from Frank Ray and Shy Carter, as well as a pair of songs from Red Clay Strays and Shaboozey that are surging on streaming platforms.
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Also, Texas music mainstay Aaron Watson pairs with several female artists, including Kylie Frey and Jenna Paulette, to honor songs from women artists in various decades.
ERNEST, “Kiss of Death”
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On his breakthrough hit “Flower Shops,” the mononymed singer-songwriter drew upon traditional country influences, while his Flower Shops (The Album) was chock-full of twangy songs about heartbreak and alcohol. Here, ERNEST launches his “new era” by wrapping himself in bluegrass harmonies on “Kiss of Death,” with lyrics that find him willingly walking a fine line, willing to accept the inevitable heartbreak his “angel in a fire-red dress will bring,” if it means he gets a single evening of lust-fueled passion. “I think I like the pain/ And if it ends tonight, that’ll be okay,” he sings, on this track he co-wrote with Andy Albert and Ryan Vojtesak.
Alexandra Kay, “Everleave”
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Kay follows her breakthrough 2021 hit “That’s What Love Is” with the 11-song debut album All I’ve Ever Known — featuring this vulnerable, solo-penned ballad that traces a woman’s decade spent languishing in an unfulfilling relationship and honors the notion of her resolve to leave. “I can’t keep pouring from a cup so empty/ Then turn my back and try to sleep at night,” Kay sings with both stunning intimacy and verve, underscoring the portrait of someone always giving to a lover who refuses to reciprocate the same kindness. The glossy, piano-led “Everleave,” like the rest of the album, presents Kay as an adept, propitious singer-songwriter.
Aaron Watson, Cover Girl
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Texas music circuit mainstay Watson helps spotlight the mighty talents of numerous women artists on his latest project, Cover Girl, filled with duets on many female-fronted, classic country songs (and a pop song or two), spanning different decades. Watson and Jenna Paulette pair up on Rosanne Cash’s “Seven Year Ache,” while he teams with Kylie Frey for Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” Bri Bagwell for a take on Sheryl Crow’s “Can’t Cry Anymore,” Kimberly Kelly for “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma” and with Morgan Myles for Lady Gaga’s “Million Reasons.” The album closes with a familial collaboration, with Watson teaming with his daughter Jolee Kate for a rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Never Grow Up.”
Frank Ray and Shy Carter, “Jesus at the Taco Truck”
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Shy Carter and Frank Ray posted a snippet of this song on TikTok last month and the song has quickly amassed over two million views, thanks to a vivid storyline. “Jesus at the Taco Truck” is heartfelt, timely and bridge-building. The lyrics detail meeting a man who made a harrowing journey, walking across the Rio Grande into Texas, and working long hours at a taco truck to help provide for family members still living in Mexico. Crafted by Ray, Carter, Ben Burgess and Nathan Chapman, this is a tender, compassionate tribute to the hardships so many face in a quest for freedom and a better life. This marks a crucial new release from Carter and Ray.
Red Clay Strays, “Wondering Why”
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Known for their soul-meets-southern rock stylings, The Red Clay Strays have been on the road over the past year opening shows for Eric Church and Elle King. The quintet’s soulful Alabama roots and fiery live performance style permeate this song. “Wondering Why” was included on the group’s 2022 debut album A Moment of Truth, but it has been surging on streaming platforms of late, landing on Spotify’s all-genre Viral 50 chart. Written by the group’s Brandon Coleman and Drew Nix with songwriter Dan Couch (Kip Moore, Cody Johnson), the song details a highbrow-meets-hardscrabble romance that, on paper, shouldn’t work–but does. Lead singer Coleman’s gruff, impassioned vocal shines here as always, bolstered by the group’s exemplary musicianship.
Shaboozey, “Let It Burn”
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“Grab the matches/ start a fire,” Shaboozey sings on this aptly-titled track, as it has been a red-hot track on streaming platforms as of late, appearing on Spotify’s all-genre Viral 50 chart. The song is a heady marriage of guitar-driven country, R&B and hip-hop elements, meshing into a distinct blend of pop melody and empowering message, as the singer-songwriter urges someone to leave bad memories and experiences behind and embrace the courage to seek a brighter future.
