Wynonna

When Wynonna Judd began her first solo tour a few months ago, she realized she had a bit of an image problem.It wasn't the sort of public misperception that usually plagues pop stars, though. For most of us on this side of the country music business, Wynonna used to be the younger half of the Judds, and now that her mother, Naomi, has retired, is the solo half. And given the strength of her voice and the assurance of her delivery, few of us on the fan end of things had any reason to doubt that Wynonna would have any trouble coping in a career without Naomi.

First off, big thanks to Diane Trap for filling in for me Monday night. I only had the one Manhattan , but then there was the glass of wine... and one never wants to recap under the influence. Or maybe one does, but only in a more measured way in the privacy of one's own home. Tonight we start with a jazzy routine choreographed by Jason Gilkinson and danced by the pros and the troupe. First we see Dorothy's routine being called a mess, which she readily agrees with. Then Carrie Ann hits her head on her own arm, bouncing off her spiked bracelet, then worrying about whether said bracelet has put a hole in her head.

When is country music not country music?That's the question raised by Wynonna Judd's new album, "Tell Me Why" (MCA 10822), arriving in stores today. It looks country, what with contributions by Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Lyle Lovett, Naomi Judd and producer Tony Brown. And it's surely going to be sold as country, particularly after the triple-platinum success of her last album, "Wynonna."It just doesn't sound particularly country.Granted, a lot of what comes out of Nashville these days doesn't sound particularly country, but what's going on here runs a bit deeper than merely mixing a few pop tunes in with more typical country fare.

Amy Watts is off for a birthday dinner tonight, at a joint too classy to have a TV above the bar (two Manhattans and she gets all CAPSLOCK!, three and she loves spats). Reality sets in! Week two begins. Grand entrance: No eliminations last week, so all the stars are still with us: Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough, Victor Ortiz and Lindsay Arnold, Ingo Rademacher and Kym Johnson, Lisa Vanderpump and Gleb Savchenko, D. L. Hughley and Cheryl Burke, Zendaya and Val Chmerkovskiy, Sean Lowe and Peta Murgatroyd, Alexandra Reitsman and Mark Ballas, Dorothy Hamill and Tristan MacManus, Wynonna Judd and Tony Jovolani, Andy Dick and Sharna Burgess, and Jacoby Jones and Karina Smirnoff.

Franklin, Tenn.-- Wynonna Judd's red hair blows in the brisk afternoon wind as she steps from the '57 Chevy in the parking lot of Dotson's, her favorite hometown restaurant.As funky as an aged guitar, Dotson's has been a favorite hangout for Wynonna ever since her mom, Naomi, drove that same bright red Chevy here from Kentucky about a dozen years ago. Naomi's sights at the time were on nearby Nashville and a recording contract, but she thought quiet, suburban Franklin would be a better place to raise her two teen-age daughters.

Many performers keep their personal lives private. You don't know if they're married or how many children they have. They won't talk about these issues in interviews. But Wynonna Judd's life has nearly been an open book. She and her mother, Naomi, were the most popular mother-daughter singing duo in history, selling millions of records and touching fans with their spiritual, family-centered love songs, before Naomi retired due to life-threatening hepatitis three years ago.The pressure has been on Wynonna ever since.

After a while, you wondered why they were even there. Sporting magnolia-white tuxedo jackets, members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra sat behind Wynonna Judd's tight rhythm section looking like mannequins - their instruments at rest during most of her show at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Saturday night. But when the orchestra did join in, usually during the tender ballads and poppy mid-tempo numbers, the effect worked, often beautifully. The stage definitely belonged to the full-figured country star with the flame-red hair.

WYNONNAWynonna Judd (MCA 10529) Now that Naomi has retired from performing and recording, the Judds no longer exist in the plural. But after experiencing the singular charms of Wynonna Judd's first solo album, "Wynonna," it's doubtful that listeners will much mind the change of case; some may even like it better this way. True, Wynonna's singing is a mite more rambunctious than the duo's output was, but that works to her advantage on songs like "What It...

Early on in her performance at Pier Six Saturday evening, Wynonna Judd peered out into the crowd and caught sight of a group of Stetson-topped dancers."

She was unwed and pregnant as a teen-ager. In her 20s, she was a single mom who was unemployed and doing drugs in Los Angeles. As a thirtysomething, she took her eldest daughter out jTC of high school so they could sing together in roadhouses and smoky saloons.Let's give a great big happy Mother's Day hello to Naomi Judd, television's newest supermom and co-executive producer of NBC's "Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge." The two-part, four-hour docudrama celebration of Naomi Judd's life starts tonight at 9 on WBAL (Channel 11)

After a while, you wondered why they were even there. Sporting magnolia-white tuxedo jackets, members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra sat behind Wynonna Judd's tight rhythm section looking like mannequins - their instruments at rest during most of her show at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Saturday night. But when the orchestra did join in, usually during the tender ballads and poppy mid-tempo numbers, the effect worked, often beautifully. The stage definitely belonged to the full-figured country star with the flame-red hair.

