“Turn it Loose”
The Judds
Written by Craig Bickhardt and Brent Maher
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
February 26, 1988
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
March 26, 1988
It matters where you come in.
Country music was always around me as a child, but I didn’t start caring about it myself until 1991. I knew of the Judds, and even a couple of their hits, but they were on their last radio single from their first run by then – “John Deere Tractor” – and I wasn’t paying much attention to them at that point.
I remember clear as day the 1992 American Music Awards, though, where Wynonna debuted “She is His Only Need” and launched her solo career. I was a Wynonna fan out the gate, and her musical sensibilities meshed better with my tastes that most of the post-Greatest Hits Judds output.
So “Turn it Loose,” to my ears, sounds like Wynonna lite. I can hear her pushing up against the restraints of the Judds sound here, as if she’s trying to rock out in the basement but Mama Naomi is at the top of the stairs telling her to keep it down.
But if I attempt to put this in historical context, “Turn it Loose” feels like the perfect halfway point between the Judds’ Appalachian-tinged harmonies and Wy’s kickass country blues. Naomi was slowly fading into the background with each successive album, but she’s still incredibly essential here. Her harmony vocal helps build a bridge between Wynonna’s growling performance and the pure country twang of the musicians.
So while I wouldn’t call it the Platonic ideal of a Judds record or a Wynonna record, I would definitely call it an essential part of their collective story, especially for those of us who primarily see the Judds as Wynonna’s early years.
“Turn it Loose” gets a B+.
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I prefer my Judds records traditionally country and my Wynonna solo singles bluesy. That’s part of the reason why I struggled with this phase of the Judds’ career as the middle ground they were navigating wasn’t working for me. Wynonna gives a solid vocal performance here but the restraints to keep it within the confines of an 80s-era country song manages to quite ironically contradict the title. The lyrics don’t give me a lot to work with in terms of redeeming qualities. The best I can say is that I like it a fair amount more than “I Know Where I’m Going”.
Grade: C+