  
|
|
|
 |
WANDA JACKSON INTERVIEW
|
What Wanda Jackson represents to her fans goes beyond hit records. The fact that she embodied the true liberating spirit of early Rock'n'Roll was not lost on scores of female artists who took her example to heart. In an era when female performers fell prey to the trappings of compulsory restraint, Wanda's great Capitol Rockabilly sides (which are so hot you need oven mitts to hold them!) burst through speakers like a thousand spirits of joy, set free from a latter day Pandora's Box.
Wanda Jackson IS the Queen Of Rock'n'Roll, no ifs, ands or buts about it. If ever there was a female counterpart to all the things that made Elvis great, it is she. As a groundbreaking song-stylist with a tremendous singing voice, and (I was getting to it) a drop-dead gorgeous looker, Ms. Jackson was in a class all her own. When Elvis himself said "You know Wanda, you should get in this Rock'n'Roll racket...I mean business," he couldn't have been making a better suggestion.
After cutting many fine Country sides for Decca, Wanda let loose with a dazzling array of howls, shudders and screams (in tune of course) that probably blew the roof off of Capitol's studio. She was ably assisted by the great Ken Nelson, who simultaneously produced wild rockin' sides for Gene Vincent and Esquirita while also working on classic Country with Hank Thompson, Merle Travis, Jimmy Bryant, Speedy West and dozens more. They struck paydirt with "Let's Have A Party", (recorded slightly earlier by Presley as "Party" in the film "Loving You"), which has been her theme song ever since.
While other great records followed, including some fine Country and Gospel work, "Party" was the call to arms for female singers who may have been hesitant to try their hand at a medium considered "unlady-like" by the masses. Wanda, of course, was able to demonstrate pride and power while still being very much the lady. This, combined with the strength of her repertoire, which includes such classics as "Fujiyama Mama", "Mean Mean Man", "Big Iron Skillet", "That Made Him Mad" and "The Box He Comes Home In", continue to delight and inspire new generations of fans.
One such example is the also lovely and talented Rosie Flores, who credits Wanda as her primary inspiration, and who features Wanda (and the great Janis Martin) on her new Hightone release "Rockabilly Filly". A tour featuring Rosie, Wanda and an ace Rockabilly band crossed the country late last year, and the crowds were dazzled by Rosie's fiery lead guitar and of course, by Wanda...still beautiful, still full of style and grace and still rocking down the house and having a great time to boot. My friend, Pope Coleman, summed it up when he called me at nine in the morning on the Saturday after the first stop on the tour, knowingly waking me up to say, "The Queen lives! Long live The Queen!." I concur, the crown is hers. When I asked Rosie what this whole thing has meant to her, I knew exactly what the answer would be, because it summed up my feelings about having the opportunity to interview her. "It's a dream come true."
John: First , I'd like to say it's great to have you here, Wanda: I've been getting phone calls from friends all over the country saying, "Hey, guess what? Wanda Jackson's going to be playing here!"
Wanda: Well, how about that!
John: There's a buzz all over the country...
Wanda: Well, it's my first time to make a Rockabilly tour across the whole United States, so I guess it is kind of newsworthy....
John: Yes, absolutely! But, most importantly, is it exciting for you?
Wanda: Oh, certainly it is! I didn't realize how many true Rockabilly fans there were here in America. I knew it was very big in Europe, I've been working over there for twelve years...
John: Well, you know how it is with music like this. It seems to be at a lull for a while, and then it starts to pick up, and it's picking up now.
Wanda: Right, different generations come along, and discover the music, I think. They don't like their generation's music, so they find some that they do like!
John: (Laughs) Yeah, and hopefully bring it into our generation, because I think you've been an inspiration to a lot of younger female performers, AND male performers, too.
Wanda: Right, I've learned of several as I meet them. Rosie Flores, definitely, and Pam Tillis, I was on her show recently.
John: Yes, I saw it in fact.
Wanda: And Tanya Tucker, she said that Elvis and I, both, were inspirations to her life. So, it's nice to know that you've inspired someone to do their life's work.
John: Right. I believe you have, and will continue to.
