鈥淚 sometimes wonder myself,鈥� Jackson says with a laugh about how she ended up in a studio recording with White for The Party Ain鈥檛 Over, released in 2011, and with Earle on the recent Unfinished Business (Sugar Hill).
She credits her manager, Jon Hensley, with making it happen. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 that familiar with [Earle and White]. Now I鈥檓 very happy to say I鈥檓 back in the mainstream of the music business thanks to them. I never stopped working, but now I feel more like a viable artist of the day.鈥�
Jackson is 75, and the feistiness she brought to rock 鈥檔鈥� roll in the 鈥�50s is still much in evidence on her new music, even if she needed to adapt to two very different personalities as producers.
鈥淚 was open to it because I felt like these guys have got their hands on the pulse of the buying public and those that will come out to concerts,鈥� she says. 鈥淢y husband and I talked it over, and we agreed we should give them free rein 鈥� unless I hit something I didn鈥檛 want to do. I have the last say, of course.鈥�
White wanted Jackson to cover Amy Winehouse鈥檚 You Know I鈥檓 No Good, but the singer 鈥渉ad a bit of a problem with some of the lyrics,鈥� she says. 鈥淛ack toned it down for me, rewrote a verse of that song, then it felt OK.鈥�
Jackson also took on Bob Dylan鈥檚 Thunder on the Mountain, but 鈥渋t was so long 鈥� it was 10聽minutes long 鈥� and I didn鈥檛 know what the song was talking about. My husband and I rewrote a verse and rearranged it, then I felt comfortable with it.鈥�
The fit with the easygoing Earle was a bit better. 鈥淛ack鈥檚 a firecracker. He was in on it totally, completely. He would always say, 鈥�;Give me a little more of that Wanda Jackson attitude.鈥� He made it very interesting for me. Justin was great, too, but he left a lot of how I sang up to me. He might have a comment or two about how to arrange a song, just little things. One time, I remember, he was listening to a playback, and he had his eyes closed. I鈥檓 sure he was concentrating on the music, but I tapped him on the shoulder and said, 鈥�;Uh, sorry to wake you up, Justin, but do we have a take or not?鈥� 鈥�
Of the two releases, the Earle-produced Unfinished Business comes across as the one more in tune with Jackson鈥檚 strengths as a singer and her ability to bridge early rock 鈥檔鈥� roll, country and gospel. It hues closer to the classic recordings she did with producer Ken Nelson in the first part of her career.
Jackson was a teenager out of Oklahoma who started out as country singer when she met, toured with and eventually dated Elvis Presley in 1956. 鈥淚 was strictly country when he started working with me, and he began talking to me about singing the type of music that he was singing 鈥� they didn鈥檛 really have a name for it yet,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 said, 鈥�;I can鈥檛, I鈥檓 just a country singer,鈥� but he explained to me how the business was changing. Country music was directed to adults 鈥� I was a teen singing songs about marriage and drinking, traditional country-music themes.
鈥淗e explained to my dad and me that instead of all adults buying records, the young people were buying records. If we wanted to sell a lot of records, we needed to do this kind of music.鈥�
Touring with Presley and watching him perform also made an impact. 鈥淭he main thing I learned from Elvis is don鈥檛 take yourself too seriously. Have fun up there. He never told me that, but I got that from watching his show. He was always flirting with the audience, teasing them. It was fun to see, and pretty soon I was blatantly copying him.鈥�
Jackson didn鈥檛 need any help from Presley or anyone else in forging her musical style. Her cutting voice and fierce rhythm-guitar playing had few female precedents before she cut classic rockabilly sides such as Fujiyama Mama, Mean Mean Man and Let鈥檚 Have a Party.
鈥淚鈥檓 definitely a belter, even on ballads,鈥� she says.
Jackson said she owes a lot to her dad, her manager during her first six years in the business.
鈥淗e said, 鈥�;Whatever you do, don鈥檛 copy someone else. We already have a Kitty Wells. Do it your way.鈥� 鈥�
