Coming to Pappy and Harriet’s, Saturday, January 30th – THIS SHOW IS SOLD OUT
By Lisa Morgan
78 years old, with 65 consistently relevant years in the music industry, Wanda Jackson is on the verge of a new studio album, new original songs and continues to sell out shows, proving that there will never be another like her.
“She’s like my rockabilly Etta James. I love her, she’s so brilliant. I don’t think ‘Rollin’ in the Deep’ would exist if it wasn’t for Wanda Jackson.”—Adele
“Wanda Jackson, an atomic fireball of a lady, could have a smash hit with just about anything.”
—Bob Dylan
“There’s an authenticity in her voice that conjures up a world and a very distinct and particular place in time. It’s not something that can be developed.”—Bruce Springsteen
It’s hard to gauge your expectations for seeing an artist live for the first time when you hear music industry demi-gods talk about them like this. The woman was, after all, the one who toured with Elvis and was herself considered to be the female version of The King. With 31 studio albums, two Grammy nominations, and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, it was a gift to the Coachella Valley that the First Lady of Rockabilly would join the line-up for Stagecoach 2014.
She walked up to the microphone like she was walking through her own backyard, clearly unaware of how dazzling she was or how powerfully the moment embraced those who understood just who this woman was and what she had contributed to the music industry. Then again, how could she not know -the crowd was beside its self. The woman who helped maverick a whole new sound and attitude in the conservative 1950’s, who crossed genre boundaries without blinking an eye, and broke rules in an era when women needed it most, flirted, wooed and sang her way into every heart present at that show. Talking to her granddaughter, Jordan Simpson, one learns that is the way Jackson had always done it. She never set out to be an icon, a trend setter, or to bulldoze glass walls and ceilings; she just did what she loved to do, the way she wanted to do it. She was the original. She was the authentic one; she still is. With decades of storied class, sass, wit and poise under her belt, these attributes along with the passion for the music she loves show no sign of wear. No matter where you are logistically to the stage, by the time Wanda Jackson starts into her second song, all gaps are bridged and the entire audience is brought together, right smack dab in the middle of Wanda Jackson’s lovely palm.
For Wanda Jackson, music has always been a family affair, from the earliest days on Decca Records with her father as manager and her mother making her stage dresses, to today with her daughter assisting and her granddaughter becoming her publicist.
Wanda Jackson was born in Oklahoma. Dad bought her first guitar, gave her lessons, and encouraged her to play piano as well. He also took her to see Tex Williams, Spade Cooley, and Bob Wills, leaving a huge impression on Jackson, and part of the reason she would cling to her country music roots while forging a path in rock and roll, becoming the “Queen of Rockabilly”.
In 1952, Wanda won a local talent contest and was given a daily show on KLPR that lasted throughout Jackson’s high school years. It’s was there that Hank Thompson, who hosted the Ozark Jubilee Barn Dance, first heard her sing. Her first contract was arranged with Thompson’s assistance, and she had her first country hit in 1954 with the duet “You Can’t Have My Love.” She had wanted to sign with Capitol, Thompson’s label, but was turned down due to her young age, so she signed with Decca instead.
Insisting on finishing high school first, Wanda hit the road with her father as road manager. With her mother making and helping to design her stage outfits, Jackson remembers being the first girl in country music that she knew of to sing in tight, silk, fringe dresses, high heels and long earrings. Long before the style became popular in the 60’s, she raised more than a few eyebrows in the country arena. But they would get over it, most of them anyway. Meanwhile, rock and roll embraced her.
“There was none like her,” shared Jackson about her mother. “She was a hard, hard worker and she used to laugh at herself and say, ‘I don’t know about me! I just love to work.’ Needless to say, she got to work a lot! She always held down an 8 hour a day job, cared for her invalid mother for a time, and would set up late at night working on my stage dresses. One of us would get an idea for a look or design, I’d go to her or she’d come to me, and we’d decide if it would work. Then, while I’d be out on tour, she’d be making it. I’d come home and try it on and it would fit almost perfectly.”
When asked if, as a young girl launching a music career, she was ever afraid of anything, Jackson chuckled, “Maybe it sounds like I’m bragging – I still don’t have a lot of self-confidence, and I had even less then – except when I was getting ready to go on stage. I was very secure about how I looked and what I was doing. I was just ready to get out there and sing and entertain people. I wasn’t very intimidated by anyone really, but if I was I’d talk it over with my dad and he’d remind me that I chose this. He always told me that this was my job, and I’d best get comfortable with it. He’d say, ‘You’re no bigger, no better than other people. This is just a job that you chose and you need to do it well.’ They were a very smart mom and dad.”
Jackson’s first tours in 1955 and 1956, put her on the bill with none other than Elvis Presley. The two hit it off almost immediately. Jackson said it was Presley, along with her father, who encouraged her to sing rockabilly.
“When I hear Elvis’ music somewhere, I think of his eyes,” Jackson shared whimsically when asked about her experience with Presley. “They were just so different – they were what were called a smoky eye. They were just like his mama’s, very piercing. He was 20 and I was 17, just out of high school. I’d never seen anything like him. First time I met him he had a black shirt and slacks and a bright yellow sport coat. (Men back then only wore grey, black or tan). I just happened to be wearing a yellow skirt and sweater with a black rose on it. There’s a picture of us together that day floating around out there somewhere. Needless to say, he had a lot of charisma. He would walk into a room and conversations would just stop. Everybody wanted to hear what he had to say.”
