Melissa Etheridge, Wynonna Judd open up about grief, healing on tour together
Rock icon Melissa Etheridge and country legend Wynonna Judd have spent the summer sharing a stage, and they say now is the perfect time.
"They don't know how hard it is to coordinate two artists to get together and do something. It's almost impossible," Etheridge, 65, told ABC News' Ashan Singh in an interview that aired Tuesday on "Nightline." "Where we're at in our life right now, this is something we want to come out and do."
The "Raised on Radio Tour" is a nationwide, 27-date co-headlining run that opened June 24 and continues through September.
"We were all raised on radio," said Judd, 62. "I remember hearing my song for the first time on the radio. Everybody has a memory. And everybody in the audience, when I sing '80s and '90s, they go nuts."
Etheridge broke through with her 1988 debut, won two Grammy Awards and took the 2007 Academy Award for best original song for "I Need to Wake Up," from the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." In January 1993, she came out publicly at an inaugural ball for President Bill Clinton, making her one of the most visible openly gay artists in rock.
"33 years later, I still have people telling me that in high school it meant so much that there was someone who was out," she said. "You can't take that away from me."
Judd was a teenager when she and her mother, Naomi Judd, broke out as The Judds, a duo that sold more than 20 million records and won five Grammys and nine CMA Awards before Naomi Judd retired in 1991.
"We went from welfare to millionaire pretty quickly. I was 18 years old, opening for George Strait at the Houston Astrodome," Judd said. "And of course I was with my mother, doing her hair every night. I didn't even know how to do my taxes, let alone be famous."
Naomi Judd died by suicide on April 30, 2022, one day before The Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wynonna Judd accepted the honor with her sister, actor Ashley Judd, at her side.
"The night before, I laid out my clothes and I said, 'I still have to show up, because this is part of my destiny,'" Wynonna Judd said. "My sister held my hand the whole time. I made it through, but I was lost. Healing comes when you open up and accept the grief and let it flow over you for as long as it's needed."
Her mother, she said, is still with her.
"Through the music. I'm just having a conversation with her constantly," said Wynonna Judd, who will release "The Hard Truth," her first solo studio album in a decade, in October. "It's made me a better person, not bitter. And that's the key right there."
Etheridge carries her own loss. Her son Beckett Cypher died in 2020 at 21 from causes related to opioid addiction. She released her latest album, "Rise," in March.
"Losing a child is devastating. There's not even a word for it in the English language," Etheridge said, adding that songwriting carried her through. "The best thing you can do for your child, or for the memory of that child, is to take care of yourself, to find your joy, because they're out of pain now."
Both artists are donating $1 from every ticket sold on their tour to two causes: The Etheridge Foundation, which funds psychedelic research for opioid use disorder, and Judd's to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Neither ruled out making a record together. "Wouldn't it be fun?" Judd said. "I've never done it before."
"Music is never over. I don't understand how people say they retire, because I don't think that's a word," Etheridge said. "That's like saying I'm going to stop using my right arm. And you don't. We'll just make music till we can't."
The "Raised on Radio Tour" continues through September.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, please call or text 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org or dial the current toll-free number 800-273-8255 [TALK].
