Thursday, February 12, 2009
Interviews Cream Exclusive: Interview With Wanda Jackson
Posted by Adam Gold on Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 3:45 PM
As you might recall, I posted yesterday asking if any of you out in cyberspace had questions for Miss Jackson. I was for real, and I ended up fitting in Heather's question about being forced to cover up her spaghetti straps at the Grand Ole Opry and Glenn's question about her appearance in a New York Times crossword puzzle. I thank both Heather and Glenn for their participation. Take a look after the jump!
Nashville Cream: Are you excited about coming to Nashville?
Wanda Jackson: Sure, yeah, I like to go to Nashville. I don't get there as often as I'd like to, but it's always fun.
NC: Of what I'm sure are many experiences you've had in Nashville throughout your career what has been your most memorable experience here?
WJ: It's a place we love to eat. [Laughs.] Well, I think when Nashville comes to my mind I always think of the recording studio at Columbia. I never did live there, of course, and I think of the Spence Hotel. There used to be a kind of small specialty hotel called Spence, and it was across the street from the old [Country Music] Hall of Fame, and it was very elegant, a very unique place. I think of that and just the guys in the studio, you know, Grady Martin, Floyd Kramer, the Jordanaires, Charlie McCoy and all those guys. The sessions were just such fun because they were creative and worked with so many nice people, and they were so professional it just knocked me out to watch them work and see the ideas they came up with. It was fascinating to me.
NC: Are you playing with any Nashville musicians currently?
WJ: Well, when I come into Nashville, um, isn't it Wednesday night I think?
NC: Tuesday.
WJ: Tuesday, yeah. I'm doing Marty Stuart's television show on Monday, and then Tuesday night at The 5 Spot. That's a new place for me; I'm not familiar with the room.
NC: It's actually a really great place. It's small and intimate, very hip.
WJ: Really? I prefer the small rooms. They don't make as much money but they sure are fun to play. I'm working with Steve Haggard and his band, and I've never worked with them before so I'm sure they're great. They were recommended highly. We'll have a rehearsal that afternoon and do our show that night.
NC: I heard you've played Chris Scruggs.
WJ: He was in a band that I toured with, or he was on part of the tour, I think with Rosie Flores and I. Might not [want to] quote me on that, because I'm not sure, but I think he was on a few of those dates. We did a very extended tour; we did five weeks across America, Rosie Flores and I, and she had Nashville musicians. I believe he worked with us on some of those dates.
NC: At 71 do you still get a lot of enjoyment out of touring? What is it that makes you go out there and keep doing it?
WJ: Well, it's just the love of singing and entertaining, and of course the people. I have a whole new generation of [fans] now, and these aren't people my age; these are people more your age.
NC: Yeah, that's why it makes sense to play at the 5 spot. That's where me and my friends hang out.
WJ: The 20- and 30-somethings are really into rockabilly and the '50s rock music. They're so much fun because they know all these songs, and it really is strange to see all these young faces and they're all singing along. They know all the words to the songs of mine that I did back in the '50s. It really just throws you for a minute, you're like "How do they know these songs?" But they're such great fans. A lot of times they know more about the music that I recorded than I do. They know who played on them and what year it was released and all these particulars that I've kind of forgotten. Plus it keeps me feeling like a teenager, let's face it, singing my songs I sang when I was a teenager and having all these kids holler and clap and sing with me. There's nothing not to love about that, and travel, of course I've always loved to travel. Of course it's a little more difficult these days.
NC: How come?
WJ: Well, airplane service and things isn't what it used to be, and there are so many more people and just a lot of hassle. I don't have to take care of reservations and things, but you know, my husband does my booking and takes care of all of that: arrangements for bookings and hotels and rent-a-cars and airplanes. All I really have to do is pack and leave, but it's still not as enjoyable as it used to be. It's rush, rush, and the places are so large. As you get older, you slow down a little bit, so it's a little harder for me to do but I still love to go. I'll keep doing it as long as I can.
NC: I want to congratulate you on your induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. Were you surprised when you found out about that?
WJ: It was like shock and awe, after all these years. I was beginning to think, well they've forgotten me totally. So that was nice.
NC: Do you feel you should have been inducted sooner?
WJ: Yeah, well, in all probability there's a bunch that should be in there already, not just me. They had a lot of influence on the pop music of the day, but you know it's better late than never. What made it, I feel like, really happen for me this year...I was on the final ballot once before...but since then Elvis Costello has written a letter to the people at the hall and explained that if they're going to have credibility in their museum and hall of fame then I need to be in there. Then Bruce Springsteen stepped up and said basically the same thing, and I have a wonderful documentary that has just been released recently being shown on television, a lot of talk and gotten a lot of press on that, about my whole life and contribution to the music. I believe that all must have worked together to help, and my fans have been wonderful to write in and ask for me to be inducted. I guess that's what it takes is people reminding them of who all's out there that should be in the hall. But anyway, regardless of that, I never thought too much about it one way or the other. It only makes sense, that if you're going to have a rock and roll hall of fame, you should have the people that started that music. They have the big ones in there, but you know along with me, this year Bill Black is just now being recognized, and also DJ Fontana, drummer and bass player with Elvis in the beginning. And you know, that just doesn't make sense to me. And the Crickets, they still aren't in there.
