Coming Home to Myself
By Wynonna Judd
NAL, $25.95
256 pages
ISBN 0451216512
Also available on audio

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Five-time Grammy winner Wynonna Judd reminisces about her childhood in rural Kentucky and her journey to stardom in a memoir co-written with Patsi Bale Cox, Coming Home to Myself.

"As spring replaced winter, Ashley and I fell asleep each night to the sounds of crickets and frogs, and awakened each morning to the birds singing. Flowers bloomed, and finally that summer, the blackberries ripened! Dad, Ashley and I would pick the berries, then sit on the back porch and eat them until our faces were stained blue-black. There was always something to look forward to.

"Our house was so far off the beaten path that there were days that we never saw a single soul or made it into a town. We seldom ate in restaurants or went to movies. But Dad was happier than I'd ever seen him, and it made me happy just to see him content. He'd run a trout fishing line across the river and bait twenty or more hooks to catch fish. At night Ashley and I swam out to check them. He'd watch as we'd swing from vines into the river. We'd take bars of soap and go out in the huge front yard that filled with water in places during a thunderstorm and take baths. Sometimes we'd play in the rain. I find myself going out into the rain with my children, just to feel that same joy from such a wonderful time in my life.

"There was something about living at Camp Wig that was defining for me. As harsh as the conditions were at times, it was also peaceful. We had very little, but we relied on one another. It felt natural for me to be there. The lifestyle was simple and the people were real. We had lots of gatherings with neighbors where people played musical instruments and sang. Dad loved the Stones, Warren Zevon and Frank Zappa, so this is where I developed a real passion for rock 'n' roll and for my first (s)hero, Joni Mitchell. Mom, Dad, Ashley and I were together. And we were family."

Excerpted from Coming Home to Myself, © Copyright 2005 by Wynonna Judd. Reprinted with permission from NAL, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved.