Naomi Judd was a registered nurse long before she was a country music star, and it showed on December 23, 1994. Her daughter Wynonna was on the operating table in a Nashville hospital, conscious throughout, while two surgeons performed the C-section that Wynonna’s asthma had made necessary. Naomi stood at her side the entire time. She described the morning, years later, as the most terrifying experience of her life.
The baby was Elijah Judd. He is 31 now and works as a deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department in Tennessee.
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Who Is Elijah Judd?
Elijah Judd is the son of country music star Wynonna Judd and Nashville businessman Arch Kelley III. Born on December 23, 1994, in Nashville, Tennessee, he grew up in Williamson County and works today as a deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department. He is 31 years old.
Quick Facts
| Full Name | Elijah Judd Kelley |
| Born | December 23, 1994 |
| Age | 31 (turns 32 in December 2026) |
| Birthplace | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Parents | Wynonna Judd and Arch Kelley III |
| Sister | Grace Pauline Kelley |
| Occupation | Deputy, Williamson County Sheriff’s Department |
| Wife | Hailey Williams |
| Married | October 17, 2020 |
| Grandmother | Naomi Judd (1946–2022) |
His Parents and the Judd Family Name
Wynonna told People in October 2022 that she named her son after her great-great-great grandfather, the same ancestor she references in The Judds’ song “Guardian Angels.”
His father, Arch Kelley III, is a Nashville businessman. According to Parade, Wynonna and Kelley first met in the early 1990s on a flight between Los Angeles and Nashville. They were not yet married when Elijah was born. The wedding came in 1995, the divorce in 1998.
He has one sibling, his sister Grace Pauline Kelley, born June 21, 1996.
His grandmother was Naomi Judd, one half of The Judds. The mother-daughter duo won five Grammy Awards and placed more than a dozen singles at No. 1 on the country charts through the 1980s before Naomi’s 1991 hepatitis C diagnosis ended their run. Elijah’s aunt is the actress Ashley Judd, and his stepfather since 2012 is drummer Scott “Cactus” Moser, who tours with Wynonna as Wynonna and The Big Noise.
A Childhood on a Thousand Acres
Wynonna and Naomi shared roughly a thousand acres of Tennessee land between their two homes, about a mile apart. In a 2007 interview with GRAND Magazine, Naomi described what growing up on that land looked like for her grandchildren.
- For his early years, Elijah had no idea the property even had a television. They lived outside.
- From age four, he knew how to spot a poisonous snake in the creek.
- Thanksgiving meant loading onto four-wheelers and riding from Wynonna’s house to Naomi’s, the whole family singing “Over the River and Through the Woods.”
- At Naomi’s home, he had his own chest of drawers with a full change of clothes, his own set of dishes, and a standing seat at the dinner table.
Naomi held what she called powwows around the kitchen table when something needed discussing. When Elijah was around 12, he called one himself. He asked his grandmother, politely, not to hold his hand at the mall, at school, or at his sporting events anymore.
In that same interview, Naomi said Elijah “could be a standup comedian” and that “he knows that he has pleased me with his sense of humor since he was born.”
Why Elijah Judd Became a Sheriff’s Deputy
Every Christmas Eve, Naomi brought homemade cookies to the local fire station or the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department. She wanted her grandchildren to know the people who looked after their community.
On one of those visits, Elijah climbed onto the break room table and spoke to the deputies in the room. He wanted to be a cop when he grew up. He wanted to protect people from the crim-animals. That was his word for criminals. He invented it because one word was not enough.
Naomi repeated that story in interviews for years.
He is now a deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department. Neither he nor his sister Grace followed Wynonna into the music business. The direction, in his case, had been set long before he understood what a career was.
Is Elijah Judd a Musician?
Numerous websites describe Elijah Judd as a country music singer. He is not.
Parade confirmed in 2024 that neither Elijah nor his sister Grace followed Wynonna Judd into the music business. No major publication, including People, Billboard, or Rolling Stone, has ever reported a music career for Wynonna’s son. He works in law enforcement.
The musician claim, along with fabricated song titles and an invented middle name, appears to have originated from unverified websites. None of it is supported by credible reporting.
Elijah Judd’s Wife: Hailey Williams
Elijah and Hailey Williams started dating around 2010, when he was in his mid-teens. They were together for seven years before he proposed.
On December 22, 2017, Wynonna shared photos of the proposal on Instagram, writing:
“My son Elijah proposed to his love of 7 years, Hailey, last night. I am one proud Mama. Merry Christmas indeed!!!”
They married on October 17, 2020. Two months later, on his 26th birthday, Wynonna posted a wedding-day photo with the caption:
“To my first born, who turns 26 today, I look at this picture and it’s hard to believe that you’re married! Happy Birthday Son… I am so very proud of you.”
Hailey Williams has kept the same low public profile as her husband. No children from the marriage have been publicly reported.
The Hall of Fame Induction, One Day After
On April 30, 2022, Naomi Judd died at her home in Franklin, Tennessee. She was 76. Wynonna and Ashley Judd confirmed her death in a statement: “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered.”
The Country Music Hall of Fame medallion ceremony was scheduled for the following morning. The Judd family asked that it proceed. Naomi and Wynonna were being inducted as The Judds, part of the Class of 2021.
Rolling Stone journalist Hunter Kelly was inside the CMA Theater in Nashville that day. He wrote that Wynonna sat in the front row with Elijah on one side of her and Cactus Moser on the other. Ashley Judd was on the stage.
Wynonna stepped to the microphone:
“I didn’t prepare anything tonight because I knew Mom would probably talk the most. I’m gonna make this fast because my heart’s broken, and I feel so blessed. It’s a very strange dynamic, to be this broken and this blessed.”
Elijah sat in the front row through all of it.
Wynonna’s son turns 32 this December. He works as a deputy in Williamson County, the county where he grew up, where Naomi lived, and where she died the day before her induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
She was the first person to see his face, in a Nashville hospital in 1994. Years later, she was the one who brought him to the local sheriff’s department on Christmas Eve with a plate of cookies. She watched him climb onto the break room table and tell the deputies exactly what he planned to do with his life. She repeated that story in interviews for years.
He became a deputy for that same department.
Frequently Asked Questions About Elijah Judd
How old is Elijah Judd?
Elijah Judd was born on December 23, 1994, in Nashville, Tennessee. He is 31 years old as of June 2026 and turns 32 in December 2026.
What does Elijah Judd do for a living?
Elijah Judd works as a deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department in Tennessee. He built a career in law enforcement, not the music industry.
Is Elijah Judd a musician?
No. Parade confirmed in 2024 that neither Elijah nor his sister Grace Pauline Kelley followed Wynonna Judd into the music business. Claims about a music career for him appear on various websites but are not supported by any credible publication.
Who is Elijah Judd’s wife?
Elijah Judd is married to Hailey Williams. They dated for approximately seven years before he proposed on December 22, 2017. They married on October 17, 2020.
Who is Elijah Judd’s father?
His father is Arch Kelley III, a Nashville businessman. Arch Kelley and Wynonna Judd married in 1995 and divorced in 1998.
Who was Elijah Judd’s grandmother?
Elijah Judd’s grandmother was Naomi Judd, one half of the country music duo The Judds. Naomi died on April 30, 2022, in Franklin, Tennessee, at the age of 76.