Wanda: I hope so. Getting comments like that from even the young people at the shows who probably aren't singers, the girls who just tell me that I'm an inspiration to them, for one reason or another. So, I hope it's for good!
John: It is, you've definitely always projected a positive image.
Wanda: Thank you.
John: It seems that, early on, after you'd done all these country recordings, which I like a lot, too, and Elvis suggested you try your hand at Rock n' Roll, you came up with a different kind of vocal style that I can't compare to anyone else.
Wanda: Well, I guess that's true, though I didn't know it at the time (laughs). As I go back and listen, the other girls weren't singing quite like I was.
John: No, and neither were a lot of the men! You were just singing then as you felt it.
Wanda: Right, I was a teenager then, this was my generation's music, it was what I danced to on dates. I loved it. I really probably found my real niche right there. But, let me go back a little ways, and tell you how "Let's Have A Party" happened. I'd been working with Elvis, but I just recorded Country, so he, definitely, like you said, encouraged me to try it, but I didn't, right then. It took me a while to WANT to do it. I enjoyed listening to it, but I didn't think I could do it. I changed record labels, from Decca to Capitol, and then, in 1957, Capitol released my first album. I had eleven country songs and I needed one more song to fill out the album, and we couldn't think of what to put on there. I'd been opening shows with this song, "Let's Have A Party." I had my own band at the time. We traveled, worked dances, club dates, military bases, and I'd open shows with that song. It was a popular song with the public, the people liked it. So I said, "Why don't we just put this on there to fill out the album?" So, actually, a couple of years later, it was 1959. I think I recorded it in 1957. It was in '59 when it took off. There's a real unusual story to that, too. A disc jockey in Iowa began playing it for the theme song for his radio program. He began getting so many requests for it, people wanted to know where they could get copies of it. He got in touch with Capitol and said, "You've got a hit on your hands. You should pull it out of that album!" So that's what they did. I had already kind of given up hope of getting in the "Rock" market, and then it happened! It was my first international hit. So that's why in Europe, Asia, and places like that, they think of me as more of a "Rockabilly" or "Rock" singer moreso than Country.
John: Right, but before "Let's Have A Party" became a hit, did Capitol try to steer you in a particular direction, or did they say, "Do the pop stuff, do the Country and the rockin' stuff, and we'll go with whatever works."?
Wanda: Yeah, they let me do whatever I wanted to. I just worked with one producer at that time.
John: Ken Nelson.
Wanda: Ken Nelson. And we would just get our heads together and plan it. But we didn't really know what direction to take. I wanted to do ALL kinds of music. I didn't ever want to be pigeon-holed as "Country" or as anything. I just wanted to do all of it. So what we started doing was, one of my first songs on Capitol was called, "I Gotta Know."
John: Right.
Wanda: It started off with a Country lick, and then it goes off into the rock stuff. I did a couple of those, we'd release a single with a Country song on one side, and a rock thing on the flipside. So they didn't really know what to do with me (laughs). You know, no one steered people's careers in those days, I don't think, like they do today. It was just kind of hit and miss, kind of pull you by the seat of your pants! (Both laugh)
John: Was Roy Clark playing with you then, or did he come later?
Wanda: Well, when I first began working at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, I had worked at the Showboat for a couple of years with various bands. But the Nugget wanted me to come in as a headliner, and I had to put my own band together. We had to work five back-to-back shows, forty-five minutes on, fifteen minutes off. That's just an awful lot of singing. None of the other guys in the band really sang, so that's when I brought Roy Clark in. I'd worked with him on the East coast, and remembered that he was a great entertainer and guitar player. So he joined my band, The Partytimers, then, which worked real good for my needs at the time. He was with me for about nine months. Capitol records saw him there, and our opening, and Ken Nelson signed him later. So, he's kind of my protégé. I'm glad that I could showcase him, so that he could get his break.
John: When you were on TV shows like "Ranch Party," most of which were aimed at the southern market, were you having any national chart success?
Wanda: Yes, well, we used to have "regional" hits. You could have a hit in California that no one had heard of in Oklahoma.
John: "Ranch Party" seemed like such a lively atmosphere to work in.
