Wynonna Judd Interview (Full Session) | Music 2015 | SXSW

so rolling so magazine once famously called Wynonna Judd the greatest female country singer since Patsy Cline or Kitty Wells or whatever uh or Tammy Wynette oh really so many people know this voice that it was once to use as a clue in a crossword puzzle the answer was Alto the question was why known as voi Wynonna Judd voice UO that is HUGE that's that's massive with her mother with her mother Naomi she returned she returned great harmonies to country music Center in the iconic duo The Judds and in 1991 she launched a solo career that produced indelible hits like she is his only need I saw the light no one else on earth only loved girls with guitars have Freeman her amazing cover of Joni Mitchell's help me heaven oh my heart comes some rainy day the list goes on and on a five-time Grammy winner you can correct me if I do anything wrong Grammy winner she's also been recognized by the Academy of Country Music Country Music Association American Music Awards go to music association and the Gospel Music Association thank you and good night okay yeah she wrote she wrote a couple books she's a bestseller blah blah blah one reviewer this one once called her the female reincarnation of the king i'm michelle ViSalus you will call Michel vez today she's also a mother a wife a farmer a philanthropist and according to one of her nicknames a hurricane she's joined today by her husband producer and collaborator cactus Mosier a revered drummer who with the band highway 101 helped change the sound of country music and bring it back to its roots while also bringing it into a new era back in the day and he's also been in a renowned studio musician in Nashville in Nashville for many years they're currently working on some dynamite new music I've had a chance to hear some rough tracks really great and they're gonna share it tonight you weren't supposed to say that until later and they're gonna share us it's shared tonight in a showcase with their band or a version of your band the big noise at st. Davids Bethel Hall at midnight so without further ado I do they say nothing good happens after midnight but tonight it does that's what your grandma you know I need to say this because I know some of you have never seen my show and you probably don't care you just have nowhere to go that because it's outside your truth is no I know they're here I just a self-deprecating I think it's important that I say it's important today for me because I used to hang out here as a 15 year old at Anton's you don't know this this isn't in the book but I just ran into ray Benson of asleep at the wheel and he helped give me my name from wynonie harris whose beautiful black bluesman and my momma said put an A on the end and you got Wynonna so I changed my name to Wynonna thanks to Ray Benson we were talking and he said I remember you being 14 and I hung out with the Fabulous Thunderbirds Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan so I have a history here you people Anton's Congress yes and so to be back here today doing the thing I started out at Austin City Limits it's one of our first shows so to come here today I made a real loud noise about doing this not because of just the whole musical posterity but as a as a healer being in the music business now thirty years by the way I did come today to announce my retirement the music business are you serious no no no but we won twenty bucks right there the reason I'm saying this because I'm in a band now I'm in a band now and I'm part of it I don't care about the success as much as I care about the excellence so I'm retiring from the music business I know someone's here from curb haha so I am rebellious today simply because I want to be that teenager that loves love's loves music like I do now I just came from Stevie Nicks I've got the boots I had made in the 80s on in her honor today I love and I just even watched her have a rebirth on stage night before last and I'm telling you guys talking to her for about an hour we both have decided that it's all about the human experience it's not just about like you said fight you know my Grammys are in a box in storage I don't live defined by that I defined by within so what I was looking at we're all the streets today coming here and going I remember being 14 years old before I ever had success who was I and I want to get back to the well and find out what it is I love about music this is one of the first stops on that journey don't you think that's interesting timing I met you just now and I know you're your history and I have won and cactus I will let you talk but I want you to know you guys how grateful I am I just think I need to say that first the rest this stuff will speak for itself I'm so grateful to be here because we came down just for this we drove 15 hours just to be here because we are dedicated to the cause and when we're called we come because this is special this isn't just looks good on her resume and all that you know yay that's great that you know that's gonna get me in the door but what I'm looking forward to tonight is showing people how you can become better not better having had all the crap happened to you that's happened to you tonight is a celebration and so I've come to do just that so you can ask me some questions that I may answer but I'm more interested in telling you guys what I'm not doing and what I'm not interested in because so many people talk smack and I just want to dispel like I heard Stevie guys she sings live you guys she's not through I mean let's start there that kind of stuff I want to talk about the reels all my questions are about music I have no interesting gossip if you want to you know you guys know where to find the gossip yes not here not in this room right now we're gonna talk about music we're talking about sorry and and we're going to talk about controversial thing everybody's been I've been on my Twitter site about Ashley what you guys going at Ashley Judd music and say hey I saw your sister at South by Southwest and you guys can get a picture of us kissing and when you put it on her site for me today seriously I'm so sick of everybody on my site I need I need a little revenge a dish best served cold I want to was best served through Instagram apparently on Twitter I want to add to what she said two things actually what you both have said I agree with everything you said in that intro that my wife always will shake your head when when I first heard this woman sing highway 101 in the judge toured together for an entire year I would go to sound checks and watch her not do the show version of all those songs but just play with some melodies and play with it no not talk about that your mother wasn't there and I would just sit out there this is in 1989 1990 and watch and go what an amazing thing that's like having a Ferrari in the garage I mean it's an incredible gift so yes I totally agree that those kind of stylists which are really rare and few and far between in all art forms Tammy Wynette as you mentioned may be honey or you know there's certain people Tony Bennett I mean there's they in all forms