Wynonna Set for 'CMT All Access' Special, Live country.com Chat
Hot on the heels of a new album and a reunion tour with her mother, Naomi Judd, Wynonna makes a special stop in her busy spring schedule tonight when she debuts on CMT All Access: Wynonna. The live, one-hour concert, hosted by CMT Hit Trip favorite Heather, airs at 9 p.m. ET and will feature only songs from Wynonna's solo career, including three numbers from her latest release, New Day Dawning.
Immediately following the event, at 10 p.m. ET, Wynonna will treat CMT viewers and country.com visitors to a live, one-hour chat, answering questions submitted by the Internet audience. Television viewers will be able to observe the online chat as it takes place, right along with those who have Internet access. The event offers a rare opportunity to interact informally with Wynonna.
"There are so many cool things about CMT All Access -- it's an intimate setting, and it's a hometown show, which is always fun. I've wanted to do the show for at least a year now," Wynonna said in a recent CMT press release. "Plus, it is live, you know. And you never know what might happen on live TV." Tuesday night at rehearsal, cast and crew caught a glimpse of tonight's show, and, by all accounts, CMT All Access: Wynonna promises to be very exciting. Dressed entirely in black with a stylish cowboy hat, leather duster and sunglasses, Wynonna sipped coffee, cracked jokes and relaxed on a stool as she and her band worked their way through tonight's selections.
"Wynonna is a true professional -- her band has obviously been with her for a long time, and they are tight as can be," declared Heather from her vantage point in the hall, which will seat some 400 fan club members, radio contest winners and local Wynonna enthusiasts. "When the cameras come on, you get that extra spark. It's just going to be amazing."
Viewers will be treated to "No One Else on Earth," the video of which remains one of Wynonna's most popular solo clips. Also scheduled are performances of solo hits such as "Only Love," "Is It Over Yet" and "Tell Me Why." Material from New Day Dawning will include "Going Nowhere," a rousing Macy Gray-penned gospel number, "I Can't Wait to Meet You," and a cover of the Joni Mitchell chestnut, "Help Me." Though some viewers will be surprised to hear Wynonna do "Change the World," a mega-hit for Eric Clapton in 1996, the song actually appeared first on her 1996 album, Revelations.
Tuesday night's rehearsal was the first installment in a busy week of appearances for Wynonna. After CMT All Access, she appears Friday night at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., with her mother, Naomi Judd, in a concert to be filmed for a May CBS television special. The Judds' reunion tour has been so successful that they've added a special concert, June 10, at AmSouth Amphitheatre in Nashville, immediately prior to International Country Music Fan Fair, which runs June 12-15 in Nashville. Tickets for the concert go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday through Ticketmaster outlets. A live album is in the works, recorded at the first show of The Judds' reunion tour, New Year's Eve in Phoenix, and a new Judds compilation, Number One Hits, will be released Tuesday (April 11).
More than 15 years after she first hit the airwaves, it's clear that Wynonna has no intention of slowing down. She left last night's rehearsal with a smile, to "go do my other job -- Mom," she said.
Musing about why CMT fans will want to tune into CMT All Access: Wynonna, host Heather summed it up nicely: "Well, it's Wynonna -- that's a good enough reason, isn't it?"