On March 2, 1983, a mother-daughter duo from Kentucky, Naomi and Wynonna Judd, auditioned for then-RCA Nashville label chief Joe Galante, in hopes of scoring a record deal. They had spent months working with producer-writer Brent Maher, finding and recording songs and crafting their twangy, harmony-driven sound.
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“We had a three-song package that we auditioned for Joe and a few of his staff members,” Maher recalls to Billboard. “The three songs we played them were ‘Had a Dream (For the Heart),’ ‘Mama, He’s Crazy’ and ‘John Deere Tractor.’ When ‘John Deere’ finished, I mean to tell you, you could have heard a pin drop in that room. People were trying to start breathing again, because of that beautiful melodic structure and those harmonies.”
Galante ultimately signed The Judds to the RCA Nashville label roster, and the duo’s cover of the Elvis Presley tune “Had a Dream” became their debut single, reaching the top 20 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. The song’s follow-up, the tender “Mama, He’s Crazy,” became The Judds’ first No. 1 country hit, signaling the duo’s upward trajectory to stardom. In the five-year span between 1984-1989, The Judds earned 14 No. 1 Hot Country Songs hits, including “Young Love,” “Why Not Me” and “Turn It Loose.” They released six multi-platinum studio albums, were named the Country Music Association’s vocal duo or vocal group of the year seven times, won five Grammys and were ultimately inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022. Maher produced all six of The Judds’ studio albums and worked with Wynonna on some of her solo projects.
Four decades after that fateful audition, and nearly 18 months after the death of The Judds’ matriarch Naomi in April 2022, nearly three dozen artists have come together for A Tribute to the Judds, out Oct. 27 on BMG, recognizing the duo’s significant influence by offering refreshed versions of 14 of the mother-daughter duo’s biggest hits.
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Galante, Maher and A&R executive Renee Bell spearheaded the new project, which welcomes veterans of the format to today’s chart-toppers, including Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Dolly Parton, Lainey Wilson, Trisha Yearwood, LeAnn Rimes, Ashley McBryde, Cody Johnson, Jelly Roll, bluegrassers Trey Hensley, Rob Ickes and Molly Tuttle, Sonya Isaacs (of southern gospel group The Isaacs), and O.N.E the Duo and Wendy Moten. Wilson and Parton perform “Mama, He’s Crazy,” Rimes sings “Have Mercy,” and Johnson and Isaacs offer up “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Ole Days).” McEntire, Jennifer Nettles, Carly Pearce and Gabby Barrett helm “Girls Night Out.”
“It’s a bittersweet process to be going through all of this and be seeing things like this happening in the tributes coming in, and it’s just life moving forward,” Wynonna tells Billboard of the project, recalling hearing Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani performing “Love Is Alive.”
“I immediately reached out to Blake — my brother that I never wanted,” Wynonna says with a hint of a grin in her voice. “I still do that song every night onstage. It’s still very much a part of my process and musical journey, so hearing it was strange and wonderful at the same time. It’s like somebody else wearing your clothes or something. When you do a song, you make it your own, you breathe it in. The fact that it is mom’s and my song, makes it interesting to listen to somebody else’s voice on it.”
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A few weeks after Naomi’s passing, Bell lighted on the idea of making the tribute album. Maher recalls, “Renee said, ‘Naomi’s battle that she lost with mental illness, we cannot just let that fade away; there’s too much of it going on in the world and in our industry.’ She wanted to bring support and awareness to the issue.”
Toward that aim, the album will support National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI).
“I think we were all stunned when the revelation came out on what happened with Naomi,” Galante tells Billboard. “Being part of the [Country Music Association] board, we have been dealing with mental health in the music industry, as that has been on everybody’s mind since the pandemic. We are doing what we can to honor Naomi’s memory and honor this cause, to help people across the board.”
Maher tracked a number of the songs in the same Nashville studio where The Judds originally recorded many of their hits. Three of the musicians on the tribute album also played on The Judds’ records — drummer Eddie Bayers and pianist Bobby Ogdin and guitarist Don Potter.