you know there's different people that you just Amano you go oh my god I know who that is well there isn't a song that comes on when she's singing that you don't go oh I know exactly and that to me is one of the real true sort of markings in our generations of these great singers that we all get to hear but still have a few that are like that as a producer I did a big engineer I did a big interview yesterday in Nashville for upcoming producers roundtable thing I'm going to speak out and they said but you have to answer to us because you're working with one of the greatest singers of all time in the studio now what's that like and I said well it's challenging pretty first artists when we first began we were actually dating and no one knew it but it was very you know and I remember the first time I reached over to the control room to the board and go to you know to talk back so used to talking to singers and going hey would you try this or do this or whatever and generally getting vocals there's always like oh my god we cut the tracks that's been fun now Oh No we have to get vocals and it's just like ah you know so with her it was already great but I was thinking hmm I'd like to discovery try some but it was just like oh honey would you mind just trying to of different you know and it took me a while to get brave because like when it's all great every time and she can sing so many ways that's the challenge it'll sound great in her jazzy little like the Joni when she did that Joni track she played it for me way back and I was like thinking that's Joni singing you know but it was you and so it's a very intriguing thing so yes it's thankfully it is all about the music this new record is exciting but it's such a joy to be able to even though she is my bride to be able to work with this kind of talent has been you know a dream since 1989 1990 so well the one thing part of a team going all the way back I mean I did read your autobiography and I found it very inspiring and I found going all the way back to your youth and living in Chanticleer no but I but I want to talk about that because for anyone who hasn't read it's very inspiring to read about how you learned to sing in this place where many kinds of artists were where it was just about being around the table and I wonder if you can talk a little bit about how that formed you as a youth just that music making us part of daily life as opposed as as opposed to part of the Nashville machine or you know part of I came to because I'm dealing with my my own children he has three I have two together we have five we have bonus children today's children God loved them they are so inundated and when we were kids we couldn't come in until dark I'd say it on stage a lot we didn't have Facebook we had face-to-face Ashley and I were nine times out of 10 we were here or she was down here and I was on top of her which I loved to tell that story because I was sort of her first acting coach I say and I go into this whole thing but the bottom line was were so without that it forced us to resort to our own creativity's and our children by the time they're 8 7 they'll tell you you know when they're 3 and 4 I'm an artist you know this I just watched a girl on one of their call vines she's I don't have a computer so I'm not very electronic she says I'm a cupcake I mean she's just running around like I'm a-coming who does that when after they're 10 they're all worried about everybody's thinking about them look I was 10 9 years old and I was convinced that I was going to be you know Xena with a guitar I just was and it had nothing to do with arrogance now transfer that to now that I'm 50 I still feel like that girl I don't know how and I talked about this with Stevie the other night we've had a lot of success and a lot of failure you've read about most of it what you don't know is I'm very childlike I've had the same manager for 18 years I've loved this man since I was 20 I'm a child spirit in that I don't care as much about the music business I care about the business of music when I was 9 I wanted to be Bonnie Raitt Emmy Lou you know Bonnie's a friend and I talked to her like I do you and I go how did I get here and I still I still have that wonderment we were backstage and I kept thinking these guys are gonna tell us to leave and and my assistant standing next to me going you're Wynonna freaking Judd but I'm telling you the truth I'm going on backstage and I'm at the you know Fleetwood Mac show and they're gonna ask me to leave you have to not lose your wonderment and I think that is what happened my dear living in Appalachia we were on food stamps when you have nothing you dream everything whether it's food you dream about the greatest meal you're gonna eat when you get successful I could in envision I'm telling you guys vision stuff visualization I can remember standing on the back porch with my guitar and I'm talking if they had they didn't have film back then like they did it ever you can just pop it you know phone I'm telling you legs spread toes out butt clenched fists in the air singing to the sky like I am you know I'm ready to take over the world now transfer that to 18 let me let me interrupt one thing because it ties in when we ran into Rey Benson last week and out on the East Coast I got him on the bus I said okay give me some stories cuz I wanted to hear some of these things when she was still in the back of the bus I said give me some of these things and he said well the little piece that she's talking about she was 13 he said I never heard her sing a word course she was talking down here and he says but he said she said I want to change my name and part of what that was what hit me that day was I was thinking he didn't know she was gonna sing he had no clue he knew her mom and her mom was friends with all of them he said she was just a little girl that would sit there and never say a word he goes but she was listening to everything he is on all sudden she said at one of these little get-togethers I want to change my name and he said it didn't dawn on me for any reason why she would want to change your name but then they were just kind of talking about things and that's how it came about so I was impressed you knew and you weren't telling anybody that you you have kids and you know how they'll come to you they're like little sponges and they take in everything we we tell them and you know I mean I have a whole thing like I'm Twitter every day I'm always talking to well like Lennon and Maisy I was talking to Lennon the other night and I was like don't ever let him tell you who you are don't ever and I'm trying to be that person like Tammy was to me never let them tell you who you are and she said there are singers and there are stylists I have been planning this since I was nine years old whether it was changing my name getting my ducks in a row yes I spent 10 years trying to match my mother's outfits meanwhile I'm collecting feathers and these things are from the Vatican I've got these boots made because they're Stevie I'm accommodate I mean hearts my friend we all have here the same air we give each other hair things here's