NC: Really? I actually didn't know that.
WJ: I just found that out. I worked the big Buddy Holly festival in commemoration...
This one was at Clear Lake, Iowa...the last place that he played.
NC: Right, for the anniversary of the crash?
WJ: Anniversary, that's right, that's the word.
NC: You are being inducted to the hall as an "early influence". In light of that, what do you feel is your greatest legacy?
WJ: I think being the first woman to do it is a pretty good legacy to leave. I know I've had girls tell me that they love this kind of music and they wanted to sing it but until they heard me or saw me doing it they thought it was just men that could do this kind of music. I know at the beginning that's the way it was, and it's kind of like I gave girls permission to get in there and write your own songs and get out there and do it just like the guys. I changed the way of dressing for girls, at least in country music that crossed over into the rock and pop fields. By going to the more glamorous and sexy style of dressing.
NC: Do you think fashion is a big part of music?
WJ: Oh absolutely, don't you?
NC: I would say so; I think the visual aspect is a big part of entertainment.
WJ: Yeah, you can just mention one item of clothing and you can almost say what artist, you know: holes in the worn out jeans, you know, Dwight Yoakam, and a bandanna around the head, Willie Nelson.
NC: I asked some of our readers if they might have any questions, and one of the things someone asked whether or not the story about you playing at the Grand Ole Opry and being forced to wear a jacket over spaghetti straps is true.
WJ: Oh yeah, that's a true story. And you know I don't fault the Grand Ole Opry for that. I really don't. I want that to be mentioned, and they don't always mention this. They had invited me to come sing; this was the way I was dressing, course I'm a Midwesterner, and so a little more adventurous maybe. I had a special dress, and I designed it, and my mother made it, and it was spaghetti strap and sweetheart neck and silk fringes. When I got there, Earnest Tubb told me I'd have to cover up my shoulders cause women couldn't show their shoulders on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. I said, well, it's the only dress I brought with me, you know, so I don't know what to do. He said, well you'll have to put a coat or something on. So I wore a jacket that evening that I put on. It was a nice looking jacket; it was a leather one with the long fringe. I'm sure it looked all right, but it just broke my heart. So that was my experience with the Grand Ole Opry.
NC: You cut your first single at 16; what would you say is the difference between what you were doing at the time and what someone like Miley Cyrus or Britney Spears or younger female singers like that are doing now? Do you feel like there is connection to what you did then and what they do now?
WJ: I've never been asked that question, Adam. I do relate to them, I can say that much. And how...just by being a free spirit and doing it their way. You know, sometimes that doesn't work for artists; sometimes you're too far out or too different. It worked for me, and it works for them, so I understand that spirit of "let's be different, let's change this up a little bit, you know, it's time we do something else."
NC: Did you get a chance to watch the Grammys this weekend?
WJ: You know, I didn't even realize they were on. I don't know where I was; I think I was home. Sometimes I'm out on tour and then get home and I don't realize what's coming on TV, and I miss it. I did hear that my friend Brenda Lee got the lifetime achievement award which I'm so very proud for her, a gracious little lady and so talented. No, I didn't see the show.
NC: I will be at your show on Tuesday. What should I expect to see?
WJ: Well, you'll probably see Wanda Jackson in still her silk fringe, but probably not spaghetti straps and tights skirts anymore, if you know what I mean. [Laughs.] I try to have a reminiscence, a look of the Wanda Jackson that they hear on their records, and I still play guitar on some of the songs. I'll be doing all the songs that are most requested anyway, the "Mean Mean Man," "Fujiyama Mama," "I Gotta Know," "Let's Have a Party" and all those, and I'll probably throw in a couple of country songs too, maybe a yodel and a Jimmie Rodgers because those are the types of songs that influenced me in the beginning.
NC: Will you be playing any Elvis songs?
WJ: Yeah, I will because I have my album out now, my I Remember Elvis CD. It's my latest one, so yeah, I'll probably do maybe three songs from that album and talk about having worked with him. I kind of, a lot of the people that write, you know, my words aren't coming real good today, when they critique a show, they'll say you get a bit of a history lesson along with Wanda's concert. Most of the kids, you know, they like that, mention people that I work with and little stories here and there.
NC: It seems impossible to read anything about you that doesn't mention Elvis. How does it feel to be so closely associated with the King?
