All hail rock 'n' roll royalty! On her 31st rippin' record, Unfinished Business (out this month), the legendary Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, delivers her gravelly, yet sultry croon over crackling-hot old-school rock. The new Justin Townes Earle-produced album follows her 2011 LP, The Party Ain't Over, a sensational dose of revved-up rockabilly produced by one of her greatest admirers, Jack White. "Oh, Jack was like a jumpin' bean in the studio!" Jackson says. "And working with Justin was like just slippin' into a comfortable pair of shoes."
Jackson burst onto the scene in the mid-'50s as Elvis Presley's opening act. (She even had a brief fling with the King, but has been married to Wendell Goodman, a former IBM programmer, since 1961.) "Elvis talked to my daddy about me singing rock 'n' roll songs. I'd done country all my life, but Elvis convinced dad to let me switch."
Tonight, October 12, Jackson will play new and greatest hits at New York's Highline Ballroom, and one song that's particularly meaningful. "I wrote a ballad called 'Right or Wrong,' about the time I met Wendell. I like to see the sweet change that comes over the audience when they hear that song. If they're with their date or husband, they snuggle up or hold hands. It's a beautiful thing."