blue here's here's blue for you and is your dark headed they give me pink I mean we're always gypsy sort of bohemian look I may have been in country music because that's where I landed in Nashville in 1978 prior to that we were here in Austin for a summer and it changed my life i sat stevie ray vaughan practice guitar I'm 14 years old for crying out loud and I feel that today and Here I am back as an artist with my husband who I've loved since I was 20 go figure and all I can tell you guys is never underestimate moments of simplistic simplistic someone says something to you my my 8th grade teacher said you're special I didn't have a father and that's stuck so I think when you say that Appalachia was my first canvas it was definitely I had a guitar someone had given to my mother got string very cheap but I had no ready we had a radio but no TV no telephone take away the electronics ask them questions bye hope you got what you needed man Wyn onn a just-in-case midnight bethel ha these young kids have no attention span they have another party go to I get it I you'll notice I noticed everything now when I was 20 I would not have noticed that I think it's important to take away the electronics I sat on the porch the other night till 3:00 a.m. with nothing and just listen to the night sounds and I started thinking what do I want to accomplish here in Austin and I thought I just want to sing to the best of my ability I say turn it off turn the music on turn off the outside and go within and I've been doing that because of Appalachia it gave me look we didn't we weren't allowed to use the word bored you know kids today write more and more and more only boring people get bored my mother I was that's a good one next question is for both of you actually so I alluded to this in my my brilliant introduction both of you were part of the the shift in country music in the 80s which is really part of a cycle that's always continuing but at that time you know and into the 90s so also into the 90s you know people like Dwight Yoakam people like Lyle Lovett who's here doing another panel right now you know even even some of Reba McEntire's music but of Emmylou you mentioned Bonnie Raitt away you know it was traditional music with a young feeling and I wonder if you can go back to the beginning of both of your careers and talk about that one excites me it was I had a feathered hair cut it was lovely it was not a mullet any the had a mullet too sir very part of our lives I think is so awesome it was it was the when you look back and I've said this conversation not that long back I said the day the first Highway one on one record came out which was a in December of 1987 everybody said well it's never gonna happen because all the staff has been off on vacation the business is shut down and it just happened to work but that was happening a lot because if you can imagine this during that timeframe on what is you know mainstream country music radio it was Lyle Lovett the dirt man Steve Earle KD Lang the judge the okhane highway 101 Wade who may be riding crowns Rodney came right along right kind of like right after that Emmy Lou there was all of this really amazing artistry happening that every single act you would know that I mean like I said every one of those records sounded so different so unique and that to me that is I mean it just gets me right now I get goosebumps thinking of that much amazing music being given to a public and laying them to go you know you have the chance to choose yes or no part of what is happening right now for she and I I believe and for this band the big noise is and we talk about this it's almost like I feel like I felt when I was a kid like in junior high getting ready to play the high school dance you know and you're like the little guy no no hope they like us so if they don't they'll beat us up they're bigger but it's that excitement of laying in bed and dreaming about Friday night when we get to play a dance you know and we go to sound check every day now and can't wait to go in there and just start playing music for the day and that is the most amazing blessing and that's kind of what we're getting to walk through and this album this record we're making now is is that it's like don't worry it's kind of like it those days when you didn't you know the occasions weren't worrying about trying to sound like highway it wasn't trying to sound like Lyle who wasn't who Katie didn't you know obviously we didn't have here to watch look at somebody else what do I say don't compare you know your movie to somebody else's because everybody's in their own row and I think today there's too much comparison is just like worried is the thief of joy well marketing took over music it has strangled it we had we had often authentic energy which as you know when you want to get back to the reason you love something whether it's a relationship personally or your job why did you begin to write i'll ask an interviewer and i'm curious to hear from you all i love i prefered towns meeting than just a speech i can do that with my kids and yeah we're gonna open it up to questions I love that because I'm interested to know what you're thinking I just I really want to encourage you to not listen because the world yells and God whispers I always say and spiritually speaking I think I'm 50 years old and there's a lot of noise and there's a lot of whether it's the label or a critic at the show or a fan never be defined by the noise out here be defined within that's easier said than done I will admit I have a boundary around me I travel with Tammy one person because I don't need an entourage anymore I know who I am and it's not arrogance it's confidence and don't you women think and and men too when you get after forty something you start to go you know what I don't need all that crap anymore I mean I literally got up and put a brush through my hair I would have ten years ago I would have been getting ready for three hours and made everything you know perfectionism I'm a recovering perfectionist and I think believe me I'm work in progress but I think it's more important to we just finished a tour three musicians I come out by myself playing my guitar I haven't done that since 1984 and that's scarier than hell I'm telling you you can like I was literally doing this the first night and I was scared to death think about it nobody would assume that because I've done so much in my career but there's a vulnerability I've been connecting with brené Brown she's one of my favorite favorite women writer speakers authors and she continues to say tell your story and it's a tragic comedy you know we know about the artist formerly known as the Judds we know about all that TMZ stuff what's important now is I'm a survivor and I'm not a victim everything that has ever happened to me good or bad has made me sing from my toenails in a way I literally the other night took my shoes off we were doing crossroads and I'm going down at the crossroads I'm gonna beat out here like this and somebody took a picture and it's the most unattractive I was cuz I thought some kids gonna see that and go I had no idea she still