For my Art and Popular Culture class I've decided to do a presentation on Rock 'n' Roll music. As I've been researching it I've realised all over again just how much I adore Wanda Jackson. (Official website) I love her amazing voice, her country ballads and her upbeat rockabilly numbers and I absolutely love her style! I admire her a lot and find her to be inspiring in many ways - she's definitely one of my icons and not just style-wise, either.
I personally prefer her style from the 50s and early 60s - it makes me want to get a fringed wiggle dress or a square dance outfit!
Here she is with Elvis - he was apparently enamoured of her vocal acrobatics and convinced her to cut more rockabilly tunes.
One of the things I admire about her is that she wrote a lot of her own songs:
"In 1956 there wasn't an abundance of rockabilly numbers for gals to cut - so Wanda decided to write her own, beginning with the raucous Mean Mean Man. "I needed a rockabilly song to record, and none were being written for girls since I was the only one recording it," Wanda recalled in 2002. "My Daddy gave me the idea, and I wrote it - the first of many I wrote and recorded." (from the insert for Rockin' With Wanda)
Oh, and that she's still touring! Here's a video from 2006 (and another one from this year performing Fujiyama Mama, again - there's a lot of talking at the beginning, though) - Wanda's still the Queen of Rockabilly!
I can't remember where I saved these pictures from so I can't tell you who everyone else is, except that in the middle photo the man on the left is the wonderful Carl Perkins and in the photo on the right she's with the gorgeous Gene Vincent (both of whom I also love).Take a look around youtube for some more videos and tunes!
Love,
Andi B. Goode
x
how wonderful!
ReplyDeleteShe sounds like a fascinating lady! I lover her style!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I love finding unique ladies from the past. They kind of become secret role models that no one else knows about!
ReplyDeleteI love Wanda Jackson. I have almost all her albums! Her songs are great for burlesque numbers. Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteLine: Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLizzy: Yeah, she's fantastic.
Amanda: Thanks. =D So do I!
Cheri: Oh, neat. I got a couple of her albums a few years ago and couldn't listen to anything else for weeks! I'd never thought of her tracks for burlesque but I bet they would be great!! Thank-you. =]
Cute! She sounds like someone I would like.
ReplyDeletegreat post. i learned a lot from it! thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeletexo,
missredlips
Solanah: Thanks. I'm glad to hear that! =D
ReplyDeleteMiss Red Lips: You're welcome - I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
Hey Andi-
ReplyDeleteI was exploring your blog when I came across this post about Miss Wanda, whom I love very dearly! I think I even have a post about her on my blog from a few months ago.
I actually got to see her play when she came through San Francisco in May. She played all the old rockabilly tunes and I practically fought some girls to get to the front. Let me tell you, if she rocks as hard as she does now at the age of 76 (I think) I can barely imagine how amazing it would have been to see her back in the day!
<3, Molly