Wynonna Judd: Songs and Stories

January 29, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

Wynonna Judd has fond memories of Northeast Ohio.

Specifically, she thinks back three decades ago when the Judds, which also included her mother, Naomi, were nothing more than an up-and-coming act looking for any support possible.

“I feel like I played every known and unknown place in Ohio,” said Judd, calling from Nashville. “I’ve been coming there for 30 years. I think we even did something in the early days there, one of those record-industry events where they bring in DJs and program directors. We did a showcase for people that are the movers and shakers from the country music world.”

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is the big time,’ but now I look back and it seems old fashioned. That’s the way we’d do things. It’s like we were running for president. It was like the biggest campaign of our lives.”

These days, Judd is considered a mover and shaker in the country music world. During the ’90s, The Judds received multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM awards and sold more than 20 million albums. Then Judd launched her solo career with 1992 debut album “Wynonna,” which not only sold more than 5 million copies but also yielded four No. 1 hits.

More recently, the five-time Grammy winner, who by the way is also a New York Times best-selling author and women’s shoe designer, wrote and recorded acoustic-driven track “Follow Me” for the 2014 feature film “The Hornet’s Nest.” Currently, Judd is going back on the road with her “Wynonna and Friends: Stories & Song” show, which comes to Youngstown on Friday for a show at Stambaugh Auditorium.

The show features Judd playing songs accompanied by her three-piece band, which includes her husband, producer, and award-winning artist Cactus Moser. It turns out that, indirectly, Moser, who lost his left leg in a near-fatal motorcycle accident a few years ago, led Judd to re-evaluate her life for a simpler existence.

“When Cactus had his accident, my life went to complete and utter chaos,” Judd said. “When we came out of the other side, I was ready to do something really different. I knew I would never be the same again, and I got really strong and got really convicted.

“My life had to get simpler, and it did. Sometimes it takes us crashing to make us wake up and go, ‘Whoa, I was going too fast.’”

While Judd and Moser have been hard at work on her next album, which she hopes to have out this summer, the Music City legend said she won’t be playing any new material on this current tour. Instead, she’s focused on giving her fans an up close and personal experience where she’ll talk about her life.

Judd said she’ll be telling classic stories, such as when Johnny Cash was mentoring her backstage or her memorable stint opening for The Highwaymen.

Speaking of getting personal with Judd, the 50-year-old singer-guitarist has been getting a kick out of calling lucky Twitter followers. The exchanges have proven memorable for Judd.

“What I do is I’ll ask a question on Twitter, and then the first three people that show up on my Twitter, I’ll DM them and ask for their phone number,” Judd said. “It’s a random thing I do, but now I’ll bait them and say, ‘Tomorrow I’ll ask a question.’ It’s hilarious; it’s like the people who go on Black Friday to shop. They’re up early in the morning waiting for my question.”

“It ends up being really fun for me. This one girl had to drink like four beers before I called her — she was that nervous. Afterwards, she was like, ‘That was so easy talking to you.’ I said, ‘Well, you’re wasted and it’s only like noon. You may want to take a nap.’”