In 1956, Jackson finally signed with Capitol, a relationship that lasted until the early ’70s. Her recording career bounced back and forth between country and rockabilly as she’d often put one song in each style on either side of a single. Jackson cut the rockabilly hit “Fujiyama Mama” in 1958, which became a major success in Japan. Her version of “Let’s Have a Party,” which Elvis had cut earlier, was a U.S. Top 40 pop hit for her in 1960, after which she began calling her band the Party Timers. A year later, she was back in the country Top 10 with “Right or Wrong” and “In the Middle of a Heartache.” In 1965, she topped the German charts with “Santa Domingo,” sung in German. In 1966, she hit the U.S. Top 20 with “The Box It Came In” and “Tears Will Be the Chaser for Your Wine.” Jackson’s popularity continued through the end of the decade.
Jackson married IBM supervisor Wendell Goodman in 1961. Goodman gave up his job in order to manage his wife’s career and support her international tours, a highly unprecedented move for a man in that era. According to Jackson, that beautiful union was in danger of ending at the ten year mark, if it wasn’t for a little church and a pastor they called ‘Brother Paul’. “We’d been married ten years and had two children. We didn’t want divorce and we hadn’t gone as far as talking about it, but it was not looking good. Our kids told us about the new preacher at the church. My mom took it upon herself to make sure they went to church on Sunday’s – that’s another thing she managed to do, bless her heart. We kept hearing ‘Brother Paul this,’ and ‘Brother Paul that.’ We were home on Sunday which was pretty rare – I was usually out (performing) every weekend. So we finally promised the kids we’d go and hear this new preacher.”
“We got there late and the kids and my mother gave up on us showing up and left, but I think that gave us a little more freedom. We listened, and there was an alter call at the end of the service. The lord just spoke to me. If that sounds funny to people, well, I don’t know how else to explain it. When God speaks to speaks to your heart, there’s no wondering – you know who it is. I turned to my husband and said that there was something I needed to do. I don’t think I ever fully understood what that was at the time, but I knew I wanted to turn my life over to Christ. When I said that, my husband took my hand and said, ‘Me too.’ God had spoken to him too some way or another, and we went together. From that time forward, our relationship has just been wonderful. It’s not just because we became Christians or started going to church, it’s because when God calls you to surrender your life to Him, He doesn’t stop there. He continues to help you grow and understand and change your priorities. Mine were all messed up,” she laughed. “It changed everything, and I believe that’s why we’ve been married for 54 years now.”
Jackson’s new found faith inspired gospel albums throughout the 70’s. She returned to her rockabilly roots in 1995, when Rosie Flores released, Rockabilly Filly, and Jackson, her longtime idol, sang two duets on it with her. Jackson joined Flores on a U.S. tour, her first in 20 years. After releasing the critically acclaimed, “Heart Trouble”, and “I Remember Elvis,” Jackson continued to tour all over the world to sold out venues.
In 2009, Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2011, released new recordings with Jack White on the album, The Party Ain’t Over. It included a cover of Bob Dylan’s, “Thunder on the Mountain” and Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good”. The album was well-received by critics and fans all over the world.
A brand new album is scheduled to be recorded this year. Sworn to secrecy, all I can report is that it will be recorded and produced by another female rock legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. The album will include original songs for the first time in 13 years. Jackson, who has been writing with a very special team of Nashville songwriters, shared how different the process is from when she first started out:
“Well, it certainly has changed in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t mean it’s a bad change. Country music is big business now. In my day, in the beginning, it was barely something anybody talked about – we had our fans, but it wasn’t what it is today.”
“I always wrote songs by myself. Now they have a writing house with all these rooms. Two to three writers will meet together; they’re not disturbed and can really get down to business. It’s very exciting to me. Vanessa Olivarez has been in all of the writing sessions with me. She is so good with melodies as well as lyrics. I do pretty well with lyrics on my own, but I have more trouble with melodies now. I didn’t used to, but it seems like they’ve changed. So far, all of the songs we’ve done are good enough to record. I’m very excited about who I will be working with. I only have one problem – I won’t be recording in Nashville, which really disappoints me. We’ll just see what happens. I don’t know what to expect other than I will get in there to do my part.”
According to Jackson’s songwriting partner, Vanessa Olivarez (vocalist for Granville Automatic, and cowriter of Billy Currington’s single, “Drinking Town with a Football Problem”), the album will meet the highest of expectations. “Working with Wanda has been an absolute blast,” shared the effervescent Olivarez. “I was presented with the opportunity to write with musical royalty and one of my heroes (thanks to Daniel Lee being so on point, setting up the most perfect writing combinations). I knew, above all else, that I must make it the best experience possible. In every write with the Queen, I make it my personal goal to get her laughing at least a dozen times. I think fun is the key, really. Well, fun and some top notch cowriters – Will Hoge, Angaleena Presley, Travis Meadows, Sonia Leigh, and Kristian Bush. We just get to giggling and write the best damn song we can!” The writers will reconvene in March to continue work on the new album.
Much has changed in the world of music since Jackson’s debut, but a few things have not; music is still a family business. Granddaughter Jordan Simpson works as Jackson’s publicist and is even credited with a co-write on the upcoming album. Simpson will attest to what else has remained consistent – Wanda Jackson is one of the most unassuming, authentically humble people you will ever meet. It is as if she has no idea of the impact she herself has made as she touts on the impact and talent of those around her. If you are one of the smart, lucky few who purchased tickets to Wanda Jackson’s upcoming show at Pappy and Harriet’s before it so quickly sold out, you will be forever moved and inspired. Wanda Jackson continues to carve a path and set the bar by simply being who she was born to be and fearlessly playing the music she loves. Legends are built on such things.
