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Wynonna Judd received the Country Champion Award at the 2023 People’s Choice Country Awards. The Osborne brothers presented Wynonna with the award, which recognized her “commitment to philanthropy and community service.” And then she performed “I Saw the Light” and “No One Else on Earth” while standing in the circle of the Grand Ole Opry House stage. In black lace gloves and her signature fiery red hair, Wynonna roared and swaggered, dropping an ad-lib or two — “I’m still here,” for example in “I Saw the Light” — into her performance.
But it was the acceptance speech she gave after her two-song set that was equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring. For a few minutes, she ordered the standing ovation audience to take a seat, recounted how she did her mother Naomi’s hair while touring as Judds for ten years, and spoke candidly about the day she met Mother and singing partner took their own lives in 2022.
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“On April 30 last year, my mother committed suicide. I went to her house and she died there, but we still followed the ambulance to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. I walked into the room and held her in my arms, kissed her forehead, closed her eyes and said, ‘I love you, Mom,'” Wynonna said. “And I left that room, went home, got up the next morning and showed up at the Country Music Hall of Fame to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. You know why? Because that’s how much we love music.”
To drive the point home, Wynonna addressed her age and acknowledged that many Opry House viewers may not know who she is. “You weren’t born when I was having my fabulous years,” she said. “But in 199blahblah Tim McGraw was the opening act for me.”