An update on the concert scene: newly announced shows and ticket availability. For ticket information and purchase, call Ticketmaster at 410-481-SEAT unless otherwise noted. Just announced In addition to April 11, a show for April 7 has been added for Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott's performance at the MCI Center in Washington. Tickets are on sale now. Roy Ayers, Jean Carne, Michael Henderson, Angela Bofill and Jon Lucien, will perform at Constitution Hall in Washington April 24. Tickets go on sale today at 10 a.m. BT Productions' pre-Mothers Day Cabaret, starring the Dells, Ollie Woodson, former lead singer for the Temptations, the Intruders, Eddie Holman and the Panama Band, will be May 8 at the Fifth Regiment Armory.

It's always nice to be feted by your friends -- especially when your friends include Elton John, James Taylor, k.d. lang and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Those and about a half-dozen other musical acts were on hand last week to praise Joni Mitchell, and the results will be aired Sunday on TNT. "An All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell," taped Thursday at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, features music both wonderful -- Cyndi Lauper's emotionally charged version...

CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. -- Even the people who own homes on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institution must pay a fee to get in during the season.Chautauqua is a gated community; admission is charged every day but Sunday, although children under 12 and adults over 90 get in free. Tickets range from $6 for an afternoon, to $190 for a week, to $815 for the nine-week season.Once you're in, there are other expenses. Admission is charged for some entertainment (this year's performers included Wynonna and the Beach Boys)

Wynonna Judd and Bette Midler? Who thought up this pair?* "Family Matters" (6 p.m.-6:30 p.m., WDCA, Channel 20) -- Urkel gets in the ring with the Bushwhackers, a tag-team wrestling pair who have three teeth between them, walk as if they just stepped off a comics page and endearingly lick each other's heads. Talk about must-see TV.* "Strange Luck" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- This season-ender may be your last chance to watch the series, as the folks at Fox won't decide until May whether to renew it. Tonight, Chance (D. B. Sweeney)

RevelationsWynonna (Curb/MCA 11090)It's always good to see a singer stretching limits and broadening horizons, but with all the unexpected twists and turns presented on "Revelations," it's worth wondering if Wynonna hasn't gone too far in that direction. It isn't so much that the material runs mostly to rock and soul; that's been the case with her solo albums from the first. Rather, the problem with "Revelations" is that it virtually ignores the country side of her sound, presenting her less as a Nashville crossover than as just another middle-of-the-road pop singer.

Wynonna Judd and Bette Midler? Who thought up this pair?* "Family Matters" (6 p.m.-6:30 p.m., WDCA, Channel 20) -- Urkel gets in the ring with the Bushwhackers, a tag-team wrestling pair who have three teeth between them, walk as if they just stepped off a comics page and endearingly lick each other's heads. Talk about must-see TV.* "Strange Luck" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- This season-ender may be your last chance to watch the series, as the folks at Fox won't decide until May whether to renew it. Tonight, Chance (D. B. Sweeney)

SHE didn't want to call it the Farewell Tour.Naomi Judd -- at age 45 the senior member of country's most popular mother-daughter team, also known as the idea person, the Imagineer, the Queen of Everything -- had some other suggestions.Such as the Sunset Tour."Because the sun sets every evening but rises the next morning," she said."I hate the word farewell because it means goodbye," she said during telephone interview during a pause in what was ultimately called The Judds' Farewell Tour. "I have a hitch in my giddyap, but I'm still going.

She was unwed and pregnant as a teen-ager. In her 20s, she was a single mom who was unemployed and doing drugs in Los Angeles. As a thirtysomething, she took her eldest daughter out jTC of high school so they could sing together in roadhouses and smoky saloons.Let's give a great big happy Mother's Day hello to Naomi Judd, television's newest supermom and co-executive producer of NBC's "Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge." The two-part, four-hour docudrama celebration of Naomi Judd's life starts tonight at 9 on WBAL (Channel 11)

Many performers keep their personal lives private. You don't know if they're married or how many children they have. They won't talk about these issues in interviews. But Wynonna Judd's life has nearly been an open book. She and her mother, Naomi, were the most popular mother-daughter singing duo in history, selling millions of records and touching fans with their spiritual, family-centered love songs, before Naomi retired due to life-threatening hepatitis three years ago.The pressure has been on Wynonna ever since.