Wynonna on InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse

her public life began is half of one of the most successful country music duo's of all time The Judds charting 26 hit singles 14 of which went to number one when her mother and musical partner Naomi retired from performing in 1991 she continued on alone adding another 20 hit singles and three more platinum albums to her resume she has been a staple on TV hosting Nashville star enjoying numerous guest appearances and voicing the character of Molly on the Magic School Bus as her personal life has often played out in the tabloid headlines from marital discord to weight issues her talent and the love of her loyal fan base have elevated her to single name status hello i'm ernie manouse on this episode of interviews our conversation with country music superstar Wynonna is it exhausting being Wynonna can you spend a day with me and wish you could go home and have real job yes it's crazy I actually go on stage to take a break and you think I'm kidding but I've been doing this 25 years and I think much is given much is required and an hour ago I'm on the phone with my teenage daughter no you can't go to an r-rated movie you know I'm dealing with we know where my son can go skateboarding in Houston you know where they won't you know arrest him it's just a constant single working mom of thing and music is my my purpose and my passion and being a mother is the hardest job I've ever had and why do you think I to her you know so I go out on that stage and for an hour and a half it's all about me yeah because the other you know 23 hours or not and that's why I love what I do when you say it's all about you has it always all been about you well no say so was it about the audience what it was about that's a really great question I think I have suffered from the people-pleasing syndrome you know I got into this business when I was 18 years old and I was minding my own business you know straight out of high school trying to figure out what I was gonna do with my life and the next thing I know I'm propelled into you know being on the AMAs Good Morning America singing with the Super Bowls and all you know the World Series and I'm famous living in a you know goldfish bowl as they say and it was about the expectation it was about filling all the seats in about number ones and platinum records all that stuff but see when Fame came for you it happened very fast we look at people like on American Idol now today everyone says oh it happens too fast for them but you guys went out as soon as the judge started you were hit we were America's Sweethearts it was 1984 and my mom was working as a nurse and I was straight out of high school and yeah the next thing I know we're opening for the greatest Shiro's and heroes of music we are on the same stage at the Grammys with the greatest artists of all time and it was too much too soon for me for my mom she was ready you know she was 36 years old and ready to boogie and I was going huh but was it your dream my dream was to sing I don't know about the famous part and anybody who knows me knows that I tend to be off stage more of an introvert and shy and a bit backwards eccentric I was the one in my family growing up who I carried my guitar everywhere everyone knew I loved music and yet there was an awkwardness and I didn't fit in and I wasn't sure where to belong and I wasn't you know into sports and I wasn't great at school I wanted to be I wanted to be in music and I wanted to be able to be on the road with Bonnie Raitt opening for her or being in a band and have Tower of Power back in me yeah I had dreams I had visions I just didn't know how it was going to do it therefore that's why God you know put my mom on the bus with me to give me focus and direction and chores and reality checks it was a crazy crazy American dream story how he walked into RCA did a live audition with a guitar and we made it you know it's a remarkable story but all of this happens your whole world around you changes and you said you were awkward does that ever go away I mean when we see you sitting here now you're why no no I was just kicking drawers in about ten minutes ago crap oh my gosh you know because I think I've always had this overwhelming feeling like I'm gonna do something that throws me out of the party you know I'm gonna someone's gonna say oh we don't really need to anymore you know we've got this and now we're gonna do this and I think artists always feel like gosh am i relevant am I am I gonna make it there with this next record I don't know that we ever get over that you ever still want that I want to release number one I want to have the first I want to have this to go gold platinum or do you ever get to the point where you say you know what I'm just doing this music cuz I love do this music can you ever yes both I think I struggle with a lot of things like in the physical world you know not exactly where I want to be but I'm sure not where I was so I do celebrate you know being healthier today yet you know who doesn't want to you know have goals and and and meet them yet there is a part of me when I turn 45 that did that the switch flipped on that said you must not worry as much about pleasing everyone and you must start enjoying yourself or else you're going to be one of those artists that we see on TV that died at an early age or end up bitter and alone and wonder what the heck could I have done differently I don't want to end up bitter and broke I'd rather be fabulous you know the best revenge is living well so that has been flipped on and for me I'm starting to get it and that's why I made this record because I said to myself as much as I would love to be number one who doesn't love a party I think it's important for me to stop and be grateful for my journey we all the same you're talking saying chapter one cuz there are many chapters to come multiple personalities and music I love all kinds you know whether it's Tony Bennett Tina Turner or bluegrass whatever I was raised on it and it's part of me and people may think it's a gimmick or she's trying to attempt to do this it's part of who I am and when you come see me live it will make sense to you if you try to categorize me and you try to separate there's no way because it's one big package that is like a hurricane you know it all comes together in the shows and it makes sense live but if you try to put me on radio or do