Naomi Judd Interview (page: 2 / 5) Country Music Artist and Social Advocate	Print Interview

Could you tell us how your recording contract came about? It's such an amazing story.

Naomi Judd: You know, it's the strangest thing to hear other people talk, or to read about yourself in print and to see something sort of become folklore, when you know the truth of the matter is that it was actually just a series of very ordinary moments. Earlier today, I was talking to Rosa Parks, and I thought, "All she was doing was being herself." All she was doing was saying, "This is what I stand for, and this is what I don't dig."

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Wynonna and I walked into RCA Records on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee, March 3rd of 1983, and supreme naiveté. I think I had on a $20 dress from the flea market and this old plastic gut string guitar, and our knees were knocking so loud, we thought they could hear us. And we sat down in front of these big enchiladas and said, "Hey, this is who we are, and this is what we do," and we sang a couple of songs that I had written, which were pretty wacky. They were pretty out there, and they said, "Go down the street to a restaurant, and let us sort of talk this over," and they walked down to the restaurant and stuck out their hand and said, "Congratulations. You're RCA's newest act." Of course, we thought that everybody did it that way. We were clueless. They were the big deal at that time in '83. I remember we walked down the halls -- and of course they had Elvis and Kenny Rogers -- in 1983, it was Alabama and Dolly Parton, and it was like the Hall of Fame. Wynonna just walked in like, "I'm in church. This is a sacred place. This is the mother church of country music."

[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

Get the Flash Player to see this video. We didn't have a bio. We didn't have an eight-by-ten. We didn't have -- zero, zip, zilch. You talk about falling off the turnip truck! I love it, because that gives people hope, because that's what we're all about is saying that, "You know, technology is cool, it's all great, and the information highway and all that stuff, but you know what? Give me that human touch. Give me that one-on-one."

[ Key to Success ] Perseverance

What was it like when you first opened for the Statler Brothers? You'd never seen that many people in one place before.

Naomi Judd: I know that life is made up of ordinary moments. That's the greatest percentage of our lives, but there are those tens on the emotional Richter scale that just go off the graph, whether it's your graduation or having a child or getting married. I realized how enormously privileged I am, because there are only a few people who ever get to play the London Palladium or headline at the Astrodome or Madison Square Garden.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. One of the ultimate joys for me in these experiences -- of getting to perform for the first time in Omaha, Nebraska with the Statler Brothers -- is that I know I'm not special. There's absolutely nothing special or different about Naomi Ellen Judd, and I've always just felt like I am their representative. I just get to be the designated hitter. So, when I would get out on that stage and start twisting and twirling, I was doing it for all the single working moms, for all the women who were lonely and felt like they were just anonymous, just a victim or a face, living a paycheck away from the streets every week, or wondering how you're going to put a jar of chunky peanut butter on the table for the kids tomorrow night. I would be on that stage, or accepting a Grammy at a podium, or sitting on the couch of The Tonight Show, and it was such a humbling experience, because I just felt like I was their representative. I was just the one who got to have the nice dress and got to have the opportunity.

[ Key to Success ] Integrity

We're lucky to have you up there.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Naomi Judd: One of the things I've been saying to these kids here at the Academy today is I'm not a magical being. None of us are born with our destiny stamped on our foreheads. And if they start to come up to me and they're crying or shaking and I get this vibe of "Oh, if I can just but touch the hem of her garment, I will be made whole" kind of thing, I just grab them by the shoulders and make eye contact, and I say, "Hey, come on. Let's get real here. I am just like you. You are just like me, and let's talk about what you want to do." We're just dreamers. That's all it is, man. We're just a bunch of dreamers.

Maybe the adults here at the Academy are the charter members, and the kids are the initiates, but that's all it is. They've got parents. They've got teachers. We're just going to take it to a new level here. "Hey, we've got this club. Come on, we're all in this together."

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