Wynonna chose the Gstaad Country Music Festival for her European debut appearance last September 2000. She was the Star eveybody had come to see and she gave her fans an amazing show. She definitely was very busy in the Switzerland town, giving press conferences, speaking at the radio, signing autographs. But she promised she would answer the questions of Country-France as soon as she gets back home. And today, here it is for you, the exclusive interview of the great Wynonna by Country-France!

CF: Wynonna, first of all thank you very much for answering our questions and congratulation for your fantastic performance at the Gstaad festival! To start with I would like to know what your musical influences are? I grew up in Kentucky and absorbed bluegrass and mountain harmonies but you have to remember that I also lived out in California where I discovered the music of Bonnie Raitt, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner. Wow! You take all of that, it's no wonder that I sing the way I do! I've been to all black churches where I've sung form my toe-nails the gospel music that I love so much and I want to be allowed to sing that in my shows.

CF :Your last album, "New Day Dawning," is a mix of country, pop, rhythm & blues, gospel, contemporary Christian and soul music. What drove you to creating this own music style of yours? I have spent my entire 18 year career making this kind of music. Just as asking what my musical influences are, it's impossible to separate myself from those very things that shook me up at the beginning. I've done some amazing things this year, from singing to Joni Mitchell, who Iadore, to dueting with Cyndi Lauper on "Girls With Guitars." I also did a duet with gospel matriarch, Vestal Goodman, entitled "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," for her latest album as well as "How Great Thou Art" with the Dixie Hummingbirds on their album. Combine that with everything that is Wynonna and The Judds, you find that the style was never really created, it just evolved over time, if you will.

Oh my gosh, that's going to be over here in this pile I just love the song. I sing it because I feel it and love it and I groove on it. We live in a world where everybody wants to be defined and diagnosed so there's no easy way to say that the next direction will ALWAYS continue to be different. CF : The style of your last album kind of confused your country fans and also country radio. What is gonna be your next music direction? Are you gonna go back to more traditional country or are you gonna continue with a different style of singing? I feel as strong now about where I am musically as I've ever felt. This latest album, though, was only marketed to country and country radio just doesn't play me because they really don't know what to do with me right now. I have a niche of my own that I have created, which I am proud of. It's "Wynonna Country," but unfortunately there is no category for that. It doesn't fit into the format of what's being played in the United States. I'm finding myself sort of overlooked, which is okay, because I know that the fans that really get me understand. But the country audience, as a commercial industry, does not. They've really by-passed this album and the singles. I love the way you folks do it over there. You can hear all different kinds of music on one station. Well, that's impossible over here. We are separated and segregated and I'm constantly frustrated by that. As an artist, I sing the music that satisfies my soul. When I hear a song, I don't sit there and say.

CF :What do you think of today's country music in Nashville? Do you think country needs to be pop influenced to be popular? I'm a loyal girl. I have always been. I've been in Nashville since 1979. I've been really true. I'm very supportive of the local talent. I march, you know - I'm really vocal about the community of Nashville. Unfortunately, my spirit is broken because I feel very wounded by some of the things that are happening to me right now. I have found a niche for myself among the fans and among the critics. Unfortunately, the industry, radio, they don't play me.

They don't give me the time of day. And it really breaks my pirit because I spent so much time, Mom and I, in the beginning, we literally spent half our career in a car, driving around to radio stations and singing live. I've met every country radio DJ in the business, I feel, like, I do (Country Radio Seminar) every year and I have been true. Unfortunately, others have not. I've never marketed outside my small town I've called AC (Adult Contemporary) stations and I've met them and they say 'You' know what? We never received your record.' Because Nashville, the labels I've been on, have kept me from that. On purpose - because they've wanted me, you know, the big girl in the small world of country. Here's a little history for you. A few years ago, I toured with rock singer Michael Bolton. For the first time, I played to a pop audience and the experience was exhilarating. It was my first experience with a pop audience and the experience was electric. I got the best reviews I ever got in my life by the meanest and most critical of the critics. It gave me just enough ammunition to come back home and say, 'You know what, I can do this.' I was in a different world and by the grace of God, I pulled it off! I walked out there and gave them the truth and they dug it. So I know I can pull it off because I've jumped over there and tried. So, I invited Michael Bolton along to the CMA Awards Show to perform with me and we came under a tremendous amount of flak from within the country music industry and from die-hard traditional country fans. After the fact, many people told me it was a bold move and helped attract millions of non-country fans to the show, a percentage of whom have possibly become country music listeners. Having broken down that barrier, a couple of years later Alabama performed on the same awards show with pop band N-Sync without apparent controversy. Oh, it's fine now. I show up in leather pants and glitter on my eyes, and in the paper the next day it's like, Wynonna's gone off the deep end, something's wrong with her, she needs to go back to country. Well, if you check out the Dixie Chicks, they're even wilder. I get almost hyper because I feel such a need to be a pioneer for other women. I want to pave the way, but if you're going to be a pioneer you have to go down the road not taken. It's a very lonely trip. I've been alone on my own path many times with my music and it is sometimes very lonesome. I realize in order to pave the way I've got to jump out there, take risks, not be afraid to take chances, so that the women that come behind me will be able to have more choices than even I had. There's a part of me that wants to be loved and accepted in the country community. But there's a part of me that's grown and I feel like I need to be who I am. I have such a true sense of what I love to do and I'm going to do that even if it's not commercial. I've made peace with what I am not, and I'm not a radio candy kinda girl. I think country music is really in trouble right now. I think we're greedy and I think there are too many I like to refer to it as cookie cutter method. I'm not a complainer. One thing about me is, it's OK, here's the problem, what are we going to do about it? I like to be part of the solution, not the problem. And I vowed I would not allow myself to become predictable. Mom said it the other day, she said 'It's just bland'. When you listen, do you know who that is -do you know who that person is singing? They all sound very similar to me.

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