She came home to a place she’d never been before

Judy Lunn sat at our table earlier this week, sharing a taco lunch and fresh baked banana bread. We invited her to join us for a meal, and to hear her story about what brought her to Whidbey Island in 2022.

When we first met Judy, we liked her right away. It was Mother’s Day weekend, 2024, and Bill and I visited the Wings Over Whidbey birding festival at the Pacific Rim Institute. While sitting on a bench amid prairie wildflowers, Judy walked up and offered to take our photo. We got to talking and found we had in common a love of nature and John Denver music. That afternoon we downloaded a music link she emailed us, a webpage to the tribute album she recorded of John Denver’s music. “Wow, she’s good,” we noted at the time after listening to the album.

In mid December, Judy announced she’d be hosting a John Denver tribute concert on New Year’s Eve—what would have been John Denver’s 81st birthday, were he still alive today. We texted back right away to let her know we’d be there for sure.

This was a memorable and most companionable New Year’s Eve that brought a couple dozen people together, singing along with Judy, who posted lyrics on a screen while she played guitar, or DJ’d the tunes and video clips—Judy is a singer, guitarist, emcee and singing DJ, by the way. Between songs, Judy asked folks to share stories about themselves. Afterwards, we texted Judy to thank her for holding a gracious space, one we felt John Denver would have enjoyed.

Judy moved to Whidbey Island in 2022 from Austin TX. She spent 12 years there, immersed in the “Live Music Capital,” with more than 200 events available to attend on any given night. During the day, she worked for Apple, helping customers learn how to use their iPhones, iPads and Mac computers.

Judy’s first experience in the PNW was at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshops in the early 90s. She passed through the PNW several times while spending five summers on Horsefly Lake in British Columbia from 2003 to 2008.

Judy likes kayaking on lakes and calm rivers—“I was told by two different psychics years apart that I was a Native American in a former life, and that’s why I am so drawn to nature and water,” Judy said. “But, I was always nervous about hiking in the forest by myself, as cougars, bears and other predators were abundant in this protected wilderness area of British Columbia.”

While visiting a friend there, she soaked in the serenity of the clear blue mountain lake. Her favorite pastime was photographing loons and other wildlife from her kayak.

Where to find a place with lakes and no wildlife to be wary of? One of her Canadian friends, an experienced outdoorsman and hunter, told Judy about a trip that he made to New Zealand, noting the island nation’s similarity to Canada’s wild places, whereas in New Zealand there were no poisonous snakes and spiders, and no wild predators.

“That got me thinking about finding a similar environment in the USA,” Judy recalled.

Having lived in Pennsylvania, Colorado, California and Texas, the Evergreen State was the only other place that she was interested in. She started looking for somewhere that was sparsely populated, with a friendly, supportive community, where the lifestyle was laid back, and the focus was on nature.

During her research she came across a YouTube video that would end up being life changing. The YouTube channel is called ‘The Nomadic Bard,’ and the video, Whidbey Island, A Washington Travel Guide.

Nomadic Bard A. Nathan Scott tells of Whidbey Island as a place to be at peace, away from the busy world. In the video he waxes on about its relaxed style of life, farm to table culture, artists of many stripes, quaint towns and its primordial forests.

“His whole story was about what it feels like to live on this island, the whole laid-back vibe of Whidbey,” Judy added. “He went through some of the key places to visit, like the Earth Sanctuary and Deception Pass State Park. After watching his video, I was pretty convinced Whidbey was where I wanted to be.”

Judy was amused after reading an article about the wildlife on Whidbey Island. A park ranger had commented in the article that “…the only predators you need worry about are the two-legged variety.”

So, a scouting trip was planned. For her 60th birthday, Judy spent five days on Orcas Island and three days on Whidbey. Although she loved the beauty of Orcas Island, and the quaint town of Eastsound, being dependent on the ferry system, and the limited internet and cell service were big deterrents.

While visiting at the Earth Sanctuary, Judy was excited to find a Peace Pole beside one of the fens. She discovered her first Peace Pole in Japan while traveling on a floating university called “Semester at Sea.” Since then, she discovered one in Brazil (near Manaus), and another in Croatia. At the time, she was living in California and found one when she returned home to Palm Springs!