Wanda: It was. Of course, I had been doing the nation's first network country music TV show, the Red Foley show, it was called "Ozark Jubilee" and later, "Jubilee U.S.A.," which is referred to as "The Red Foley Show". I was with them for five years. On that show, I did country and some rock, too, whatever record I had out at the time, I'd sing that. So, television wasn't really new to me. I enjoyed doing "Ranch Party." I like all the people on it. It seemed kind of strange to me, at the time, though (both laugh). But, it was a popular show, and I knew everyone on it, so it was always fun to do. I have some of the old videos of my performances on it.
John: Yes, so have I!
Wanda: You do, too? (laughs)
John: I have one of you. I don't know what it's from, of you singing, "Let's Have A Party" with Glen Campbell on guitar.
Wanda: I think that was called "Star Route."
John: Right. I've got some episodes of that show on video, too . . .
Wanda: Yeah, Glen Campbell was playing guitar . . .
John: Yeah, Glen Campbell was in the house band (and a slightly older Collins Kids were regulars --John).
Wanda: And they had me sitting on a stool and everything! (laughs) It was kind of funny, trying to sing "Let's Have A Party" like that. I wasn't comfortable with that. That's what we called the "Hollywood production." It would take them three days to tape a thirty minute show, and you just got so worn out, you did it however they wanted, just to get it over with (laughs). You got tired of fighting 'em.
John: When you started, with Hank Thompson, were you thinking in terms of just having a straight "Country" career?
Wanda: Oh, you know Hank was my favorite singer . . . He had always been, and still is one of my very favorites. He was living in Oklahoma City at that time, and had heard my radio program. I was still in high school, and he invited me to sing with his band. He worked there on Saturday nights, once or twice a month, so, I was very thrilled to get to sing with him and the Brazos Valley Boys. And then, when I graduated from high school, I already had a couple of Country hits that had dented the charts.
John: "You Can't Have My Love," things like that . . .
Wanda: Yeah, that was the first one, and there were some others that did pretty well. I toured a little with Hank, just doing straight country. Later on, I toured with Elvis. My daddy toured with me, until the time I was married, and then my husband toured with me, so I was never out there just by myself, floating around. But, Hank is still a very good friend of ours.
John: He lives in Dallas now, doesn't he?
Wanda: Just outside of Ft. Worth. Roanoke.
John: I heard he still plays in Dallas occasionally, I saw him on TNN recently, too. He looked great, sounded great.
Wanda: Right! He had his seventieth birthday this year, and he's in very good health.
John: That's great, that's really good to hear.
Wanda: We just came from Nashville. I did some clubs, Rosie and me, we also did the Ralph Emery show, and the first of November, before our tour started, we did "Music City Tonight", and I had a reception from The country Music Hall of Fame, where I donated to them one of my original guitars and one of my beaded outfits, so I could have a window display at the Hall of Fame. (Your already in that other one in our hearts-John) That was exciting.
John: That is exciting. When you started working on the album with Rosie, were you talking already about starting a tour, or did it just come about?
Wanda: No, that just kind of happened. It seems like the good things that have happened in my career are things that you don't try to plan and push, and make it happen, it just seems to happen. Our songs, come off very well, Rosie and I were real happy with them.
John: I agree.
Wanda: Thank you! I just commented to her that if I could help her out in any way in promotion, I could come to the coast, set a couple of dates, and we could go around to record stores, get on radio programs, and just help her promote her new project...And, so the record company and the booking some things, and then word got out, and other places were calling, they said, Hey, we could take you on a long tour! We got excited about it, and all this was put together while my husband and I were in Denmark. So, it happened pretty fast, but, it is causing a lot of stir, which thrills me that people still remember the songs.
John: Oh, of course.
Wanda: The young people at the shows are all singing them right along with me, so I know that they have the records, they're bringing 'em out for me to sign.
John: That's got to be a great feeling.
Wanda: It really is, to see that this kind of music is still so popular. You must be a Rockabilly fan, too!
John: Oh, yeah, in a big way.
Wanda: Well, good!
John: I actually found out about you through other female singers that were doing your material, and I began to investigate. At the time, we're talking early '80s, a lot of your stuff wasn't readily available, even the old Capitol recordings. It's easier to find now.
Wanda: Yeah, but I have the box set out now.
John: Which I have!
