Who Is Wynonna Judd’s Husband? All About Cactus Moser

Mar. 15, 2025

Cactus Moser and Wynonna Judd at the 2023 CMT Music Awards in Austin, Texas.Photo:Christopher Polk/Variety/Getty

Christopher Polk/Variety/Getty

Wynonna JuddandCactus Moser’s love story was decades in the making.

After meeting in 1989, they went their separate ways for 20 years before reconnecting in 2009 and getting married in 2012.

“He’s the mosttough and tender manI’ve ever been with that I trust,” Judd told PEOPLE in a cover story interview a few months after her motherNaomi Judd’s death in 2022. “We are so connected. It’s crazy how connected we are. I trust him with my life, which, I can’t always say that about men in my life.”

This is the third marriage for Judd, who was previously married to D.R. Roach and Arch Kelley III – she shares two children with the latter: Grace Pauline and Elijah. Moser has three children: Cahl, Wyatt and Sunshine.

“Them together is kind of a fun thing to watch,” Sunshine said of Moser and Judd in the Paramount+ documentaryWynonna Judd: Between Hell and Hallelujah. “They’re the couple that everybody wants to be.”

So, who is Wynonna Judd’s husband? Here’s everything to know about Cactus Moser and his relationship with the “Broken and Blessed” singer.

His big break came as the drummer for Highway 101

The band Highway 101 (Jack Daniels, Scott “Cactus” Moser, Paulette Carlson and Curtis Stone) attend the 24th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 10, 1989 in Burbank, California.Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection/Getty

After lead vocalist Paulette Carlson left in 1990 to pursue a solo career, the group went on to release additional albums with various lineups and record labels. The band last got together in 2010 for a Christmas special.

He met Judd on tour

Wynonna Judd and Cactus Moser perform at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019.Jason Kempin/Getty

Jason Kempin/Getty

In 1989, Highway 101 joined Judd and Naomi — the country music mother-daughter duo known as The Judds — as they embarked on tour. Moser and Judd hit it off but never got serious.

Judd and Moser reconnected and started dating in 2009

Cactus Moser and Wynonna Judd at the 2022 CMA Awards in Nashville, Tennessee.Jason Kempin/Getty

Moser toldMusic Rowthat over the years after the tour ended he would see Judd at award shows, but would just say “hello.”

It wasn’t until he moved to Tennessee that things changed for the couple.

“When I moved here, I kept my horses at her place while I built fences,” he told the music outlet in 2015. “There was a long gap but in 2009, I’m playing at Puckett’s for these fun classic rock gigs and Wy comes walking in with Naomi. So we got together and went on a couple of dates.”

Moser and Judd got engaged on Christmas Eve in 2011.

They married on Judd’s Tennessee farm in 2012

Cactus and Wynonna Judd at the 2011 Joyful Heart Foundation Gala in New York City.Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

The duo had a six-month engagement before saying “I do” at Judd’s house in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, on June 10, 2012.

It was an intimate ceremony which included the pair’s five children. However, Judd’s mother and sister,Ashley Judd, didn’t attend the low-key nuptials.

He’s a multi-hyphenate in the entertainment industry

Cactus Moser performing with Wynonna & the Big Noise during their showcase at SXSW in 2016.Amy E. Price/FilmMagic

Amy E. Price/FilmMagic

Currently, he works alongside his wife, producing music and playing the drums for her band, Wynonna & The Big Noise.

He was in a motorcycle accident shortly after marrying Judd that caused him to lose his leg

Cactus Moser and Wynonna Judd at the 2012 BMI Country awards in Nashville, Tennessee.Erika Goldring/FilmMagic

Erika Goldring/FilmMagic

In August 2012, two months after tying the knot, the couple were out on their separate motorcycles before a show in South Dakota when Moser collided with an oncoming vehicle. The accident caused him to have his left leg amputated above the knee and required surgery on his hand.

“She had to become a nurse,” Moser shared inWynonna Judd: Between Hell and Hallelujah. “There was a lot of things you have to do. You have to clean the wound … it was horrid.”

He added, “That’s kind of our thing, even in the worst times we can figure out how to get past it and thank God, find a happy place.”

Moser recovered quickly and resumed touring three months later with Judd.

Judd thanked him during her Country Music Hall of Fame acceptance speech

Wynonna Judd speaks onstage for the class of 2021 medallion ceremony at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.Terry Wyatt/Getty

Terry Wyatt/Getty

The Judds — Judd and her mother — were inducted into theCountry Music Hall of Fameone day after Naomi’s passing in 2022.

Judd and Ashley gave anemotional acceptance speechon behalf of their late mother. While honoring Naomi, Judd also paid tribute to another special person in her life — her husband.

“I’m going to make this fast because my heart’s broken and I feel so blessed and it’s a very strange dynamic to be this broken and this blessed. Cactus Moser, you are my king. You are my king,” she said.

“Though my heart’s broken I will continue to sing because that’s what we do.”

He frequently collaborates with his wife

Judd kept her promise to keep on singing and continuedThe Judds: The Final Tourin 2022, a tour she originally planned with her mother.

During a tribute to Naomi at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium that aired on CMT, Judd shared her reasoning for moving forward with the tour.

“The showmust go on, as hard as it may be, and we will show up together, and you will carry me as you’ve carried me for 38 years,” she said. “So we will continue this spectacle. That’s what she would want, right?”

In 2014, Moser spoke of touring with his wife, telling theHuffington Post, “Getting to do the musical part together, instead of separate, is a bonus. When you love what you do, and love each other, it’s perfect.”

source: people.com