Wynonna Judd didn't precisely take an extended hiatus following the 2003 release of
What the World Needs Now Is Love, but her attention did drift away from new songs. She dabbled in her past -- she staged a live retrospective, embraced nostalgia on the 2006 Christmas album, sang covers on 2009's
Sing: Chapter 1, reteamed with her mother
Naomi for a brief
Judds reunion in the early years of the 2010s -- but never looked forward until she and husband
Cactus Moser formed
Wynonna & the Big Noise in 2012. It took a while for the band's eponymous debut to come out -- it was announced for a 2013 release but didn't hit stores until February of 2016, its delay possibly due to the underperformance of "Something You Can't Live Without" in 2013, or perhaps it took the group a while to get the album right. Either way, the resulting album feels neither fussy nor rushed: this music is well weathered, embracing its slow, steady roll and cherishing its old-fashioned contours. That's not to say that
Wynonna & the Big Noise are either unaware or uninterested in modern music. Two of the biggest rebels in 2010s Nashville have a presence here --
Chris Stapleton co-wrote the opening "Ain't No Thing" and
Jason Isbell duets on "Things That I Lean On" -- but a greater indication of how assured and muscular
Wynonna & the Big Noise feels are cameos by both members of
Tedeschi and
Trucks, both providing a big, bluesy kick whose aftershocks are felt elsewhere, surfacing in slow, swampy vamps and soulful grooves. Despite this embrace of blues and rebellion, much of
Wynonna & the Big Noise is rooted in soul, whether it's the down-home faith of "Jesus and a Jukebox" or a sharp cover of
Raphael Saadiq's "Staying in Love." The presence of the latter suggests just how casually inclusive and sharp this album is: freed of commercial expectations and paired with an empathetic band,
Wynonna will sing anything she damn well pleases and she's wound up with a monster of an album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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