Wanda: You have that?
John: Yeah, it's great!
Wanda: Bear Family did a wonderful job on it!
John: They really did!
Wanda: That's caused a lot of stir, brought my name back up, with collectors . . . Rounder released those recordings I did in the '80s in Sweden, and then Rhino put out "Rockin' in the Country" when the Country on one side, and Rockabilly on the other.
John: I know that in places like England and Scandinavia, places like that, people were already very aware of the music and the people who are still around, playing it.
Wanda: Right, and they have the original people . . . I've toured with Carl Perkins and Sleepy LaBeef, and people like that, since the late 80's.
John: Sleepy was here several years ago. He plays here a lot, but he was talking about doing some shows with you, and with Carl. that was the first I'd heard of you playing out again, and then I'd read about how well you were doing in Europe and Japan, but I'm so glad to see that you're doing so well back home.
Wanda: Thank you. I am, too. It's nice to be remembered at home, too! (laughs)
John: As I think you pointed out before, I think you represented something, and your music represented something that was a positive inspiration to a lot of young women, in terms of being assertive, and being your own person, without stepping on anyone else's feet. That's my take on it.
Wanda: Right. Well, I think that's a good way to say it. They say "you were . . .," I hate to say it, "a woman's libber!" (both laugh) I don't go along with all that stuff, but my songs kind of made it look that way. Like I was out doing my own thing (laughs).
John: If you'd care to reflect on that, it seems like there were tunes that played kind of 50/50 where, "He does this, but I'll do THIS," and later on there were songs like "The Box That It Came In" that didn't pull any punches.
Wanda: (laughs) Yeah! That's right! "This Gun Don't Care Who It Shoots"!
John: Yeah! That's a favorite of mine, too, "This Gun Don't Care." I LOVE that stuff!
Wanda: I thought it was a very cute song. I just picked them out because I liked them. I wasn't trying to make any statements.
John: Oh, no, no. They're just fun songs. They don't have to be taken so literally by people.
Wanda: Way, way back I was doing songs like "Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad!" It was cute.
John: Did you feel that people might have got the wrong idea about where you stood from songs like that?
Wanda: No, I don't think I gave it that much thought, to tell you the truth.
John: Yeah, because, to me, they're just good-natured tunes.
Wanda: Right. There wasn't so many ISSUES like there are today. It was a simpler time. You could hear a song, and if you didn't like it, well, you didn't listen to it. You didn't go out and cause a big row about it. But, we didn't have all the media that we do today.
John: But, like with "Fujiyama Mama", you'll have to refresh my memory, but wasn't that a tune from the forties that you heard later on a jukebox? Who did that originally?
Wanda: I don't know what year it was from, I heard it in high school-I think it was more of the Black group sound, before Motown, more 'Blues". (Jeff Tamarkins' feature on Wanda in Goldmine credits Annisteen Allen with doing the original-John) It was really done differently from how I did it.
John: Oh, yeah, of course. But that's a favorite with most people, it's a prime example of that "Howling and Growling" vocal style.
Wanda: It's a great rock song.
John: It is!
Wanda: We still do it in our show.
John: Oh yeah. And you really put your stamp on it. Did you have any favorite singers in the field that might have influenced you to that degree when you did songs like "Party" and "Fujiyama Mama"?
Wanda: I liked Little Richard!
John: I knew you were going to say that!
Wanda: He flavored my style, and Elvis. I loved Carl Perkins, Jerry lee Lewis...not only were they personal friends. I didn't know Little Richard, but the others, but I really was a fan of theirs. I loved their singing, I had their records.
John: Yeah, it was an exciting time...
Wanda: It was a more innocent time too.
John: Yeah, that's true. But I think younger people are attracted to that innocence.
Wanda: Oh, absolutely. That's why I believe the pockets of Rock & Roll, Rockabilly, I mean, scenes today are kids wanting this for their lives. They're dressing like in the 50's when they come out to the shows, and many of them have vintage cars. We have two photos that we're selling, we have a vintage 1956 and we have a current one, and the vintage ones outsell the current ones ten to one!
John: I think there's enough interest, even among people a little of my age bracket, now.
Wanda: What age are you?
John: I'm 31.