had that passion I care more about that than I do getting a good review I just do well you know that makes see that that leads into another question I have which is that throughout your career you've always connected with gospel traditions I think both set white southern gospel and african-american gospel and I wondered if you could talk a little bit about I got to meet you know the Fairfield for yesterday and the mccrary's and that was so great and I wonder if you could talk about the meaning of gospel music in your life and how it plays out in how you sing and by the way the Fairfield four were some of the first men that I ever did not correct when they said why oma because I thought reverence I'm not going to do it I am absolutely soul on the inside I was raised around look they held snakes at our church that we went to and then I went from that to the all-black church because we were working with well we knew Loretta Lynn and her backup singer beautiful black man I can't remember his name because I was like 15 16 we went to an all-black church and I went this is where I belong there's something about that sound yes I've always been drawn to my pop sang for Elvis so of course I love the gospel I love the harmony I love the tradition I've been to Graceland I'm one of the only artists to ever have worn his cape and belt at the same time I know it's on my resume it's pretty cool like the black like the Blackwood brothers or the statesman's I literally went through all of us as clothes and I thought what was it like that he loved tell him exactly what you really wanted to do in his I wear it to the grocery store but that couldn't because I had signed a waiver anyway first can you imagine me in Kroger why no no the first time I heard let's make a baby King I thought it was about Elvis I didn't realize it's about the Lord because I was to me I was 18 Elvis was 18 I was the second artist I think RCA said since Elvis I have a thing about his vulnerability and he didn't look guys he took a pair of pants and put down a stripe down the side cuz he liked it and all of a sudden he's you know what is he trying to be black no he's just he's doing because he likes it he was ignorant there was naivete there was a sense of wonderment there was a sense of I just like this and I related to that because at 18 I didn't have a clue I didn't understand percentages and statistics and look all I know is that soul the spirit what are we were spirits having a human experience and anything that I hear whether it's Aretha or Susan Tedeschi when I hear her sing and she wills and puts her head back and just guttural primal sounds come out of her I'm drawn to that pain I've had a lot of it in my life and I think I prefer the angst over the angelic I just do I mean I love you can do angelic when I hear her singing and I hear Mariah Carey do that thing she does reek it's like above the normal sound level I go how does she do that but I tell you I'm more drawn to the wail of the angst and the pain that I the joy unless its joy as in watching Stevie she did this dance and I still can't get out of my head of just joy in a way that comes from a brokenness that's great that's a beautiful way to put it well also both of you I think have so much rock and rollin in what you do and I wonder if you could address a question I've long had which is and I know from a business standpoint how it developed and historically but is there any usefulness to the separation between rock and country is there any point to it I think it's that is kind of left mmm the line that used to be there that was really obvious I mean I think modern country you know and I know that part of what you said earlier too i if you times been almost apologetic because there's some that think modern you know country has really lost its roots well it is a different whole stream it's no longer tied as much to probably what you know Americana roots he kind of country music is but and I used to once in a while kind of say well I have to almost apologize kiss with highway as a lot of the bands I mentioned earlier we were doing really kind of straight he had a hard core country music it songs like cry cry cry that we first cut and some of those things were I mean if you heard the demos and it's just how we play them and we definitely came from an exuberant more rock and roll attitude so we did put that stamp on it you know and appears later I had a few guys go man country they got screwed up you know highway you guys are ready to be blamed you know you really screwed things up and I mean well no we didn't it was just it was gonna happen the hip hop community has infiltrated the globe country music is using those same loops those same starting points when you're in a writing session these days guys are as often trying to rap a lyric as they are trying to sing a lyric to get that kind of a cadence so I think that was a part of an influence but really rock and roll has sort of kind of come alongside they're sort of the same thing I mean everything I think they are when you hear the Foo Fighters you go honestly how they came out right now they'd be shopping a deal in Nashville they totally went I said there wouldn't be you know me and in reality in this kind of a odd way there is a little bit of a sadness because there isn't really rock music that's sort of coming to the forefront right now as we all know but hopefully that's part of just a whole movement of just letting there be good music when I was a kid and you could turn on the radio in here JJ Cal Led Zeppelin all these things on the same you know format you got to have we have a really broader expanse of music you know listening to Cat Stevens while you were listening to the Zeppelin record the next thing and that to me I think it was super healthy bands used to come and bring their kids and say I'm really trying to get him converted you know we'd be in the autograph line to a country music fan the kid would be worn out Guns and Roses t-shirt I go why there's two kinds of music good and bad period make him listen to Frank Sinatra make him listening to Eminem will make him listen to everything so he can choose what he really likes someone who's passionate about so but I do think they've kind of become synonymous you know as one I mean I know I saw Jason Aldean last year it was like Nickelback exactly I mean pretty much exactly so change the singer right you got the same record so you spoke what you're mentioning kids are your kids musical are they pursuing music I'm curious about that well I I have one I have a I have two music lovers but who kind of watched the music business and when I will never do that that's god-awful no never I would never be my career but my youngest who's now 20 was a great guitar player she was delightful enough to at our first big noise show and invited him up and he played really bad ass blues slinky guitar two years later he's like guitars are put down and he is spouting and spitting rhymes and he's become a hip-hop guy and is building amazing beats singing now and yeah he's right now in making a record and he's out there Wyatt Mosier being you know mr. YouTube