Wynonna Judd Suffered Vertigo Spell, Canceled CBS New Year’s Eve Performance

Wynonna Judd was set to ring in the New Year with Kelsea Ballerini in Nashville Saturday night, but she had to withdraw from the concert. Judd, 58, said she had an “extreme case of vertigo,” which prevented her from performing. The “What the World Needs” singer will still perform with Ballerini on tour next month.

“I was looking so forward to singing with my dear [Ballerini] tonight,” Judd wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of herself standing onstage. “Instead, I am on the bus struggling with an extreme bout of vertigo and am unable to perform… Nashville, I am absolutely heartbroken and so sorry to have let you all down tonight. Kelsea, I look forward to stepping onstage with you in February, better than ever!!!!”

Ballerini will join Judd on three dates as part of her The Judds: The Final Tour shows. They will perform at BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Feb. 2, T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri on Feb. 3, and Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis on Feb. 4. The winter leg of the tour will start on Jan. 26 with Ashley McBryde as the featured guest. Little Big Town, Tanya Tucker, and Brandi Carlile will join Judd on dates later in the tour.

This past year was difficult for Judd and her half-sister, actress Ashley Judd. Their mother, singer Naomi Judd, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 30, 2022, the day before Judd and Naomi were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Naomi was 78.

The Judds planned to tour after their induction. Rather than cancel the tour, Judd decided to continue the tour to celebrate their legacy. The first leg began in September 2022 and continued through October 2022. Carlile, Faith Hill, Little Big Town, McBryde, Trisha Yearwood, and Martina McBride joined Judd throughout the tour.

After the first leg of the tour, Judd reflected on letting her grief show through her performances. “I talk about her in a way that people understand,” she said. “They know my sign language, my short(hand). For instance, I’ll say stuff to her, and I look up a lot ’cause I talk to her a lot, and she’s on the stage.”

“There are things that you’ll see during the show where you go, ‘That makes sense,’ and it’s been a really interesting deal to try to incorporate her, but to also live in the moment and look to the future,” Judd continued. “To visit the past, like a scrapbook, and say something to her like, ‘Why aren’t you here?’ And you can hear audience members gasp because they know I’m talking to her and I’m living my life in the public eye through this grief. So I’m talking to her, and I’m saying things like, ‘I don’t understand why.’”