JUDDS DELIGHT A CROWD OF 6,000 HERE; CONCERT REVIEW

Cape Girardeau's Show Me Center pulled off a minor coup Saturday by booking The Judds' farewell tour, and the near sell-out crowd's appreciation was evident throughout the evening.

Whether stomping their feet to such Judds signatures as "This Country's Rockin'" and "Rockin' With the Rhythm" or swaying slowly with outstretched arms to the soulful ballads, "Guardian Angels" and "Grandpa," the crowd was riveted to every note, move, and bit of banter offered by the mother and daughter country music superstars.

Although the Judds as an act will cease when the tour ends, there was little evidence that mother Naomi or daughter Wynonna delivered any more or less stirring a performance than they might have seven years ago when the duo came onto the country music scene.

Naomi last year was diagnosed with chronic active hepatitis, a potentially life-threatening illness that will force her to retire after the tour.

But Saturday there were no tearful goodbyes or maudlin tributes to their extraordinary success. There was only a typically energetic, intimate performance for about 6,000 appreciative and adoring fans.

This is how it should be.

Naomi hardly looked or acted sick as she sashayed around the Show Me Center stage, providing the low end of the Judds' marked two-part harmony.

She obviously is the more personable of the duo, constantly bantering with men in the audience, offering her microphone to a male admirer during the refrain of "Mama's He's Crazy," and even flirting for several minutes between songs with a T-shirt clad, pot-bellied roadie.

But where Naomi provides the heart, daughter Wynonna supplies plenty of soul and should do well on her own. Her powerful, blues voice would be appropriate as the lead in a gospel choir.

In the song "Give a Little Love," Wynonna sounds a little bit like a female, polished version of Dr. John. She also delighted the crowd with her straight-forward, three-chord earthy "Bad News Blues."

Like any good blues vocalist, Wynonna blends her voice well with the bottle-neck slide guitar riffs. And as B.B. King more often than not identifies women as the root cause of his blues, the Judds made it clear that men can be just as inspirational.

The audience rose to its feet on some of the Judds boot-kicking songs, including a rendition of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" that featured upright bass and the backup musicians adding the "bop, bop ... bop, bop."

But there's little doubt the Judds' forte is story-telling. Songs like "Grandpa," "Why Not Me," and "Love Can Build a Bridge," best utilize the Judds' talent.

"Guardian Angels," is the epitome of sentimental musings. A song about great-grandpa Elijah and his wife Fanny, who somehow, from somewhere, watch over their descendants, Wynonna introduced "Guardian Angels" by saying "I don't know where I'm going, but I'm sure where I've come from."

Perhaps country music's greatest allure is its relation to real life and real people as evidenced by the Judds and their music.

Opening Saturday's show was Billy Dean and the Pirates of the Mississippi.

I'm sure there were plenty of baby boomers in the crowd who found the Pirates driving brand of country-rock reminiscent of the likes of Lynryd Skynryd, ZZ Top and the Allman Brothers.

The audience especially loved "Feed Jake," the band's most popular song. But few country and western bands could match the unabashed dirty-white-boy blues of "Down and Out in Birmingham."

Billy Dean also displayed some blues chops in "Steamroller Blues," and warmed the crowd with his moving ballad "Brotherly Love."

In pure energy and showmanship, both these bands far surpassed the headliner. Don't expect either group to play opening-act gigs for long.