here's me here I am and check me out next year oh I know we're gonna make this a town meeting it just one second I have one more question for you that very curious about spending time with your whole catalog one thing I love about you music is that you have lived through several cycles of production styles of course the Tony Brown year as you know and now you're into a totally different sound but you're always you no matter what setting it is and there's always that that that intimacy that immediacy that humor everything you do and I wonder how as a vocalist you have over the years worked with producers adapted to what's happening in the studio and led in the studio and now you have this guy producing you I don't know too much about him but as I heard you speaking I thought about a story that Tammy Wynette told me when she recorded stand by your man number one she didn't care for the song number two they told her she had to record it and number three the producer was chosen for her and she told me this whole story about and it just sounded like the only role she played was simply the chick singer and I remember that day saying I will never do that because I'm the next generation of greatness and that'll never happen to me not not so what happens when you start out in the music business and and it happens to everyone is you think they're doing you a favor by giving you a deal you feel which I was at the time so grateful and so wanting to be the teacher's pet and then I met Tony Brown and he was not only the piano player for Elvis but he was also a producer and I had so much respect for him I gave my power away because I think sometimes I wanted rather than be right I wanted to be loved and I think often times I'd leave the studio now when it came down to I will say this when it came down to specifics like when I sang no one else on earth I put a growl in there and he said it's not really country and I said I don't care I feel that I would stand up for myself so you have to pick your battles you have to decide as a singer do I want to be right or beloved and then you have to say you know that doesn't work for me if it's really invasive but I'm such a team player I wanted MCA records to know that I was the best and feel it and when and I was caught up in the 20s something of that successful stamp of approval when I got into my 30s and I had Elijah at 30 I went oh hell no and I recorded Freebird for Lynyrd Skynyrd because I said they're the only chick we could think of that could pull it off I was pregnant barefoot and wailing on that song and I had a meeting with myself I would never so I went through a transition my point is from being I want to be liked people pleaser too kind of pissing people off a little bit saying no and I got into it with Scott Borchetta at MCA and we were enemies for years until we met in a parking lot at Target and I said I'm serious I said come here and I stamped that finger and he came over and I said we're doing this right here and we made peace because he said you're to rock and roll and he tried to label me and a woman does not want to be labeled I can talk about myself my mama does but you ain't gonna talk about me so I went through a really tough time between producers dann Huff was a is a brilliant producer you're right the styles just like when you go out on a blind date you hear some things about them and you want them to like you what's great about this character over here is I can be so raw and so real and broken and wounded and pissed and angry and sex and a fight with a daughter my daughter that day and just sing from a place of such brokenness and he accepts me for so I think it's important to pair up with someone who really knows you and allows you to be authentically yourself because some producers come in with a calling card you know I love and I won't name names but there are some producers I swear to god they think the rock stars they just do and they're not you know they may be the tree but were the fruit and you know the foot cannot say to the hand I don't need you and so the producer Tony Brown was a master however I got lost in a little bit of that because I attached myself to him and I didn't hold my own because I was young and thank God though on she's only need I worked for two weeks getting that vocal cuz I wouldn't let him use Pro Tools and he was like we could fly the vocal in which means you can take a vocal and attach it to the second and third and I said no I have to because I come from the school of if you can't do it live you know shut up your face and that was before all the electronic crap so in crap meaning that it fixes stuff that's not look I'm perfectly imperfect and I told him that and I said I'm gonna have to sing this live as you'll hear me sing it tonight with a guitar I can't stop stay behind production but with this one he'll say any little less of a growl and a little bit more of that you know Wynonna that is vulnerable and I'm like okay I had listened to him because I respect we know this without respect it's hard to listen to somebody and say okay you're right because truth without you know love is brutality and I think I was so brutalized around the area of that perfectionism wanting to be successful that I listened and sometimes I did leave my ego at the door and I needed to come in with a little bit of it enough to push back so I think as I entered my 30s and you know I think this is a personal thing as a woman hits 30 and she's had a baby you know what you men push a pot roast through your nose and tell me that you're good you know I was on tour so I guess what I'm saying is I had a strength that happens and with kids and where I went you know what no and no is a complete sentence I had to learn how to say no talk to my manager cuz I said yes to every she's like wine honor two-thirds of your year's benefits you're not you know making any money like the month of July so I'm saying to you all stand up for what you believe in fail on your terms rather than succeed on someone else's kind of stuff I went through a transition part of what we've done on this record the whole idea was that the concept that I came up with and we talked and she and I discuss and she totally said that's exactly what we want to do or what I want to do is put a band on the floor which is this man that we that we put together and and just let it happen just play you know try and let everybody have have their what they want to say instead of really cookie cutting which a lot of the records are it's very very similar as you know you know every from artist artist it's the same band it's the same concepts and the same little things are happening and we said let's just let it really be us in this room playing and it really was we put it on the floor big room and really tried to get her I said I want to see when we're done with the track I want to see that the vocal is almost done really this live and for obvious reasons we know that she could I knew she could certainly you know pull that off so that was the deal and there's been a few things we're gonna fix a few things you know we're in this process now but we really did