So, began Judy’s move in 2022 from Austin with her cat Jesse–sadly, who died Sept. 2024 at the age of 14–her red kayak and her computer equipment. Finding a rental which would take her cat proved to be difficult, Judy discovered. But at the last moment, her luck changed.

“I couldn’t find anything in South Whidbey, so, I drove through Coupeville one more time,” she explained. “There were only two rental homes available when I visited. Both were out of my price range, and pets were not allowed, but I decided to drive by anyway. As luck would have it, the owner of one of the rentals was painting the interior.

“Jim and I just hit it off,” Judy recalled. “After a 15-minute conversation, he called the property management company and told them he had found the perfect tenant for his home. This lovely home has a wonderful view of Mt. Baker and Penn Cove, and the local deer are often outside my kitchen window. And it’s only a 10-minute walk to the Coupeville Wharf and Penn cove.”

Another aha moment in Judy’s life occurred 20 years ago when she recorded a John Denver tribute album.

Years ago, she called a psychic during a time when she felt stuck and was looking for some insight. During the conversation, the psychic—who knew nothing about her—described what he was seeing: “…a big window looking at a piece of equipment with red and green lights.”

“You are describing a recording studio,” Judy recalled. “He asked if I was a singer. I felt a surge of energy when he said that, as I had not mentioned anything about my musical aspirations. I’m a big believer in synchronicity. Everything happens for a reason, and we need to follow these ‘clues’ that are presented to us.

“Several years later when I recorded the John Denver tribute album in Nashville, I was talking to the drummer. He just happened to be sitting in front of a big window. I could see the control room and the recording console with the flashing red and green lights. I felt a shiver go through me as I remembered what the psychic had described several years earlier.”

For years friends had listened to Judy talking of her dream of becoming a recording artist.

On New Year’s Eve 2004, Judy sat with friends talking by the fire and watching the evening tire—another favorite thing of hers to do.

Her friend, Irene, said, ‘We’ve been listening to this dream of yours for ten years now. We love you and believe in you, but if you don’t take some steps this year and take action to make that dream come true, then I respectfully ask you to stop talking about it. The first step is to write a letter to all of your friends and famly, and ask for their financial support.’ This was before Kickstarter, Patreon and GoFundMe existed.”

Judy accepted the challenge. Realizing that she might only have one shot at a recording opportunity, she decided to create the first female tribute to her musical hero and inspiration, John Denver. While searching the internet for ideas and deciding which songs to put on the album, Judy stumbled on Pete Huttlinger’s website.

She was excited to learn that he was John Denver’s guitarist, and had made several DVDs of lessons on how to play John Denver’s music.

Pete happened to be playing a concert in Dana Point CA a couple of months later. Judy heard him playing and was “blown away” by his talent.

“After the concert, I walked up to him, and said, have you ever had a woman approach you about doing a John Denver tribute?” Judy asked at the time. “He said he had not, but would be happy to listen to some audio samples and give me his opinion.”

As luck would have it, Judy had samples of her music from a 1998 concert she performed in. She had been offered the position of Executive Director for the AmeriFest Big Gig Music Festival, which was the precursor of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio CA. Since she was in charge of booking the entertainment for the three-day festival, she negotiated the opportunity to play a 90-minute set of music that she loved, including ‘Annie’s Song,’ ‘For You, My Sweet Lady,’ and ‘Colors of the Wind.’

Although she did not have any professional recording experience, after listening to her voice, Pete said she had the raw talent to make a tribute album. He got his best friend Chris Nole, John Denver’s pianist, to produce the album. Besides these two key bandmates, Judy also requested that Jim Horn perform on the album.

“John Denver specifically liked the way Jim created the sounds of nature with his instruments. There is no doubt he was a master at this,” Judy noted. “This dream of mine was actually going to come true!”

A recording project of this caliber normally takes six to 12 months to prepare and create. Judy’s budget only allowed for a three-week trip to Nashville.

“Having the ability to collaborate in a recording studio with some of the best musicians in the world was a life-changing experience for me,” Judy said. “Creating this album has been the highlight of my life so far.”

The John Denver Birthday Celebration event on Dec. 31, 2024 marked the launch of Judy’s entertainment business on Whidbey Island. She looks forward to joining the community of artists here and bringing her passion for music to the residents of this magical place.

For more information, visit Judy Lunn’s webpage.