While she was tossing around ideas for her next album, the name Jack White was mentioned to Wanda Jackson. It was the start of something big.
"We’d come up with this idea to record something like a ‘Wanda Jackson and Friends’ album – a collection of duets with other singers,” Jackson told The Star in a phone interview on Monday. “Our publicist, Jon Hensley, mentioned it to a friend in Nashville who does hair-styling and make-up and she said, ‘Be sure to get in touch with Jack White. I know he’s a big fan.’
“Somehow, Jon tracked him down and asked Jack if he’d was interested. He politely said no, he wasn’t interested in recording a duet with me, but we would record a single or album with me. Then the wheels started turning.”
The "queen of rockabilly" and one time close friend of Elvis Presley agreed to swap with White a list of songs that each would recommend for the project. Not surprisinglt, the two lists were different.
“I was kind of surprised at what he picked out for me,” said Jackson, who performs Saturday night at Knuckleheads. “He said the songs on my list were good but nothing hit him as being very different. He had picked out lots of newer songs, songs from this decade, but each one was a Wanda Jackson-type song.
"That’s how the Amy Winehouse song got in there (“You Know I'm No Good ") and the Johnny Kidd and the Pirates song (“Shakin’ All Over”). They’re kind of my style, but fresher.”
Jackson acknowledged she wasn’t all that familiar with White or his various music projects, even the White Stripes. But she did know about “Van Lear Rose,” the Grammy-winning album he recorded with Loretta Lynn.
That alone deserved much respect, she said, so she turned the reins of the project over to White.
“I said, ‘I’m putting myself in your hands,’” she said. “I told him I’d sing the way he wanted me to. Arrange it all however you like. The young man is so creative and talented I wasn’t about to tie him down."
And how did it go in the studio?
“He pushed me,” she said. “I’d be singing kind of laid-back and he’d say, ‘No. That may sound all right, but it’s not what I’m looking for.’ So he’d push me to give him some attitude. And he’d keep doing it. Finally I thought we had a take. He said, ‘That was great. But do one more. Push harder.’
“That kind of irritated me so I thought, ‘All right, young man, I’ll do it that way if it kills me.' And that was the take he wanted.”
The songs were fresh and contemporary, Jackson said, but the recording process wasn’t.
“Jack still records analog, so all the boards and the big tapes looked very familiar,” she said. “It was like going back in a time machine”
There have been rumors and reports about who helped out in the studio (a couple of White’s fellow Raconteurs) and what other songs are on the album (like “Thunder on the Mountain,” by White’s good friend Bob Dylan).
So far, only the Winehouse and Johnny Kidd covers have been released, as a 7-inch vinyl single and via iTunes. And Jackson said White has asked everyone to keep a lid on the rest of the project.
“Jack’s very secretive about things, which is good,” she said. “He has asked me not to divulge anything. We can talk about having an album coming out but don’t give away the songs we did. It will keep things fresh and new when the album comes out.”
She did divulge a scrap of information: There will be an Elvis cover on it.
“The day after I’d finished all my work, I dropped by the studio to hear what he was doing with the background singers,” she said. “They were having some problems so I started singing with them and we got it fine. That’s the way we used to do it in the studio.
“Jack didn’t think the song was working so he asked me if I had one in mind. I said yes: an obscure Elvis song that I always liked. So he brought the band back in and I sang with them. That was interesting. I hadn’t done that in a long time.”
No release date has been set for the album. Jackson said the recording is done; all that’s left is the mixing and some photo shoots for the packaging. She said they’d learned very recently that Warner Bros. will release the album in partnership with White’s company, Third Man.
“That’s a real shot in the arm,” she said. “They’ll also put it out on CD. I was kind of shocked when Jack didn’t put the single out on CD. But I didn’t argue. I’m going along for the ride.”
| Timothy Finn, The Star
SATURDAY
Wanda Jackson headlines the 7th Annual Rockabilly Prom starting at 8 p.m. Saturday at Knuckleheads, 2715 Rochester. Also on the bill: Two Tons of Steel and Lucky Tubb. Tickets are $12 in advance, $18 at the door. (816-483-1456).
Excellent video, she is an amazing musician, her voice and energy on stage is incredible.
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