Blank'Big Noise' is Wynonna Judd's 'battle cry' after husband's ordeal By Elysa
Gardner, @elysagardner, USA TODAY "I think the first word would be 'smitten,'"
says Wynonna Judd, recalling the time she met Cactus Moser, her husband since
2012. That was more than 25 years ago, when the Judds, the divinely harmonious
mother/daughter act that made Wynonna, 51, and mom Naomi country stars in the
1980s, toured with drummer Moser's band, Highway 101. "He walked into a room
wearing chaps," Judd recalls. "And he had a mullet that looked quite fabulous.
Romance didn't bloom, she points out, until "I ran into him one fateful night"
years later. Judd thought he was married, "but he texted me and said he was in
transition. I had gone through my own transition, and the next thing you know,
he's grabbing the back of my head and kissing me in a restaurant. So began the
love story that led to Wynonna & The Big Noise, the self-titled debut album
from Judd's new band, led by Moser, who also produced the album. It arrives
Friday, just in time for Valentine's Day. Moser, chatting with his wife, says
he views Big Noise as both "a left turn" and a return to form for Judd. "We
didn't want to think about making something that fit the country music market.
She and her mom made music that was as pure as you can get, just amazing voices
with acoustic guitars. There are some bluesier rock edges on the album, but
some parts are as straight-ahead as what they did in 1984. The project, and
Moser and Judd's marriage, were tested early on: Just months after their
wedding, a motorcycle crash left Moser severely injured; his left leg had to be
amputated below the knee. "His hand was shattered, so he had to struggle to
hold a fork," Judd adds. "He was doing physical therapy in bed, not able to
take a shower by himself. Our bedroom was turned into a medical facility.
Fitted with a prosthetic leg, Moser, 58, can now get around without a walker.
"And he's playing more passionately than ever," Judd says. "I've seen him
overcome so many obstacles. The sight of him using the stairs again for the
first time had me in tears. Granted, neither love nor adversity has made the
famously feisty Judd entirely sentimental. When she says that she and Moser are
"pretty much together 24/7" and that "I've never been around anyone this much
that I enjoy this much," there's a sliver of self-effacing dryness in her
voice, as if she's poking fun at her own contentment. "Honey," she tells Moser
at one point, "you're so positive that it's irritating at times. Judd quips, "I
call him Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky, because he's been to hell and back, and if anyone
complains, it's me. I'm still the one who takes two hours to get ready for a
show. Turning serious again, she says Big Noise "is the album I will call my
absolute battle cry, because it's me with my fists in the air, saying 'I will
overcome. That's what we've done.