Wanda: Same age as my son!
John: Yeah! I've been a fan of this music since I was in high school, but a lot of it wasn't as accessible as it is now. It was out there, but you had to dig. You still have to dig! But I'm finding alot more of your original 45's, and there's alot of fun to be had there.
Wanda: Finding them is a challenge! It's a good hobby.
John: And the music has a warmth and honesty that appeals to people today.
Wanda: There's a simplicity to it. I really appreciate people like Rosie coming out and saying I've inspired them. It would be nice to say that I planned all of this, that this was exactly what I'd planned, but it was just one of those things that happened.
John: But, I think that's even better, to be able to say that you didn't have a plan...
Wanda: Well, I didn't really have a plan. I just wanted a hit (laughs). I knew that.
John: I think that's better. Look at any art form that stands the test of time: movies, I guess. A lot of people who had the greatest ideas didn't really labor for hours and days and months and years on them like they do today.
Wanda: No.
John: They didn't just put tons of money into these things like they do today.
Wanda: Mm-hm. They would just burst, these ideas . . .
John: Even somebody like Capitol in the day, as big of a company as they were, and still are. Whatever moneys went into making a Wanda Jackson record or a Gene Vincent or Buck Owens record . . . you can't buy that sound.
Wanda: No.
John: And, I think Ken Nelson, really, was just a genius.
Wanda: He really was. He let the artists have a lot of leeway. He knew how to draw the very best out of the artist without ever making you mad or upsetting you. He could get what he wanted from you with just his easygoing style. I learned so much about recording and about singing on records from Ken Nelson.
John: Is he still alive?
Wanda: Yes, uh-huh. I still correspond with him.
John: Good. That's great.
Wanda: In fact, we talked with him when we worked the House of Blues in Hollywood. He wanted to come out, but he doesn't drive at night, and he didn't have anyone to bring him.
John: Well, that's great that you touched base with him. He's responsible for so many great records, and, as I say, you can't buy that sound. You've just got to have good minds working at it.
Wanda: That's right. I want to see him get into the Country Music Hall of Fame. I can't understand why he isn't yet.
John: Yeah, I can't understand that either.
Wanda: Well, they don't think about the West Coast people. The Nashville clan , you can't hardly break that barrier. I know Rosie lived in Nashville for a while, tried to make something happen, or just be available, and she finally went back to California. Jan Brown did the same thing. They're both great entertainers and performers, but the weren't both in the little Nashville . . .
John: Clique.
Wanda: Clique. I mean, those are wonderful people. They're nice, and I don't think they realize what they do (laughs), but they do make it harder for outsiders to get in. I would just record wherever my tour was gonna take me. If I needed to record, I'd head to the coast or Nashville, one or the other.
John: Speaking of recordings, are you going to be doing any new recordings of your own anytime soon?
Wanda: Well, I was gonna tell you, we do have a new one. It's not available in America, we don't have a distribution company or a label yet, but in Denmark, at the first of the year, I recorded with a group called the Alligators. So it's a fresh, new Rockabilly sound, and on it, it's a CD, we have some songs, of course, that are standards that they wanted on there. And I do a Tanya Tucker song called, "Highway 101," and I did a Jimmy Rodgers. It's just a real good mixture of my whole career as a singer.
John: So, in the near future, there may be a US release too?
Wanda: Well, it's available. We're not knocking down doors, but if it happens, that would be good. (Note: I'm not sure if this album is the same as the Success label CD/cassette sold at her shows, as it lacks the Tanya Tucker song mentions, but it sounds great, and features strong remakes of several of our gals' best songs, as well as the Jimmie Rodgers classic "blue Yodel No. 6") It's been released and published in Sweden, but so far not in America. So, maybe tours like this, and getting things in the paper and magazines like you're doing, will get that some attention and maybe it'll help.
John: Oh, yeah, I hope it will. I have a good feeling that it will. I wouldn't worry too much about it (laughs).
Wanda: Oh, I'm not (both laugh).
John: I didn't think so!
Wanda: Well, I'm going to need to be going, and get some dinner, and get ready for the show tonight.
John: OK, well, Wanda, it's been a pleasure, and I thank you again.
Wanda: You betcha, John!