During the course of a 20-minute conversation, Wynonna Judd manages to mention, among others, Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Phish, B.B. King, Tammy Wynette, U2, Merle Haggard, Sting, Aretha Franklin, Metallica, Stevie Rae Vaughan, Chaka Khan, George Jones and her mother, Naomi.

Whew!

And it's not that she's name-dropping, trying to impress by tying herself to famous entertainers.

Wynonna, who will bring her Christmas show to the Hershey Theatre Saturday night, is famous.

She's sold millions of albums as a solo act and as one-half of a duo with her mother, who was forced to retire because of illness. Much of her personal life, including a child born out of wedlock and a bad marriage, has been played out in the tabloids. And her talent, a miracle of a voice that can convincingly sing any genre, has always been outsized.

So Wynonna (she's one of those entertainers able to get by with just one name) doesn't need to impress. Most of the names she injects into the conversation come with stories.

The singer, an enthusiastic conversationalist, likes to talk, especially about herself and the friends she's made along the way. Want to hear a few of her stories?
The night she sang with Phish.
I ended up in a room with the band. I think they were all doing shots of tequila. I'm thinking, 'They're drinking before they go out?' I can't remember the words sober. I'm thinking, 'This is a weird, wacky world, isn't it?' Next thing I know they're like, 'C'mon on-stage.' I'm, like, oh sure, I know what I'm doing, I'm in the band. So I go out and sing 'Free Bird.'
Her appetite for all kind of music — rock, blues, soul and R&B, as well as country.
That's why I do 'Crossroads' with Heart. And I go off and sing with Sting. Or I did a benefit recently with Chaka Kahn. I find ways to be independent of the categories and the boundaries. And I've been lucky, really lucky, to get to go out and do what I've done and get away with it. My experiences and my history — I should say herstory — is in the church as well as the bar, Mississippi blues to the country of country, opening for Merle Haggard at Caesar's Palace in Vegas and hearing him sing 'Okie from Muskogee.'
Tammy Wynette.
She was a very, very dear, dear, dear person in my life. She was like my aunt. Singing with George Jones at the memorial. I mean, my God, at the Ryman, are you kidding me? This is a moment.
Bonnie Raitt.
Big, big, big love, like major Bonnie Raitt love for 'Woman Be Wise' (a song Wynonna covers on her latest album, 'Sing: Chapter 1'). Are you kidding me? She sang it to me when I was around 16 or 17. I used to go see her in clubs and stuff and she dedicated that song to me and I fell on the floor almost. I wanted to be her. She said, 'Nope, there's already one Bonnie; go be Wynonna.' That's what she said to me. I thought, 'She's giving me advice.'
Performing.
It's not about the size of the crowd, it's about fulfilling your destiny. To me, whether it was the Super Bowl or county fair, I didn't care. I really didn't. I didn't care. I don't care how big the hall is. I want a band. I would love a bus, that would be awesome, but I'll take a Winnebago. But I really love a bus because I want to be a diva and I just wanted to rock and do and be and sing and live.
Reading about herself in the tabloids.
I've always been a work in progress and I've always been an example of life is messy and unpredictable. Read about it. It's the burden that you carry. If they talked about my mother, I wanted to go for the throat but I've always been pretty good about going, 'Well, that was a train wreck, what do I do now?' I'd go on-stage and sing louder.
Her children, Grace and Elijah.
My daughter, who makes her debut on this Christmas tour, is so me that I look at her and go, 'Oh my gosh. OK, there's me but she's cuter and smarter and faster.' Elijah is kind of my John-Boy Walton earth kid. He's out there right now doing the chipper (on their Nashville farm). He's me in terms of on the farm. Grace is me in as the free bird and wannabe diva. Both of them are me, so together they make up my brain and my life.

Wynonna: A Classic Christmas

Sat. 8 p.m. $45, $55, $75

Hershey Theatre, 15 E. Caracas Ave.

Hershey. 534-3405
www.hersheytheatre.com