Wynonna – The Hard Truth
With “The Hard Truth”, Wynonna Judd comes to terms with her past and with herself. With an almost unprecedented personal expressiveness, she creates an album in which past, present and future come together, without reproach and without continuing to wallow in it.
Wynonna Judd is the daughter of Naomi Judd, who, together with her daughter as The Judds, enjoyed great success in country music. In 1989, they scored a hit with “Why Not Me”, taken from the 1984 album of the same name. After 1990, Wynonna went her own way, and by no means without success. Especially in America, she grew into a major name in country music, both as a solo artist and with The Judds.
That her mother Naomi died by suicide in 2022, on the day The Judds were due to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, is a scenario that even a seasoned director could hardly have conceived. Add to this the personal struggle Wynonna has had to endure over the years to get back on her feet, including her battle with an eating disorder and financial problems. And then there is the fact that it was not until she was thirty that she discovered that her father was not her biological father. This man died in 2000, without Wynonna ever having seen or spoken to him.
These are the ingredients for a personal album that has few equals. Provided, of course, that it is performed well and with integrity. And that is exactly what happens on “The Hard Truth”.
For more than 43 minutes, eleven songs pass you by that are not inferior to one another and never allow your attention to wane. It is an album on which Wynonna does not make her life seem more beautiful than it is, but instead makes the listener a participant in her personal search for processing, acceptance and ultimately healing.
On “Hear Me Now”, she is joined by Iron & Wine. The song is about the raw and unfiltered truth of Wynonna’s life, about loss and emotional processing, and about learning to accept what can no longer be changed. A vulnerable and compelling song in which her personal story and the music come together naturally.
The War and Treaty also provide a warm, soulful Americana contribution on two songs. On “The Hopeful Lie”, we hear a smooth, John Hiatt-like shuffle, in which holding on to hope and comfort while life passes you by in all its complexity forms a recognisable theme. A subject that, given his eventful life, will not be unfamiliar to John Hiatt either.
Yet “Girl Who Could Sing” in particular deserves some extra attention. A poignant and deeply moving song in which Wynonna opens her heart in a therapeutic way. She sings about her absent father, whom she never knew or saw, and the questions that accompany this. What would her life have looked like? Where does she come from? These are questions that remain palpable throughout the song.
It is perhaps here that you come closest to the artist. Not because she puts her emotions ostentatiously on display, but because she shares them with the listener in a restrained and sincere way. As if by singing and telling her story, she can take another step forward in her own life.
And that may well be the greatest strength of “The Hard Truth”. The album never sounds like a contrived emotional exercise. No false sentiment, no embellishment, but pure music that has emerged from deeply rooted personal experience.
Wynonna Judd shows that finding healing has no age limit. Even at 62, you can look back, process and start again. Then, without regret and without reproach towards the people closest to you, face life with your head held high.
“The Hard Truth” is an engaging, sincere and moving album, in which Wynonna Judd does not push her past away, but gives it a place. And precisely because of that, it sounds like an album that not only tells something about her life, but also manages to touch the listener. Class album. (9/10) (ANTI-Records)
