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Interview: The Future Revisited: Country Music’s Recent Past with Joe Galante and Naomi Judd

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"It just made sense," said Joe Galante, chairman of Sony Music Nashville, reminiscing about the Judds' first record deal in 1983. "To me, it never seemed like we were taking a chance because they were great."

The unknown mother and daughter duo with a simple, stripped-down sound had nailed a private audition for Galante, prompting the executive to ask the question that Naomi Judd said changed their lives forever--"How would you like to be an RCA artist?"

In an otherwise polished, pop-leaning era of country music, Judd and her daughter Wynonna helped catapult the New Traditionalist movement to the fore and attract a new legion of female fans to the genre. And Galante, at the time RCA's newly named top Nashville executive, ushered in a dynamic, prominent era for the historic label, which is still healthy and vibrant. He has guided the careers of some of country music's most successful figures, including Alabama, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, and Keith Whitley.

Judd and Galante joined program host Michael McCall in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's sunny Curb Conservatory on Saturday (5/15) for a discussion titled The Future Revisited: Country Music's Recent Past. The program hit on many of the themes explored in the museum's core exhibit renovation, which brings the story of country music forward in time from 1965 to present.

Although the two panelists are now mainstays of country music's contemporary story, they were both outsiders when they arrived on the Nashville scene.

"Oh, I was not a fan. There is no doubt about it," said Galante, who was asked to relocate from RCA's New York offices for a two-year stint in Nashville in 1973. His only knowledge of country music was what trickled onto the Top 40 pop charts. "I grew up on rock & roll, so there was a big gap there. For me, it was like, 'This is what I have to listen to?'"

It wasn't until Galante observed a Waylon Jennings recording session outside of RCA's own studios (which Jennings preferred) that he had an eye-opening experience.

 "It was the first time that I really decided, 'Wow ... I can actually like this,'" said Galante. "And then it led to [Ronnie] Milsap and Dolly [Parton] and by the time I got to meet George Jones and hear him sing, I was hooked. There wasn't any way I was going back after that."

Judd also knew little about popular country music as a single mother in California raising two children on welfare. She had abandoned what she called Los Angeles's "phony-baloney materialistic culture" and moved her small family to the same Kentucky mountaintop she knew as a child. The aspiring nurse cultivated her garden, hunted for wild ginseng, and made lye soap.  In a household where "Ralph Stanley was Elvis," and there was no television or telephone, Judd placed a guitar in Wynonna's hands and watched her introverted, twelve-year-old daughter blossom.

"We came to Nashville because of Wynonna," said Judd. "She just had her destiny stamped on her forehead." 

The Judds and Galante broke new ground when Galante sent the duo out on the label's first ever radio promotional tour across the United States, a model that would prove highly successful in the modern era of country music. On the road, the duo typically would meet up with one of the label's five regional representatives and perform live for radio folks in a remote studio setting. Judd and Galante lamented the now-defunct model, which has been replaced for the most part by preprogrammed playlists and automated announcers.

"I'm just a people lover," said Judd. "We really knew these people. I would give them gifts and send them Christmas cards. For instance, when they would play our records, they would say things like, 'Wynonna and Naomi are in a contest to see who has the reddest hair.'"   

McCall screened a clip from the museum's collection--Alabama's downhome music video for "Dixieland Delight"--which helped launch the group to superstardom. Galante and Judd spoke about the Country Music Hall of Fame members with great reverence. The groundbreaking country band shared the stage with the Judds and was one of Galante's first artists as the head of RCA Nashville. 

"Whenever that fiddle came on it was like going to a Led Zeppelin concert. People would just go crazy," said Galante. "They immediately brought in a younger audience to the format."

"I love words," said Judd. "And 'Zeitgeist' is one that perfectly describes what was happening with them.  The Zeitgeist is what's going on in a culture across a big area. The Zeitgeist was absolutely yearning for them because they were so real. They were cousins, and they really lived that life."

The discussion also delved into some of the harsher realities of life and the music business. The two had emotional reactions to a clip of the late Keith Whitley performing live in the mid-1980s.  As Galante smiled at vintage photos of a fresh-faced Whitley, he discussed the talented singer's brief but remarkable career, and his artistic impact on the likes of Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw, and Chris Young. Whitley lost his battle to alcoholism in 1989 despite several interventions from friends and family, and even Galante himself.

"It was a terrible emotional battle for all of us because you only saw great things for him," Galante said. "But those demons absolutely won out in the middle of the night when it's really dark and you're all alone. None of it was in our consciousness as a society. As an executive, I was ill-prepared for that. It woke us all up at that point."

Naomi Judd dealt with her own tribulations in 1990, when she was diagnosed with hepatitis C. She contracted the chronic liver disease from an accidental needle prick during her days as a nurse. In an instant, she went from a performing headliner to fighting a critical illness. The Judds announced their farewell tour in the same RCA office where they first auditioned for Galante.    

"As a mother, it was not about me at that point. It just clicked, and I thought, 'She's [Wynonna] gotta go out on her own.' That gave me a new purpose and completely got me out of myself. It was like, 'OK, what do we need to do here?'"

Naomi Judd successfully completed the farewell tour, and Wynonna went on to sell over five million copies of her self-titled first record. The tour, said Judd, was like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. She recalled that a bodyguard was positioned near her and assigned to watch her every move on stage in case she took a spill. In typical Judds fashion, she said, there were a host of challenges, from family illnesses to a blizzard. "It was like ... how melodramatic can we make it!"

McCall praised the boldness of country music during the contemporary era and Galante's willingness to reflect society within the music, even if there was some resistance from radio or commentators. The packed audience viewed Martina McBride's fiery video for "Independence Day" (directed by Robert Deaton in 1994), a shockingly defiant song about spousal abuse, which resonated with a society transfixed by the O.J. Simpson trial.

Galante marveled at the power of the tune years later, when McBride performed the song's chorus a cappella, in Central Park, three days after 9/11."The song took on a completely different meaning to everybody in that audience," he said.  "You just saw everybody melt. It was the first time that I'd ever seen that happen, where I knew the song and the character changed for that very moment." 

 "[Music] is the backdrop of our personal lives, so we need it to inspire us," said Judd. "It has to be a slice of life, or relevant to the times. We need songs that are singing about the stuff we talk about on our front porch, at the kitchen table or at the water cooler." 

The Judds were key players in the explosive growth of country music in the 1980s and '90s and beyond. Since Naomi Judd's retirement, she has written books, hosted talk shows, and been a panelist for TV talent shows. The Judds will reunite for their first tour in a decade in late 2010, and they are slated to open CMA Music Fest this year. 

McCall ended the program with a heartfelt "thank you" to Galante for his forty years of dedicated professionalism at RCA, now Sony. He recently announced his departure from the company.

"The Hall of Fame applauds you for everything you've done for country music, Nashville, and the music industry," said McCall as he led a warm round of applause.

 "He's the man with the golden ear!" Judd added. "The reason he's been around all this time is the man knows his music. I'm very proud to consider him a friend. He's one of the best guys you'll meet, and one of the best things that's ever happened to country music. True story."

--Jeremy Rush