Wynonna Judd & Lucinda Williams Make Surprise Appearances With Waxahatchee At The Ryman

Waxahatchee brought her tour in support of her recently released album, Tigers Blood to Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Wednesday night. The concert was punctuated with an encore featuring a pair of powerful guests joining Katie Crutchfield and her band as country/Americana luminaries Wynonna Judd and Lucinda Williams were brought on to the storied Ryman stage.

Judd’s appearance came at the start of the evening’s encore. Wynonna previously collaborated with Crutchfield on the 2022 single, “Other Side.”

“Wynonna is an icon and a fountain of wisdom,” Crutchfield said at the time. “Sharing space with her to create something new was really nothing but a joy and an honor. Her spirit inspires me daily and her continued encouragement has meant the world.”

At The Ryman, Wynonna joined Waxahatchee on a performance of “Love Is Alive.” The song written by Kent Robbins was recorded by The Judds – the country duo comprised of Wynonna and her late mother Naomi Judd – and was a number #1 hit for the mother/daughter duo in 1985.

Like The Judds, Waxahatchee frequently covers songs written by Lucinda Williams, including “Fruits Of My Labor,” which was recorded and released on the deluxe edition of Waxahatchee’s 2020 album, Saint Cloud.

“As a musician, a woman from Alabama, a lover of poetry and literature, a believer in the dark, effervescent magic of the deep South, Lucinda Williams’s songs mean everything to me,” Crutchfield wrote about Williams. “She tells the stories of my life, the lives of characters I swear I’ve met before, the lives of my mother and grandmothers and aunts and sisters, of black sheep, of the dead and the dying—and she does it with such consistent singularity that I can confidently say I think she’s sitting at the table with the greatest songwriters of all time. She’s certainly my favorite.”

Among the Lucinda Williams songs recently covered in concert by Waxahatchee is “Abandoned,” from Williams’ self-titled album released by Rough Trade in 1988.

Earlier in the night during Waxahatchee’s main set, Crutchfield brought out guitarist/singer MJ Lenderman, who extensively contributed to Tigers Blood. Linderman’s time on the Ryman stage saw takes on the Tigers Blood single “Right Back To It,” and fellow album cut “Burns Out at Midnight.” Members of the opening band Good Morning joined Waxahatchee on the set-closing take on the title track “Tigers Blood.”