Wynonna: Family Secrets, Grief, and The Hard Truth

In this episode of Off the Record, Lisa Konicki sits down with Wynonna for a raw, revealing conversation. After a heartfelt tribute to the late Dolly Parton, the talk turns to The Hard Truth, the album Wynonna spent five years making with husband and producer Cactus Moser, and the first on which she wrote nine of the ten songs. She admits releasing something so personal is frightening, but explains why she had to: "We kept a secret and secrets keep you sick and there's no secret anymore." Wynonna walks through the stories behind the songs: discovering at 30 who her biological father was, only for him to die before they met; the grandmother who raised her spirits; her daughter's addiction and incarceration; and her complicated bond with her mother, Naomi Judd. "I love her so much that I forgot myself," she says, while describing the forgiveness the album helped her find. Her humor shines through too, as when she describes her two kids as "one on parole and one on patrol." Moser joins for the final stretch of the episode, sharing how the couple met on tour in 1989 and why he wanted the album's sound stripped-down and gritty. The episode closes on a hopeful note, with Wynonna teasing a more joyful next record. As she puts it, "The Hard Truth allowed me to be free." Let’s go Off the Record with Wynonna.