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Good Rockin' With Wanda Jackson

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By CURTIS ROSS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 14, 2008

The Queen of Rockabilly got rock 'n' roll lessons from The King himself.

Wanda Jackson was a young country singer when she met Elvis Presley on a 1955 package tour. Presley sensed Jackson was a burgeoning rocker and encouraged the singer to move in that direction.

Jackson pays tribute to her tutor - and one-time boyfriend - on her most recent album, 2006's "I Remember Elvis." The album features Jackson's takes on 13 Presley tunes plus one new number, "I Wore Elvis' Ring," as well as Jackson's recollections about Presley.

The project seems like a no-brainer but Jackson had her doubts.

"I was leery about - or just afraid of - doing his material," Jackson says by telephone from her home in Oklahoma.

But wasn't her first hit, "Let's Have a Party," an Elvis remake?

"I didn't really know he had done the song," Jackson says. "I learned it from The Collins Kids' version."

Presley's version was tucked away on the soundtrack of 1957's "Loving You." The song barely made it onto Jackson's eponymous 1958 album.

"It was a spur of the moment decision," Jackson recalls. "I was doing a country album. I needed one more song and I'd been opening my shows with 'Let's Have a Party,' so we put that one on."

There's no mistaking whose songs make up "I Remember Elvis." The track selection focuses on the earliest part of Presley's career - the Sun Records singles and the early RCA sessions, spanning the years 1954-'56.

"Those are the ones he was singing night after night on our tours," Jackson says.

Jackson and producer-guitarist Danny B. Harvey kept the sessions simple, in the spirit of the original recordings Presley made with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black.

"We wanted to keep the feel of the original songs as far as instrumentation and things like that but didn't want to copy it per se," Jackson says. "Danny doesn't copy Scotty's licks but he does some interesting things on his own."

Bassist Razor X, pianist Don Randi and Blondie drummer Clem Burke make up the rest of the "I Remember Elvis" band.

On the road, Jackson plays with local musicians, and she says there's no shortage of players who wail like real rockabilly cats.

"All of the bands that play that music from the '50s, they play it so well," Jackson says. "They play it like it's their music, like it's from their generation."

Fans of rockabilly music are just as devoted as the musicians.

"The amazing thing to me is the fact that the younger generation has found our music so exciting," Jackson says. "With all that music offers people today, they still want this 50-year-old stuff."

The appeal may go beyond the tunes themselves, Jackson says.

"It's fun music about simple things in life like going on a date or driving in a fast car, things teenagers do," Jackson says.

"Our times are so fast and furious, and I think everyone longs for a simpler lifestyle, to not have to push, push, push," Jackson says.

If that's the case, the yearning for simplicity is keeping Jackson pretty busy. The 70-year-old says she's working 12 months a year, playing shows in the United States as well as Europe and Japan, where the provocative "Fujiyama Mama" is an audience favorite.

"I'm pretty much in demand," Jackson says. "It's just so amazing that these young adults esteem me so highly for those little old songs."

Jackson headlines the Rockabilly Ruckus, presented by listener-supported radio station WMNF, 88.5 FM.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Rockabilly Ruckus

WITH: Wanda Jackson, Rocket 88, Unknown Hinson, Midnight Bowlers League, High Octane and Rock-a-Fellas

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa; (813) 971-0666

COST: $20 advance, $25 day of show

Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568 or cross@tampatrib.com.

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