Some know the legendary
Wanda Jackson only as either a wild
rockabilly banshee or a
gospel singer.
Jackson was also a solid, original
country singer and this collection by
Ace, one of the very best assembled onto a single disc, proves the point in spades. When
Jackson emerged form the
rockabilly years, her
country records contained more than a little of that untamable spirit that made her hits of the 1950s so essential. The recordings in this set cover the years 1958 to 1972. They say as much about Nashville as they do
Jackson -- check out the prototype-psychedelic guitar solo in
"Right or Wrong" from 1961. There's a ton of fuzz in the riff, and the solo itself is the progenitor of
Davie Allan & the Arrows' sound.
Jackson walked the line between the sophisticated phrasing of
Patsy Cline (check
"Slippin'") and the throaty, wilder, rawer,
Rose Maddox country boogie and hillbilly sounds (
"You Bug Me Bad"). There are 30 selections on this platter that run the gamut between the two poles. The bluesy hard edge in the grain of
Jackson's voice would never allow her to become so mainstream as to be a national icon, and her competition was stiff:
Tammy Wynette,
Connie Smith,
Lynn Anderson, and
Loretta Lynn were just a few of
country's biggest stars at the time.
Jackson also never let the
rock & roll completely go out of her way of singing a song, even in the real weepers like the pedal steel drenched
"You'll Always Have My Love," and the string-soaked
"I Cried Every Time You Hurt Me." The tunes from the later '60s with horns (akin to the
Tijuana Brass) as heard in 1968's
"My Baby Walked Right out on Me," gave
Jackson a wider platform to let her considerable voice rip. Of course,
"Fancy Satin Pillows" and
"A Woman Lives for Love" are both here as well, representing
Jackson's last hits for
Capitol. The set ends with
"Tennessee Women's Prison," a
honky tonk song recorded as her last single for
Capitol in 1972, and the a burning rendition of
"Let's Have a Party," from a 1969 live album produced by
Ken Nelson. For those who snagged the
Bear Family single disc of
Jackson's
rockabilly material, this one from
Ace is the next essential chapter in the story. ~ Thom Jurek
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