Rockabilly queen follows her heart
In the 1950s, Wanda Jackson toured with (and dated) Elvis Presley,
wore sexy outfits to the Grand Ol' Opry and sang rockabilly music
when no other self-respecting woman would. But according to her, she
was no hellraiser.
“Daddy wouldn't let
me,” she said with a Southern twang from her home in Oklahoma. On
Thursday, Jackson returns to Pappy and Harriet's in Pioneertown, a
venue she remembers as “that little place where Robert Plant got up to
sing with me (in 2006).”
Throughout
her career, Jackson — who performed last spring at the Stagecoach
country music festival in Indio — has straddled the fence between
country and rock 'n' roll. “I had to,” she said. “I started out in
country music, and I didn't want to lose those fans.”
Mixing the two genres wasn't much of stretch, she said. “They're kissin' cousins, you might say.”
But
finding the right material early on in her career was a challenge, so
Jackson wrote her own, like “Mean, Mean Man.” She also recorded songs
other artists had picked over, like “Fujiyama Mama” (a big hit for her
in Japan), “Let's Have a Party,” “Hard Headed Woman” and “Riot In Cell
Block Number 9.”
Jackson
kept at it through the late '60s, but she said there was something
missing. On June 6, 1971, she had an epiphany: What was lacking in
her life was deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
“I had always gone to church,” she said. “But on that day I became Born Again and I received Him into my heart.”
Her
record label, Capitol, agreed to release a disc of gospel music that
year. “I'd always sung gospel music for myself, but I wanted to do an
album because that's what was in my heart,” she said.
But Capitol balked at a second gospel disc.
“They told me my contract wasn't for a gospel record every year and they graciously ended our relationship.”
For
the next decade, Jackson recorded gospel records on the smaller Word
label and played churches across the country. “We lived on love
offerings we got from the concerts,” she said.
Plugging her albums in church wasn't something she was comfortable
with. “I just didn't think it was right,” she said. “(But then), the
preacher told me that selling my records at concerts wasn't like
anything like the moneychangers in the temple.”
And somewhere along the way, singing rockabilly turned out to be OK, too.
“It
started in Scandinavia, of all places,” Jackson recalled. In the
early '80s, she was asked to do a three-week tour and given the
freedom to sing and say what she pleased. “I could give my testimony and
no one was upset by it,” she recalled.
Back
in America, other artists were starting to talk about Jackson's
influence. “I never knew that girls like Pam Tillis and Tanya Tucker
liked my music,” she said. “They're so much younger and their music's
nothing like mine, but apparently they listened to my records when they
were youngsters.”
In
2003, Jackson released “Heart Trouble,” which included updated
versions of old hits, a duet of “Crying Time” with Elvis Costello and a
couple tracks with the garage rock group The Cramps, which introduced
her to a whole new audience.
“I
had been praying and fretting over singing all this rockabilly for
years, hoping I was on the right path,” she said. “I began to understand
that I was successful again because that was what God had in mind for
me to do.”
Jackson's
latest album was a collaboration with Jack White, formerly of the
White Stripes. “He had 11 songs all picked out for me to do,” she
recalled. “So I guessed he gave up on the idea of duets.”
“The
Party Ain't Over,” released earlier this year, features rollicking
versions of “Shakin' All Over” and “Rip It Up,” along with rockabilly
interpretations of the Andrews Sisters' “Rum and Coca-Cola” and Bob
Dylan's “Thunder On the Mountain.”
Wanda Jackson in the 1950s.
Wanda Jackson in concert
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Pappy and Harriet's, 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown
Tickets: $20
Additional details: Opening act is The Country, featuring members of Gram Rabbit.
Information: (760) 365-5956; pappyandharriets.com
Looking ahead, Jackson said retirement isn't in the cards.
“The
thought of it frightens me,” she said. “What would I do? Singing has
been my whole life. I have no hobbies, and I'm too old to start one
now.”
Judith Salkin is a features writer. She can be reached at (760) 778-4771 or
judith.salkin@thedesertsun.com.
