The season 22 finale of American Idol was a memorable one. The show said goodbye to Katy Perry, who will be relinquishing her judging duties after seven seasons, and 21-year-old-singer Abi Carter was crowned the winner. But for country music fans, one of the highlights of the night was the duet by Emmy Russell and Wynonna Judd.
Emmy is the granddaughter of country music icon Loretta Lynn, who passed away in 2022. She was eliminated before the final three but returned to perform for the finale. She and Wynonna wore coordinating turquoise-and-black outfits and held hands while singing Loretta's 1970 song "Coal Miner's Daughter" while images of Loretta were shown on screen. Wynonna and Emmy then joined forces to sing Wynonna's upbeat 1992 hit, "No One Else on Earth."
Before the performance, Wynonna told Entertainment Tonight, "I love Loretta. She gave me the shirt off her back, literally, and she was the first woman that hugged me in country music."
American Idol shared a video of the performance on Instagram and fans flooded the comments section with messages:
- "Wynona’s voice is just incredible. It’s a God given gift."
- "Emmy definitely held her own w Wynonna. Awesome performance ladies"
- "Wynonna is an iconic legend!"
- "Love to see the respect and emotion between these two ladies"
- "This pairing is everything! ❤️"
Wynonna has concerts scheduled throughout the summer before she hits the road for her "Back to Wy" tour in September. She'll be playing her debut and sophomore albums back-to-back for 17 special shows across the country.
Katie Bowlby is Digital Director at Country Living, where she covers pop culture news including country music, Yellowstone, and all things HGTV, plus gift guides and product reviews. She has been with Country Living for more than 11 years. Before that, she worked for Southern Living. The Indiana University grad also stitches up the cross-stitch pattern for every issue of the magazine.
