Wynonna Judd Mentors Younger Artists by Telling Them What NOT to Do
Wynonna Judd has become a mentor figure to several younger female country artists, and while she takes the role seriously, she doesn't feel comfortable telling any of them what they ought to do. Instead, the Country Music Hall of Famer advises some of her younger counterparts what not to do when it comes to their lives and careers.
Judd considers Kelsea Ballerini to be among the younger artists she's mentoring, and at a press event outside of Nashville on Wednesday (Oct. 26), Judd told a group of journalists, "I don't give advice."
"I tell them what I do and what I don't do," she shares. "I tell Kelsea — because she's walking an interesting road right now — to make sure that she has people around her who can tell her things. In other words, honesty. Get a good lawyer; for God's sakes, save your money."
Ballerini is going through a divorce from country singer Morgan Evans at the same time she is out promoting her new album, Subject to Change. Judd was married and divorced twice before she found lasting happiness with her current husband, Cactus Moser, and she hopes that some of her mistakes can serve as a cautionary tale.
"I have wasted so much time worrying about that the things I cannot change, and I just tell her my story," Judd says. "And I think that's what we're supposed to do, is tell our stories. We don't tell people what to do. We give them our story and we learn from our mistakes and unhealthy choices. So I'll tell Kelsea, 'This is what I did when I got a divorce, and it didn't work.'"
Ballerini is just one of the younger generation of stars who cite Judd's influence, along with Carly Pearce and more.
"When you say the word 'mentor,' I take it very seriously," Judd stresses. "'Cause there are several women that I'm mentoring now, and I'm telling them, 'Please don't do that. Please don't do that, because I did that, and it really cost me a great deal of energy and time that I can't get back."
Ballerini is one of the female artists who's joining Judd for the Judds' Final Tour, which kicked off Sept. 30 and runs through Oct. 29 before wrapping with a show at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. Martina McBride, Brandi Carlile, Faith Hill, Little Big Town, Ashley McBryde, and Trisha Yearwood are involved in various dates of the tour, with McBride opening all of the shows. Hill will help Yearwood close out the tour, which has been so successful that Judd has announced 15 additional dates for 2023.
The Judds announced the tour prior to Naomi Judd's death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 30. During a private memorial service in Nashville on May 7, Wynonna Judd announced that she intended to honor the dates.
At the press event on Wednesday, Judd revealed that she will also celebrate her mother's legacy by re-staging the Judds' Final Concert in honor of the 31st anniversary of the event.
The Judds: Love Is Alive - The Final Concert is set for Middle Tennessee University's (MTSU) Murphy Center. The concert event will take place Thursday, Nov. 3, and it will reinvent the final show of The Judds 1991 Farewell Tour, which took place at the same venue on Dec. 4, 1991. Judd will also film the show for a concert special that will air on CMT in March of 2023.