Hi. I'm Tammy Loretta Judd. I pick the guitar and sing. Over the years I have wrote many songs and picked many strings for good folks to listen to. I was born in Ashland, Kentucky with dreams of makin' it big in Country & Western music. My family has always been real competitive, a trait I never picked up. I wanted to write some songs at my own pace, get discovered somehow, and become a big star on my own - if that's what God wanted, too.
Well now, I have never been one to make many plans, so that's what a lot of my songs are about. That and bein' alone. It has been a long, hard road, but I thank folks are finally startin' to get back with me as a sanger. I hope you like my songs and my story.
In the Year of our Lord 19 and 75 I moved to the big city of Little Rock to try to be a singin' Country & Western star. My folks suggested Nashville, but they don't know nothin' about makin' original soundin' music... Little Rock is where it's at for folks that want to go out on a limb and be a little crazy and original with their songs. I got myself a trailer out on Chicot Road close to Nolan Drive and started makin' up word songs. It came real easy to me so I kept writin' and writin'. I didn't have no friends or relatives in town so I had lots of time. It was just me an my guitar against the world... or the trailer park at least. My neighbors were the only ones who heard my songs... and most of the songs were about them, anyway so that worked out most of the time. It was around this time I started curning out songs that would end up makin' folks like me a lot. My first hit and the song that got me a lot of attention, "Was It Luv Or Was It Lite Beer?" has always been the song folks yell out at my live shows. Well, let me tell ya - I hate that damned song. I always have. More on that in a minute... There are much better songs I wrote in that trailer park. Songs like "Gizzards", "Crystal Gayle's Got Real Long Hair", and "Fat White Woman With Two Other Babies" were all about my life in that trailer park on Chicot, where I lived until the end of 1985.
One day in December of that year, I met a man that would change my life - for the better, not like that biker that ditched me on the side of the road that one time. The name of this nice man (who was not that biker): Mr. Marc Turner. He not only became my manager and producer, he gave me my first big break and popped my "newly-restored, through-relijun" cherry (which worked a lot better than I thought it would). After that, I pretty much did what he said. I mean, he organized me a band and got me into the studio - though it was just another trailer with a mic and a big tape recorder. The first song we tried was picked by the band. It also became the first song anybody ever heard by me, even though I think it's the wost song I ever wrote. "Was It Luv Or Was It Lite Beer?" would go on to be a real important song for me, Tammy Loretta Judd.Soonafter folks started hearin' it around town, I got myself on TV! A Little Rock character I knew had a TV show! Burger, one of the first folks I met in town, had his own show, which he hosted! Burger asked me to perform live on TV for him. Well, I've always been shy, so I couldn't even think of bein' in front of a live camera. Around this time Mr. Turner got me to perform in the studio, recording "Was It Luv Or Was It Lite Beer?" and a few other songs. The result was in Burger's hand and on the TV before I even knew what hit me! Looking back, it was the most exciting thing to happen to me that far along.Local bars wanted me to play live. My manager wanted me to play live. All this demand confused me. I was clearly not ready for success. I also did not know at the time that I was ahead of my time. I was the first person to spell the word "Luv" that way. If I had put a copyright or whatever on that I would be a very rich woman today, but the Lord had different thangs for me. Hell, I never would have recorded that song in the first place. I woulda picked a dif'rent one. That just goes to show, the producer always knows best...
It was the summer of 1977, mid-July I believe... Disco was real big. Hell, I even wrote some disco songs, but that wasn't on the top of the list. I, Tammy Loretta Judd, knew even then that I was going to be an influential Country and Western singer. Crossover records were down the line for me. Hell, if I could get any record made, that would be enough for me! Little did I know that Mr. Marc Turner was makin' that dream come true. While I was back at the trailer writin' songs, he was gettin "Was It Luv Or Was It Lite Beer" made into a 45 record single. He took one to every radio station in town, even the rock-and-roll stations. He wanted it to be a surprise - and boy was it...
Mr. Turner got me, a big nobody at the time - Tammy Loretta Judd - played on the radio! For the very first time! That's right! The real-life radio! It was right here in Arkansas on the first station on the dial, Little Rock's KABF 88.3 FM. That was the first place anybody ever heard "Was It Luv Or Was It Lite Beer?" I sat there in my trailer, reading a man magazine with them beefcake men in 'em when it started playin'. My life changed forever at that moment... I knew I had to get a better song recorded - and on the radio. It was at that moment that I decided to leave behind my past and never to play that song again. And I never have ever since.
It was me... on the radio... if this could be out there, think about how much more there is out there... The next day, Mr. Turner introduced me to a man named Tritt Dunn III for "artistic grooming." Before I knew it, I had packed up a small bag of travel things, my guitar, my producer and some liquor and headed to the nearest town with a redneck bar. Tritt and me were gonna take on the world.
We headed to Hot Springs Arkansas, played some ponies, won big dough on a long-shot, scared up a new drummer and bass player, and talked our way into a gig at the local beer dump, Crazy Bar. That about sums up what we did for the past twenty years - ass some ups, downs, split-ups, drinkin' binges, and all kinds of thangs I can't recall.
We wrote a lot of songs, changed our sound a little too often, and got ripped off by all kinds of folks. Some of our original songs were stolen by other singers and some by rock bands. In fact there are a lot of songs that became hits that were written by me, Tammy Loretta Judd. I tried a lot of song styles and a lot of piles of cocaine over the years, so you can bet that when you hear a song and think, "Tammy stole that song from The Sex Pistols and changed the words" it's really the other way around...
Well, now it's been well over twenty years since I began my singin' career and I still croon with the best of 'em. There ain't another singer out there that can hit those low notes like me! I am thrilled to be back in the music world after my years of wandering the country on my vision quest. Please visit my site often as I will be tellin' lots of stories here.
I have many great songs on my CD. It should be finished in the fall. In the meantime I have posted some past work on this page for your listening pleasure. My songs come from the heart. I sing about things around me, my feelings, places I go. Folks seem to like it. My record producer tells me I'm "honest."
I am a proud woman, sister and Rural War Room Records recording artist. Please support me and I will support you. Tell your friends to request me so my CD will give the world a smile. Y'all have a great day!
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All material ©1975-2009 Tammy Loretta Judd / Marc Turner / Rural War Room Records International Online.
All material published by Rural War Room ASCAP.