certain things to me good luck but is there a sound a Wynonna sound anymore that is a great I think there is a hearts cry I think there is a deep passion I heard you say you loved you know the album and what is it about the album that people are resonating to I think it's the pain and the joy that comes with life and I think people I do a lot of track vocals we don't use Pro Tools a lot which is for the layman instrument that we use in the studio to correct our voice and to make us sing in tune we don't use that and the reason being is I'm old-school I believe if you can't cut it live what does it go big or go home I believe in singing it and I will sing it until I get it right until it feels like something so natural like putting on that perfect pair you know if pants at the end of the day that you just go ha I want it to feel so comfortable that I don't have to you know fit into it it fits me so we work really hard on our records what's interesting when you say that because it took so long to make this album and I think and I don't mean long by others but when people out there are listening to here a year and a half to to record 11 12 songs how come there's a lot that goes into that it's called pre-production baby it's like the girl getting ready for the date it takes three hours yeah - look this fabulous say to yourself okay it's not easy anymore you know we may have more technology but that's not necessarily a good thing it's gotta mean something it's got to be real it's got to feel like when I breathe it that you believe it my friends and my lovers of music depend on me to say it like it is I want to be real and I want people to go gosh I don't necessarily really relate to that song but God you can really sing awesome that's something that I know salsa the name of the album - and I had read somewhere that you'd said you know the one thing you know you do well is you sing and you sing well and you put it out there what a concept yeah it's that hard to do though - to get away from the arrogance of it and understand it as an accomplishment you're proud of how do you balance that's a great question we were sitting around a boardroom table at Kerr records and we were literally trying to come up with the big moment you know release party and all these things and everybody was trying to come up with the title for the record and after all this stuff was flying around I you know I said something very simple and that was you know what guys I just want to sing and they looked at me like wow you know less is more I think sometimes my life has been such a combination such a paradox and I am a walking contradiction I sing about family and love and heart you know you read the headlines and you see what I go through but I think that's life I think it's for me it's an attempt at just trying to be real and keep the music honest and say to people like last night I said something on stage and the audience reacted to it I went whoa you know and I said something funny and then I got real and I don't know if they were ready for that but I had to say what I had to say in my heart or else I wouldn't be me yeah and that's what happens to you when you share a bus with your mom for ten years Thanks just speaking out and I won't apologize for it I'll just be myself and you know take my licks later yeah a great quote that I'm probably gonna slaughter but about you know when people say when you go into rock or other kinds of music and they say well you know where's the country and you say listen ten years on a bus do in your mother's hair what could be more country than that yeah I mean if that ain't country I don't know what is you know I've paid my dues I didn't play bars for 20 years but I lived on a bus with my mom tried some time and I listened most of the time because you know you're such a genius when you're 20 and I was meeting Bono and you know hanging out with all these rock stars thinking I was really sassy and my mom would look at me and say I'll take you back Appalachia is calling you know you're getting above your raise and so yes I was very blessed at times I felt cursed but it was my destiny for me to be with her so she would show me the way and remind me of where I come from which I've never forgotten I just sang on the Opry a couple of weeks ago to remind myself this is where it all started in this circle from the original Ryman I mean from the original Grand Ole Opry this is where I started let let me not forget where I've come from and country music even when I sing with heart or I get to sing with stayin all of those are like hi you know dear diary moments but I must not forget where I come from is there a point that you remember when you first realized wow I'm famous heck yeah what was it Vegas had you know this headline the jugs in like you know eight 10 foot letters huge like Vegas strip I remember that I remember thinking this is how Elvis must have felt because I was opening for Merle Haggard with my mom and they gave me something like $250 per day you know for food and beverage and I thought because we come from food stamps and Welfare and all that to go from that to Vegas with your name and lights are you kidding me and it was miss Judd and you know what can we get you and so did you react differently as soon as that happened heck yeah yeah I thought it was pretty cute there for a while and then all of a sudden crap started happening like you know the failures come because you make a lot of mistakes and the public eye I started being late I started developing that you know me me me me me thing and yet I always felt like I never fit in it's a weird combination stick with me fans because my book talks an awful lot about all the money I spent I lost my life savings and my fortune I was so used I think being on welfare not having I went right back pretty quick and yet made it back again and so I made a lot of mistakes and I had to to find my way to find balance and to realize what I didn't want I did a great job of that I knew what I didn't want after the first 15 years I just finished reading your book and the part that I thought was very interesting at the end of the book you talk about all the things you've learned well and I look at the book and I say you know that came out a couple years ago mm-hmm how much have you stuck with all of that and because I think it's so easy once we find a right way and we're like this is the answer it's very easy to