just kind of play live and there are really oh my phone's ringing that's nice I'll take this moment to say we have just a little time but so let's get some questions well I don't know what's the hot what are the room police are the room police okay for us to go a little long if anyone wants to ask a question would you please come to the microphone don't be scared well we have to record it actually no yeah because yes this is being recorded as well yeah where's the mic actually we have we have I in fact never learned your name my helper Matt Matt what we met he's going to help and bring you the mic Jenna is is you said that this record is different than all your other ones now I know lyrics usually have a big plane and not just music now are your lyrics different as well now what are they more they're about the stuff in life that we don't want to admit I do a song called the 12 steps in the 23rd psalm and it's a song about recovery things I lean on it's about Travis Meadows who's a brilliant writer has written a song about you know pill for the night I can't rest something for that when the thrill is gone the words a little baby king when the thrill is gone and he says these are the things I lean on he's talking about whether it's booze or it's you know because we're all recovering from something and it's talking about you know what my mammals voice on the telephone these are the things I lean on he's talking about look I never would have saying that you know I would have never admitted some of the stuff I'm admitting but since I've had children and I've been to the well and I've been to hell and I've been through all these things I'm willing to stand up and say I'm perfectly imperfect I would have never said that in my 30s I had it all going on we call it the tap-dance with a load in your pants what a visual is that right so that is what a lot of my career is some of it came out of that crap was me going oh my god what have I done now I'm singing about you know what I am dying from the sadness of my child leaving home and as a mom I am empty and I'm sad and broken and I still have a song in my art and people are weeping when they hear these songs is it's like holy crap this is too much but it is live people it's not just oh this is a little ditty I wrote about having a great day some of the stuff that we report is about there's a song called something you can't live without about she and I coming together giving each other that look you need to know me it's just yes you're right the lyrics I am an interpreter I know how to take the lyric and beat the crap out of it and make it mine and I have and it's painful it's real and it's something that I'm proud of and I'm scared to death because it's that vulnerable to put that out there and watch people go oh so she's not as together as we thought you know because a lot of entertainers and people in the music business as well as art period we try to act like we all have this formula for success and all the things buttoned up know we show up with what we have and we just pray to God that he meets us in the middle and I just I'm so sick and tired of people walking in like all that and look we're all dying you know I was backstage with Stevie and I'm looking at she's wearing the same hugs that I wear on the road this is Stevie freakin Nick's people she's got on uggs cuz you know her feet hurt she's tired you know but she would never walk into a press conference with that I don't think cuz we're you never know though she might not care but she's so real she might actually interviewed her for the conference I can't remember what you are I think something like those yeah no I get it all wanna you know act like we're all this is natural you know it's not right sorry thank you what you're saying is the words are just as equally important as it was a big part of picking songs or stuff we wrote what was the way how old are you okay you're 25 so if I'm 50 what would I say to a 25 year old there are songs I can actually say to you that are conversations that I'm able to have with you and understand you part of the record was as well was because of not being so worried about the box that's going to go into this making a great musical you know adventure that made that made the lyrical content be much broader because it's it's pretty narrow right now and a lot of the country music stuff that's happening and we're going that's not believable she's not in a truck in a pasture going to a party every night you know every weekend is not spring break so you know Shores Alabama Styx chicks don't kick in the sticks when they're 15 they've got 15 things to do anyway next question was I've been a fan of yours for a long time and one of my greatest memories is seeing you in a Kmart parking a lot in Franklinton yeah remember that highlight anyway you seem happier now than I've seen you in a really long time and I think it's a lot to do with this guy so I just want to know a little bit about how you guys finally coming together and saying hey you're it for me has changed your lives I didn't say hey you're it for me it happened really strangely but the bottom line we don't have a lot of time is we started dating and we got married in two months later he lost his leg in a motorcycle wreck this is all titanium and I watched the whole - percussion instrument and it either makes your brake shift and let's just put it this way we are bonded for life I'm in the shower with him as he showers literally holding him up so yeah there's a whole thing you can go and watch the documentary on YouTube the road back and that'll explain some of it the bottom line is no man has ever smacked my butt on stage no man has ever ever stood in the shower and come out and gone like it's a gift or something before we go on stage together do you see my point no man has ever had the guts I almost said the balls but I didn't thank God go for it having the guts to ever say you know what you need to sit down and he'll be you know but I know he's funny but he's serious my point is look I sure the bus with my mother for 10 years I'm not scared of much I'm scared I'm not scared of much I'm just not okay this man has got my number and I'm not thrilled but I accept it because he knows me and to be known to note to be understood to be able to say I'm really really having a hard time and him not judge you gonna meet you there in that place he's just my he's my partner I can't honestly say that I've ever had a partnership this equal cuz as an alpha female I thought at one point I think my mom even said you know what we're just like one step away from being able to self pollinate pretty much cuz I was raised with women you know I needed a man to come in what did what did Marty Stewart say she oh she need a man like you to come he did say that he did so I think that's you know we're like Ricky and Lucy you know we are so he plays the drums and I do comedy and we're having the time of our life and the show tonight will be about there are times when I'll forget the words and he'll do a drum solo and get the freaking standing ovation and I just look at a mic or I just start singing it's all joy