Wynonna Judd is healing through music. During a recent visit to Entertainment Tonight, the country star revealed that she had written a song that touches on her journey with grief following the death of her mother Naomi Judd last year.
“I just wrote a song called ‘Broken and Blessed,’ and that’s how I feel on this tour,” she said. ‘I’m somewhere between hell and hallelujah’ is one of the lines in it.”
“I struggle,” she added. “And I think when I struggle, I say it onstage. I’m singing a song that my mother wrote for me… And I’m supposed to do that how? Through tears.” It’s unclear when Wynonna plans to release the track, but she is set to hit the road with her sister Ashley next week.
Wynonna explained that she’s found solace by bonding with Ashley. “I’m an orphan now, and I know that,” she said. “I also have a sister I’m getting close to, more so than ever. That’s a remarkable thing to have someone in your life that you’re so different from, but that you can meet somewhere in the middle, and it works.”
Naomi Judd died of suicide at 76 while she was preparing to go on tour for The Judds: The Final Tour. “When people say, ‘They’re in a better place,’ I don’t want her to be in a better place,” Wynonna said. “I want her to be here with me. That’s selfish, but it’s a human response.”
The Judds’ final live performance as a duo took place in April at the CMT Music Awards, where they sang “Love Can Build a Bridge,” a song about reconciliation and support. In an interview with CMT back in April 2022, the late Naomi talked at length about the need for human connection and how the Judds’ 1990 ballad served that purpose.
“We really need each other,” Naomi said. “So if I can write a darn song that makes people, just for a beat, stop and think about how blessed they are… What I know for a fact is that we are hardwired in our brain to need love and support and a sense of community.”