slide mm-hmm how do you stay on it and have you stayed on I had a meeting today with Don Potter and for those who have read the book and seen the movie he is my mentor he's on the road with me playing guitar he's been with me since I was 16 years old we had a meeting today about something that he felt led to share with me I listened to my elders I have a great support group of people around me who hold me accountable I know to apologize when I come in and I'm late I have a very wonderful sort of healing recovery group of people who say to me let's talk about that or do you think that that was a great choice or they helped me weigh the pros and cons rather than before because I was so smart and I was my own pair before I mean the JED women were raised to almost believed we could self-pollinate I mean we were so alpha and so you know I am woman hear me roar but there had to be balanced with that of realizing I really do need others I don't need to isolate in my disease but I need to be known in my recovery and reach out to people and say hey I'm having a tough day today I think I've learned since my book that there has to be a balance between self and selfless I did not understand that for the first 20 years of my career it was all about I mean nobody ever says hey fill half the seats gold is good enough the heck with platinum or you know I mean I've always heard my entire life what I could do better you know if you just lose a little more weight or you'd sell a little bit more Records it was always about what I was getting ready to do or what I could do or when I dot dot and now I'm learning that my best is good enough today and that is a total shift for me from the days of I could have sung that better let me do another take seriously I lived in that belief system of I can run faster I can do better I can outsell my last project I think I bought into that because when the juds came off the road in 1990 I really did believe that I had to rise above the expectation I didn't have to just meet the expectation I had to jump started into something you know and that's another thing that fascinated me is the small amount of time between the final judge concert three months and the birth of 1o months I started actually working on my record and my career during the fair world tour so it was like going through a divorce and finding a new relationship all at the same time and it was insane and I'll never do that again and I now know that it doesn't make sense to sweep it under the rug and act like it's not happening but to fully embrace it let the you know tsunami wave of sadness and grief overtake you but not get into that pity party of one your table is ready suffering is optional you know is inevitable and I realize now that all this happened for a reason to keep me alive because if I had thought about it too long I probably would have stayed home really I was shattered debilitated and I was grieving and you can't tell the widow you know week after the funeral oh you'll find love again I mean come on you have to say hey I'm here I understand so what was it that got you that the fans wrote me I have some of the very first letters I got where I actually have a cheque from a fan who said here's 20 bucks I'm buying your first record and I still have it somewhere you know and the letters that I got from people who believed in me when I didn't even know how to believe in myself I didn't know how because I never had to I was always part of a duo yeah I was always part of my mother who gave birth to me and even if I was not feeling my best that day I could sort of defer to her she would handle it and I could just sing I didn't have to use my mind or be smart or clever I could just stand back and play my guitar and let her talk and all of a sudden it was me and I had to be responsible for everything and everyone I felt that way anyway if you had to do it over again would you have wanted that first solo album to be as successful as it was yes really mhm it doesn't set you up to them no at a time in my life when I needed validation and affirmation but I also am humble enough now to know that I had one of the greatest launches of any artist in the history of music because if you think about it if it hadn't been for the year goodbye they wouldn't have known to go oh hello they knew because of the farewell tour in the set up and the sort of presidential campaign she's coming she's coming and by God when I did you know that first week I think we sold 850,000 units in those days that was astronomical I mean people sneeze that today but my music is a reflection of who I am not just what I do so people were waiting to see what I had to say yeah if I if I'm coaching it correctly it was the largest selling album by a female country artist ever at that point in the her story her story about country music I was considered the the golden child and the one to watch for in and hey no pressure but it also validated me I think and I'm talking strictly from a mechanical I ran in 3.5 seconds I needed the numbers to show me that I had a reason to go on stage not because of oh they like me they really like me I can go on living it was just I'd worked my butt off I needed somebody to kick me in the butt and say come on let's do it you know that March that the wrestler does between the curtain and the rain that's how I felt like that record did it was like the chant go go go you know and once I hit the stage though I had to prove myself so it stopped there at the stairs when I walked up I had to then go out on stage and prove that I could do it live and I didn't move with I mean I've stayed within a three feet radius of the microphone for the first like 20 shows I was like and then all of a sudden Shazam you know I came out of my shell and people were like it was like watching you know that Acrobat that's flying through the air about to reach the hand of the other Acrobat and you're like god I hope they join hands I mean people were literally watching me hanging the balance is she gonna make it and there was something thrilling about that there was a part of me that was just cantankerous enough to go watch me and then five minutes later I would be on the floor weeping god please help me you know can I do this because people would say in grocery stores do you think you can make it without your mom I mean literally the fans were were in it with me we were you know digging the trenches together and