“We didn’t want these songs to sound like karaoke tracks,” Maher says. “We wanted all the signature licks — the ‘Why Not Me’ lick or the ‘Grandpa’ lick, but we wanted every song to have a freshness and for the musicians to try new things.”
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Wynonna Judd herself sings on one track, a bluesy collaboration with Trisha Yearwood on “Cry Myself to Sleep,” produced by Judd’s husband and bandmate Cactus Moser. Yearwood joined Judd at a studio on her Nashville-area farm, marking the first time Judd and Yearwood had recorded together.
“We sat on the back porch and talked and laughed about life, and then we’d get up and go record together,” Judd recalls. “Nowadays that just doesn’t happen, with all the technology and the way things are flown in and sent over email — so to have her in the studio standing next to me was an absolute joy. At some points, I caught myself listening to the playback and going, ‘Wait, is that me or is that her?”
O.N.E the Duo and Wendy Moten collaborate on The Judds’ debut single, “Had a Dream (For the Heart).”
“We met Wendy not too long after starting our journey as O.N.E the Duo and we are such big fans of her,” the duo’s Prana and Tekitha told Billboard in a statement. “When Brent told us we were gonna do the song with her, we were thrilled. And the fact that the song we did together was ‘Had a Dream,’ which was the Judds’ first single, felt like a really precious task was being handed to us.”
“I was overwhelmed,” Judd said of hearing the song. “Being really honest, my first knee-jerk reaction was ‘Oh my God, this is happening,’ just because of walking through this personal season of loss. That was our first song. I cried and I thought, ‘This is what they mean by a tribute, because we’re done. That chapter’s closed.’ So there was sadness, but also real joy in realizing that someone else is breathing new life into this music, so it is really cool. The most important thing on this project is honoring the legacy from mom and me.”
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One of the more curious recordings on the project is a rendition of The Judds’ 1989 hit “Let Me Tell You About Love,” with vocals from Raul Malo, as well as the late rock ‘n roll architect Carl Perkins, who originally wrote the song with Paul Kennerley and Maher.
“This was when Paul was married to Emmylou [Harris], and we wrote this at their house. We had some high-quality microphones and all that, a little analog eight-track machine, so we made the demo there,” Maher says. “Carl played electric guitar and sang on the demo.”
For the updated version, Glen Wharf plays upright bass, Bayers plays drums over the top of the drum machine from the demo and the guitar is Perkins’ original from the demo. “The thing sounds like it was cut yesterday, but everything other than the bass and drums was done the day we wrote it.”
Ella Langley teams with Jamey Johnson on “Young Love.”
“There are only a handful of phone calls you can receive in your artist career that fill your soul with such fulfillment and honor,” Langley told Billboard in a statement. “To record ‘Young Love (Strong Love)’ alongside Jamey Johnson and to be included on this record is an honor of a lifetime.”
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The album closes with Jelly Roll teaming with K. Michelle and the Fisk Jubilee Singers offering The Judds’ Grammy-winning, signature hit “Love Can Build a Bridge.” Maher recalls the recording session being one of the most special moments of the album-making process.
“We recorded his vocal on a Sunday afternoon,” Maher says. “He texted me and said, ‘I’m running about 20 minutes late,’ and when he got there, he said, ‘I’m not usually late, but I am so over the moon excited. My 13-year-old daughter just got baptized,’ and I said, ‘Well, I think we picked the right day for this song.’ His voice was so sincere, and that first verse and chorus is just him and a piano. It took my breath away. And he was just so excited to be performing with K. Michelle and The Fisk Jubilee Singers on the song.”
Looking ahead, Wynonna is currently embarking on her Back to Wy Tour, which focuses on her solo catalog of hits. She’s also working with Jelly Roll in the studio, and is looking into releasing a book, a new album and a cookbook.
“We’re just talking about ideas — I’m always cooking something, so 2024 will be one of my busiest years,” Wynonna says. “I was sitting in the car yesterday and Jelly Roll called and asked me to do something with him, so I’m going to his house to work on a song. Everywhere you go, there’s something there, and I’m still included. Right now, I’m just feeling real gratitude, that I’m still included.”