Clint Black on 'Sibling' Wynonna Judd: 'She's the Girl in Charge, I Was a Fun Little Nuisance' (Exclusive)

Clint Black is reminiscing on his '90s tour days with Wynonna Judd. 

The two country music superstars hit the road back in 1993 on the Black & Wy Tour singing their smash hit "A Bad Goodbye," which climbed the charts and garnered ACM, CMA and Grammy award nominations.

Now, on the fifth season of Black’s Circle Network show Talking in Circles with Clint Black, the pair will reunite again. 

“It'll be fun to reminisce about [the tour] with her, but also to just find out what's going on, what's she's been doing, and the way she approaches her touring life and her recording life,” he says of Judd’s upcoming guest spot on the show. “I am excited about that. It'll be fun. She's got a great sense of humor, and I'll pick on her a little bit like I did on tour!”

In fact, Black, now 61, considers Judd a bit of a pseudo-sister, dating all the way back to their days on the road. 

“Wynonna and I, we ended up having this sort of sibling relationship on tour. She's the girl in charge out there on her tour, so the way that her crew and staff interacts with her as the boss — I wasn't going to be that,” Black muses with a laugh. “So, I was the brother picking on her and prodding and just trying to be a fun little nuisance, and we had a lot of fun with that.”

Black adds that Judd, now 59, would come on stage “every night” to sing "A Bad Goodbye" with him, and "it was like the concert scenes in Coal Miner's Daughter with flashbulbs going off just like strobe lights,” he says. 

In August, country band Lady A paid tribute to Black at the ACM Honors, which aired on Sept. 18, by singing none other than "A Bad Goodbye" to honor the legend.  

“It was a thrill to hear one of my songs sung back to me by Lady A,” says Black, who received the Poet's Award for his “remarkable and enduring talents in country music songwriting.” 

“To be able to get up and say something to the fans and the community about my appreciation for being recognized, those are special opportunities where I get to express my gratitude,” Black says. “It was a great night, and I had the best time.” 

Now, the country crooner will be in full-TV mode as he shepherds in the fifth season of his show, and before he welcomes Judd, his first guest this past Saturday was the multi-talented Paula Abdul. 

“She's had quite a career, things that have happened with her that I didn't even know about,” says Black, who likes to “dig in” with his interviewees on the show and really “get to know who they are.”

“It's going to be a great insight into the way things have happened for her, [which] was surprising. Everybody knows her from the choreography and the videos and the songs, and then American Idol, but there's a lot there as to why that happened and the way it happened,” he explains. “It was really, really fun to hear.”

And, while Talking in Circles is celebrating its fifth season with 50 taped shows, there is still a dream guest Black would love to welcome on. 

“James Taylor,” he says without hesitation.

“I may be the biggest James Taylor fan in the world, to the point I think I ran him out of a dressing room once because I was obnoxiously... What is it? Fanatic. I was being a fanatic,” Black says of his fangirl moment. 

“His music is just really important to me, really shaped who I am as an artist. And he's one of the finest poets in the business. And then you bring in his use of chords and melodies, there's no one better," he says. "So you can have a list of people who are at the top, the crème de la crème — he's up there, and then no one's above him. I'd love to have JT on. That would be the best.”

Talking in Circles with Clint Black premiered Oct. 7 at 10/9c on Circle Network.