they felt like they saw themselves in me I had just said goodbye to mom who hadn't said that call it moving out of the house and getting my own apartment they were watching me grow up and they were watching me move it to my next you know destiny I'm a total sidenote just cuz you mentioned it why didn't you have your own tour bus why did you and your mom share bus you know I've asked myself that a thousand times and honestly it would have been so lonely really chaos I think I thrived on it I think there was a part of me that just she's so crazy and wonderful and wacky and every night after the show we'd make popcorn and laugh and it would have been really lonely and I probably would have gotten hooked on drugs and I probably would have had one-night stands and I probably would have done everything you do when you're an artist and you're away from home you know an expert is just a little trip far from home I was just eager enough to find something illegal to do if I hadn't been brought back to the light because I was looking for independence I was looking for something to separate me from my mother and I needed that congruence I needed that constant glue every day to remind me you're not just a chick singer you are my daughter and you're valued and I love you and I am proud of you and every now and then I'd get it man I and when I did I'd hold on to it and just like every other kid in the world we want approval from our mothers you know if it's not one thing it's your mother you wait for that approval do you not still I mean if your parents are living do you not still go to the house and hope that they say something like that's a really good thing honey oh yeah you know I lived for that even if the world was saying you're the greatest singer in the history of the world I needed my mom to say job well done yeah do you still turn to her for that yeah a little less because I don't need it as much do I love to hear it I do save messages yeah where she says I just want you to know you're a great mom Oh save that message so yes I do but I don't rely on her testimony to validate me to the point of getting out of bed every day you know but I certainly love to hear the good stuff and if it's not great like she said something on national television the other day and I brought it up and said mom please don't say that well you your whole family has been extremely public especially you think yes you've been very public about stuff why why do I don't I think people are fascinated by watching a train wreck you know I know what it's like to want to know is you know you look at the wreck to see if you know and you know I hate to admit it but we're all responsible we're all responsible for all these artists out there who are in trouble and you know I've been there I've made great mistakes and I've been on you know smoking gun calm and I've been you know a headline that I really care not to be and I think people just can't help themselves looking at someone else's garbage so they don't have to look at their own and I'm the kind of artist when I talked to the fans on stage as you'll see tonight I I talk about this stuff I said you know what if I make a mistake I'm on American Airlines in first-class and my son comes out of the bathroom at age three completely butt-naked yeah this thing about being naked when he went to the bathroom what parent hasn't dealt with something but I had to deal with it on American Airlines yeah you know right before I met a premier of Ashley's my daughter has a tantrum and I have to rely on just grace and the mercy of an forgiveness of the fans and of my family thank God because I'm living it just like you are and these records save me this body of work is me going yes I have a gift thank you God I have a place to belong because there are days like today I couldn't get ready on time I had a bad hair moment you know I got eyelash glue in my eye I was trying to line my lips and I slipped and I'm just like oh my gosh this is too much pressure but I know that in an hour I'll go onstage and I know I can do that really good yeah and so it saves me given the choice if you could have had still sold records than a honky-tonk singer out there doing what you love without all the intense fame would you have taken it nope rooo I love being famous do you but I also am very burdened by it I love it and it's like that thing of I wonder if people really love me or they're just being nice to me I have to rely on the value system of others to say by the way he has a record you know or I wouldn't hire that person because I just saw them you know put one of your pieces of silverware in their purse I mean you gotta rely on your group of people but being famous people gave me good seats in restaurants I am the American dream people are always giving me things and saying I love you I mean who wouldn't want that do I believe that it's true when it comes to the fans yes I believe that country music is community and it's fellowship and these records are the backdrop of their everyday life this is not just a gig I mean I had a guy down front last night who she wrote me today and said thank you because I held his wife's hand and she's very ill and I could tell and I grabbed her for just a brief moment and it transformed us both in that moment it wasn't just an HBO special you know it wasn't about statistics it was about real life so I believe the fame part in terms of the fans and when I'm walking through the airport honey I'm gonna tell you what those people loved me that work down below the bowels of the you know the airport and the hotel you know I'm waving to the guy in the hairnet who's doing dishes he's like and I don't know it means it we need to get you on stage so I have to thank you so much for doing this with us and here's to another 25 years are you serious I hope so to order a DVD of this or any episode of interviews please visit Houston pbs.org

Channel: HoustonPBS

Views: 13,951

Rating: 4.8313255 out of 5

Keywords: KUHT, HoustonPBS, InnerVIEWS, with, Ernie, Manouse, Wynonna, The, Judds, singer, songwriter, musician, country, folk, western, Sing:, Chapter, What, the, World, Needs, Now, is, Love, New, Day, Dawning, Other, Side, Revelations, Tell, me, Why, Curb, Records, She, Is, His, Only, Need, Saw, Light, No, One, Else, on, Earth, To, Be, Loved, by, You

Id: rel0Vja7zb4

Length: 26min 48sec (1608 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 22 2009