and celebration I see a question back here yeah hi my name is Janita and I'm a bass player and singer and I've been actually I've been playing for about 25 years but in the rock and the punk scene and I was really curious you've had such an expansive career in country music and how has how has the music industry's idea of women in country music changed I know how it has in rock you know and it's it's getting a little bit more equal but have you seen a shift now that we have so much more equality you know what I'm just gonna tell people want a brilliant answer the bottom line is it's all the same I mean Stevie and I talk about the very same thing that I talk about with you know a Britney Spears or I mean everybody is dealing with the same crap of look it's seasonal women right now are not kicking as for instance but like they were five years ago but let me tell you something the seasons change I'm a big believer in you know we have four seasons for a reason God made the winter to get it spring to get us through the winter point is I think women are fighting for their own rights more yes I think individuals are I don't know that I've seen a paradigm I mean I don't know that I've seen this major thing that's been like okay this is a marker I will tell you this that I've watched Loretta and I've watched Tammy and I've watched dolly and they've told me stuff I'm not having to put up with the crap they are huh they do know and I know that there are girls that they're you know over here and I'm now the mentor and their eyes I'm seeing them get away I'm like she just got a whole line of free clothes I never got free clothes so I do see that kind of stuff and I go why did she do that you know interesting I see a lot of things happening a lot of I see a lot I see a lot of good and I see a lot of entitlement and attitude but you know it women are saying that they have more of a voice they may not be heard in terms of you're not gonna change the law today but I will tell you this I do see women coming in and saying no I'm not gonna do that I think in country music as you probably are well aware seeing hearing Kacey Musgraves be able to write the kena songs and sing about what she's singing and have it work and kind of cross this other line she had the Rankin on your mind so she did the same yeah you're cycling or maybe her face a little bit but that's a good point about women getting on country radio today there's a lot of talk about how difficult it I think it's I don't pay much attention to it I will tell you guys this you may ask me questions I don't pay attention to a lot of stuff because it brings me to my knees and I get very aggravated frustrated I feel like everybody should have their chance but I don't know I really don't I do know that I hear stuff and I go yeah whatever cuz I'm so busy trying to dress and show up on time I don't pay attention to a lot and make music I have a naivete in other words so I think that there is a lot of crap out there but there will always be a lot of crap out there you got to weed through it yeah it's that's an interesting thing I don't understand that for sure I mean right now it's exciting to have like I say with her with Casey or even with with breakfast with Brandi Carlile having this success he's having I mean there's it's infantile before in the 80s there were a lot more women having great success so it is a cycle so I know if that answers anything for you but but then you know what you can say that but then I sit there and I'm having a conversation you know with my friend and she has 21 Grammys and you're going wow she may not be on country radio she's 21 Grammys people and she's one of the greatest singers in the history of the world and I'm going Wow okay so you kind of kind of decide what's your goal you know lead affords a friend I mean she just wants to rock and get away with as much as possible go you know what I know all these women who just want to write I know Joni Mitchell she just wants to you know have an experience and go do what she wants to do so you have to kind of pick like what is your goal do you know what I mean do you want to be a songwriter or do you want to be just a just a protester do you want to be a peacemaker you got to decide and kind of stick with that if you feel you will because some people like she doesn't care about being on radio as much as she cares about being an artist she's getting you know t-bone Burnett is producing her and which her I lost track oh and she's balancing Krause you know Allison Krause my friend I don't care but she's got 21 Grammys so my point is I'd say that's equally as important if not more than getting on country on a single totally a great day that's just me I'm in Austin so I can say this crap is I'm not Nashville hey brandy Klark you know she was nominated for Best New Artist Grammy made one of the best records I don't care if she gets play on the radio cuz exactly well the more that happens the healthier for all of us by the way it wasn't on the radio and a friend of mine just to put our song it's number one on iTunes I don't understand it but so it's so crazy right now you almost have to have people like you sit in a circle like Jesus had the disciples and give you information to go okay I want to do that and that because there's so much opportunity we did we had this happen I just produced a gentleman who and why sang on the record and we had a number one on iTunes two weeks kill that was on there for a week it was a film a song we actually recorded for a film for the American sniper and didn't get used so I had a little bit of Attraction in the news but it was so funny then I got calls from management calls from his management because we're going to get ready to go in the studio and finish the record and the things they were saying we're all very classic and I said you know this is starting to feel really really good in Nashville to me and his managers like what do you mean I said well we without a label without a label we just had a number one we've had all this Beiber's has been a lot of attention he's been on television now he's got all the stuff going on was really nothing else but beside him you okay you guys are correct we need to figure out how to fix this and she sat there for me she goes oh are you being facetious I said yeah I was raised genderless my mother I don't ever remember saying wear a dress you're a girl or she raised two very I don't even have to go there you'll know exactly what I mean we have a voice and we know how to use it whether we can produce children or not we don't think that way people don't understand that that's okay I know that women talk about women's rights all this stuff I just I look at Ashley R my mom ago it has nothing to do that from me I can go in and sing just as good if not better than you know all the men who opened for me wink wait Garth Brooks when you were a puppy he's a friend it's my point is I don't think that way do you know what I mean whether I'm gonna radio or not I really don't cuz I show up a lot of times I'm the only country chick but when I come offstage I will tell you right now I will have four of the