Rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson
As chronicled in her allmusic Web site biography,
Wanda Jackson was only halfway through high school when, in 1954, country singer
Hank Thompson heard her on an
Oklahoma City radio show and asked her to record with his band, the
Brazos Valley Boys. By the end of the decade, Jackson had become one of America's first major female country and rockabilly singers. In fact, she became known as the Queen of Rockabilly.
Jackson, born in Maud, Okla., first toured in 1955 and 1956, she was placed on a bill with none other than Elvis Presley. The two hit it off almost immediately. Jackson said it was Presley, along with her father, who encouraged her to sing rockabilly.
TODAY, 19 of Jackson's best rockabilly albums were (finally!) released digitally. I found 'em all on iTunes.
Here's the list, but one of my favorites is available from her Web site and was released in 2006, "I Remember Elvis: Wanda Jackson." Jackson sings versions of Elvis' early hits.
Now available:
-- In Person (featuring "Lets Have a Party," "If I Had a Hammer")
-- A Woman Lives For Love (featuring "Stand By Your Man," "Let Trouble Be You")
-- Reckless Love Affair (featuring "This Gun Don't Care," "You Can’t Make A Heel Toe The Mark")
-- Blues In My Heart (featuring "I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Midnight")
-- Sings Country Songs (featuring "Send Me No Roses," "Little Charm Bracelet")
-- Wonderful Wanda (featuring "In The Middle Of A Heartache," "If I Cried Every Time You Hurt Me")
-- Love Me Forever (featuring "The Things I Might Have Been," "I May Never Get To Heaven")
-- Country Keepsakes (featuring "Tennessee Women’s Prison," "I Don’t Know How To Tell Him")
-- Cream Of The Crop (featuring "Wishing Well," "A Girl Don’t Have To Drink To Have Fun")
-- I Wouldn’t Want You Any Other Way (featuring "Crazy," "The More You See Me Less")
-- I’ve Gotta Sing (featuring "Hello Darlin'," "Fancy Satin Pillows")
-- Praise The Lord (With The Oak Ridge Boys) (featuring "Battle Hymn Of The Republic (Glory, Glory, Hallelujah)," "Oh Happy Day")
-- Wanda Jackson Country! (featuring "By The Time You Get To Phoenix," "My Big Iron Skillet")
-- You’ll Always Have My Love (featuring "My Heart Gets All The Breaks," "Famous Last Words")
-- There’s A Party Goin’ On (featuring "Hard Headed Woman," "Tongue Tied")
-- A Woman Lives For Love (featuring "The Dirt Behind My Years," "Stand by Your Man")
-- Right Or Wrong (featuring "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," "Slippin' and Slidin'")
-- The Happy Side Of Wanda Jackson (featuring "This Land Is Your Land," "Please Don’t Sell My Daddy No More Wine")
-- The Many Moods Of Wanda Jackson (featuring "Fever," "Memphis, Tennessee")
