Building a Bridge

MTSU students help Wynonna and friends’ concert come alive

photos by Cat Curtis Murphy and James Cessna

For the second time in just over 30 years, MTSU made history by hosting an emotional event to spotlight The Judds’ musical career, but this time students from the College of Media and Entertainment worked side by side with industry professionals to make the star-studded show happen.

In tribute to her late mother, Naomi, headliner Wynonna Judd re-created the act’s 1991 farewell concert at MTSU’s Murphy Center with the filming last fall of “The Judds: Love is Alive The Final Concert” for a TV special airing this March. Wynonna’s musical friends and current tourmates Ashley McBryde, Brandi Carlile, Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town, and Martina McBride also performed.

Over 50 student workers and more than 20 alumni behind the scenes were involved in the production. “Opportunities like this teach our students so much from emotional intelligence of how to react to people, how to handle problems, how to communicate effectively to literal hands-on experience,” said Dean Beverly Keel, who was key to making the event happen on campus.

A team of 21 Media Arts students worked from the University’s Mobile Productions Lab, a 40-foot rolling studio with a high-definition control room and seven cameras, to livestream student-fronted red carpet coverage aired across multiple platforms including Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire. Sixteen more students worked as paid production assistants for CMT, one of the producers.

In front of the camera, MTSU’s student-produced Middle Tennessee outlet supplied the talent who interviewed country music icons. More Journalism students covered the event for student-run Sidelines and WMTS radio.

The concert helped the University kick off the yearlong 50th anniversary celebration of Murphy Center, once the Midstate’s go-to concert venue and poised to become an attractive entertainment arena again after $6 million in renovations.