most beautiful sisters with hair bigger than mine come up to me and go I love your voice and you know what I do I go back to the bus and go yay God because my peers matter to me more than the stamp of approval on an award show and I know people don't believe me do I want to play a call soon someday yeah I'm getting ready to but I love playing the theatres where I could see the whites of your eyes and I want to come offstage and get on Twitter somebody say you made me cry thank you so much for your honesty and your empowerment in your heart I know we need to stop but I just keep wanting to bless you guys and give you something to take away that's not about me what is it my mother always taught me and I'll speak of her because she's going through a really tough time not being with me right now we were both separated and we're both broken but we're doing our thing she says to me strive for excellence not success and if you're lucky you'll get one more another question oh wow sorry I'm just processing that yeah speaking of excellence um I was just carrying her song writer and I'm just I've done a lot of live performing I'm just doing getting into recording now and I was just curious as somebody who's so masterful both mediums live in on recording if if there's a way do you when you're doing your vocals do you think about that differently and sort of how if you have a different basically when you're recording verses live do you sort of approach it with a different energy we do a lot of what we would just like a garage band we get together and we hammer it out before we even go in the studio someone we go in the studio we can have here's what I say and it's like a blind date if you could get together before the blind date and say I'm not gonna talk about my weight I'm not gonna talk about what and then have the blind date could you not have more fun it's kind of like that we want to get together and say let's get all this crap out of the way so when we get to the studio we can just play so I will tell you this when I go in I want to know if I'm gonna curve the R or if I'm gonna be more southern rock or I'm gonna be you know I do have my categories in my brain where I go you know what I want to sound a little bit more kind than I do cantankerous you know what I mean I want to sound a little bit more maybe sassy mom and then I do strict you know do your chores I think there's an just like when Ashley is doing a script reading she'll figure out the inflection later she goes and just says the words so I'll go in and look at the words and I'll process the words you know we're singing about death okay and so he'll put me on a mic and he'll have me sit there and and you know what I'll get a vision I believe in visualization I'll think about when my grandmother was dying and what she said to me you know what I mean I go I almost become an actress really and I live I live truthfully in imaginary circumstances hmm where I sit there and go okay I am looking down at this one watching him bleed out I'd do this this is really weird but he was bleeding out and I sit there and I become very vulnerable and I become to this place where I'm just talking to you and talking to God and nobody else and I think that's how I interpreted that answers your that's great no no the face is that there's a because a live performance is just that you're performing the song and when you're in that environment of the studio it's very intimate because it's you and those words and the only thing that the audience is on the other end when they get to hear it is going to respond to is do I believe do you bring me into that story and make the song be part of me as well and so it is it's much more like an actor when you're when you're on stage what when you're on stage acting in a theater you act much bigger and you when you're on stage performing you act much bigger when you're when you watch a film and you see great actors a little eyebrow move is a big deal because it says something and that's the very same thing when you're on that microphone and being that truthful well exactly what it makes you feel and what you're thinking like she just said can i watch the movie Like Water for Chocolate okay okay it's one of my favorite things because you can feel her emotion in the food she makes I want you to hear there's there's a moment and I'm singing at the very less and we're gonna do it no we're not doing that one tonight we're doing another song but at the very end of the song and you don't hear it unless you're really present and I'm singing from the the most I'm sitting on the front porch in the rocking chair watching my daughter pull out with all of her belongings and she's moved out and I'm telling you that's no BS that's like just take me now Lord and I am literally thinking about that and I'm singing and I can't do it without crying I cried all the time but I'm sitting there and at the very end I say 12 stairs at 23rd psalm and you hear me go so and you can tell that I'm and I wanted I want to change that honestly be honest with you I really do I want to go song I want it to sound more whispery maybe but he'll go no you're not touching that because you know why because you can hear it you can hear me in the sadness there's truth whatever you want to call it it's called it's called annoying it's called you know oh she's so broken Oh bless her heart but you can hear me that's the point if you can get it so honest that when you hear it you go oh crap you could tell I'm crying you could tell let me tell you what when you you can hear it I had a girl come up to me and go when you do that one thing it makes me want to kick somebody's ass and I'm like yes you know why because she's feeling that the where I'm at and if she's connecting with that I'm like get your ticket tell the cop thank you very much why not adjust I love the story life is had that happened to me what a guy said I got a ticket to your song I was like life is a perfect it's emotional and that's what makes the best parts of life we could have tuned that sucker and it would have been awesome we do not turn in Pro Tools I am against that like I am against a lot of things because it's not real I want to sing it on stage so when you're doing your next thing I want you to get so honest that you're not what is it what would I do if I knew I couldn't fail hmm just go that is beautiful sign this one thank you yes so Hallmark card you know but you shared so much wisdom can we here for these two

Channel: SXSW

Views: 39,631

Rating: 4.8207283 out of 5

Keywords: Sxsw, “South By Southwest”, South, By, West, Southby, Southwest, Fest, Festival, Austin, Texas, Conference, Lineup, Keynote, Speaker, Panel, Interview, Music, Film, Movie, Interactive, EDU, Tech, Technology, Gaming, Video Games, Media, Entertainment, News, Business, Training, Creative, Entrepreneur, Development, ACL, CES, TED, Talk, Comic Con, Red Carpet, Live, Performance, Showcase, Concert, TV, Television, 2018, 2019, Wynonna Judd, Grammy winner, New York Times bestselling author, Ann Powers

Id: RmQSwEDYHog

Length: 59min 50sec (3590 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 24 2015