Dec 14

Wanda Jackson

WANDA JACKSON
 
 
Wanda Jackson  (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950’s and 1960’s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist.  She is known to many as the “Queen of Rockabilly” (or “First Lady of Rockabilly”).  Jackson mixed country music with fast-moving rockabilly, often recording them on opposite sides of a record.  She has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity among rockabilly revivalists in Europe and younger Americana fans, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influence in 2009.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
The term “rockabilly” – the word is an amalgamation of rock and hillbilly (an early term for country music) – was thrilling to me even before I actually knew what it meant.  It was one of the earliest forms of rock and roll and the first to be played primarily by white musicians, going all the way back to “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets.  The roster of rockabilly stars over the years starts of course with The King, Elvis Presley, along with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and most of the other artists at Sun Records in the 1950’s, plus Wanda Jackson, Eddie Cochran and others.  There was also a rockabilly revival in the early 1980’s led by the Blasters and the Stray Cats.  To this day, when a band wants a rawer sound, they will incorporate rockabilly into their music.
 
Wanda Jackson became the “Queen of Rockabilly” when Elvis Presley himself encouraged her to sing rockabilly when she toured with him in 1955-1956, but she began moving toward pure country when she had an early hit song with the title track “Right or Wrong” on her 1961 album Right or Wrong.  Near the end of the arc of her rockabilly career, she recorded one of the songs on my All-Time Top Ten, the sublime “Funnel of Love” with her hot new band, the Party Timers that featured a young Roy Clark.  This was yet another song that was introduced to me on a Born Bad CD.
  
(May 2011)
 
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Jack White has since formed another successful rock band called the Raconteurs.  He also performed music for the 2003 Civil War-era film Cold Mountain and even had an acting role; for a time, Jack White dated one of his co-stars, Renée Zellweger.  This was a hint of White’s appreciation for classic country music as well:  He master-minded acclaimed comeback albums for two different country legends, Loretta Lynn for her 2004 album Van Lear Rose; and Wanda Jackson, the “Queen of Rockabilly” in her 2011 release, The Party Ain’t Over.  Jackson has a concert scheduled at the nearby Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis next month, and I can’t tell you how excited I am at the prospects of seeing her! 
(January 2013)
 
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During the tributes to Glen Campbell at this year’s Grammy Awards and Academy Awards, it occurred to me that I am more of a country music fan than I usually let on to other people – or even to myself.  Besides the June 2012 concert appearance by the Flaming Lips as part of their mini-tour to set the Guinness World Record for the largest number of concerts in a 24-hour period (and travelling by bus no less), the only live concerts that I have been to in the past four (maybe five) years are the “Queen of Rockabilly” Wanda Jackson in February 2013 and Glen Campbell in August 2011.  The latter concert was at the IP Casino in Biloxi after he publicly acknowledged being afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease and was a warm-up concert for Glen Campbell’s Goodbye Tour, which extended from August 31, 2011 through November 30, 2012.  Part of the intention of the Goodbye Tour was to help ease the social stigma associated with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. 

 

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At a later date, Jack White would perform the same magic for the 2011 album by Wanda Jackson, The Party Ain’t Over.  It is doubtful that I would have had a chance to see her in concert in Bay St. Louis without the career revival that this album achieved. 

 

(February 2015)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021