WJ: Well, he did so much for me, just by encouraging me and making me believe in myself and wanting me to stretch my talent. Don't say you can't do something; jump in there and try it. He said, "I know you can do this kind of music," and I sure didn't know I could. So he's just been very important in my career and as a person in my life just because he was wonderful, and I have sweet sweet memories of Elvis. I have that ring that he gave me of course, that I wore around my neck. We were just, we liked each other a whole lot. We were very good friends. I love talking about him.
NC: Another one of our readers would like to know if you were honored by the use of your name is a New York Times crossword puzzle last week?
WJ: I certainly was. In fact, of course being in Oklahoma I didn't see the paper, but I have a lot of fans in the New York area, and that was sent to me. So I thought well, now I think I've really arrived. [Laughs.] Yeah, I'd forgotten about that little thing; that was nice.
Wanda Jackson appears at The 5 Spot on Tuesday night (Feb. 17). Tickets are $15.
Comments (8)
Showing 1-8 of 8
Nice job with the Miley/Britney question, dude. She seemed impressed!
Good interview!
like
dislike
Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Joe Ely, and the Cotton Club
by Johnny Hughes,
January 2009
Elvis Presley was leaning against his pink, 1954 Cadillac in front of Lubbock's historic Cotton Club. The small crowd were mesmerized by his great looks, cockiness, and charisma. He put on quite a show, doing nearly all the talking. Elvis bragged about his sexual conquests, using language you didn't hear around women. He said he'd been a truck driver six months earlier. Now he could have a new woman in each town. He told a story about being caught having sex in his back seat. An angry husband grabbed his wife by the ankles and pulled her out from under Elvis. I doubted that.
Earlier, at the Fair Park Coliseum, Elvis had signed girl's breasts, arms, foreheads, bras, and panties. No one had ever seen anything like it. We had met Elvis' first manager, Bob Neal, bass player, Bill Black, and guitarist Scotty Moore. They wanted us to bring some beer out to the Cotton Club. So we did. My meeting with Bob Neal in 1955 was to have great meaning in my future. I was 15.
The old scandal rag, Confidential, had a story about Elvis at the Cotton Club and the Fair Park Coliseum. It had a picture of the Cotton Club and told of Elvis' unique approach to autographing female body parts. It said he had taken two girls to Mackenzie Park for a tryst in his Cadillac.
Elvis did several shows in Lubbock during his first year on the road, in 1955. When he first came here, he made $75. His appearance in 1956 paid $4000. When he arrived in Lubbock, Bob Neal was his manager. By the end of the year, Colonel Tom Parker had taken over. Elvis played the Fair Park Coliseum for its opening on Jan. 6th, with a package show. When he played the Fair Park again, Feb. 13th, it was memorable. Colonel Tom Parker and Bob Neal were there. Buddy Holly and Bob Montgomery were on the bill. Waylon Jennings was there. Elvis was 19. Buddy was 18.
Elvis' early shows in Lubbock were:
Jan 6th 1955, Fair Park Coliseum. Feb 13th. Fair Park, Cotton Club April 29 Cotton Club June 3: Johnson Connelly Pontiac with Buddy Holly, Fair Park October 11: Fair Park October 15: Cotton Club, April 10, 1956: Fair Park. Elvis probably played the Cotton Club on all of his Lubbock dates. He also spent time with Buddy Holly on all his Lubbock visits.
Buddy Holly was the boffo popular teenager of all time around Lubbock. The town loved him! He had his own radio show on Pappy Dave Stone's KDAV, first with Jack Neal, later with Bob Montgomery in his early teens. KDAV was the first all-country station in America. Buddy fronted Bill Haley, Marty Robbins, and groups that traveled through. Stone was an early mentor. Buddy first met Waylon Jennings at KDAV. Disk jockeys there included Waylon, Roger Miller, Bill Mack, later America's most famous country DJ, and country comedian Don Bowman. Bowman and Miller became the best known writers of funny country songs.
All these singer-songwriters recorded there, did live remotes with jingles, and wrote songs. Elvis went to KDAV to sing live and record the Clover's "Fool, Fool Fool" and Big Joe Turner's "Shake Rattle and Roll" on acetates. This radio station in now KRFE, 580 a.m., located at 66th and MLK, owned by Wade Wilkes. They welcome visitors. It has to be the only place that Elvis, Buddy, Waylon, and Bill Mack all recorded. Johnny Cash sang live there. Waylon and Buddy became great friends through radio. Ben Hall, another KDAV disc jockey and songwriter, filmed in color at the Fair Park Coliseum. This video shows Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis, Buddy and his friends.
Wade's dad, Big Ed Wilkes, owner of KDAV, managed country comedian, Jerry Clower, on MCA Records. He sent Joe Ely's demo tape to MCA. Bob Livingston also sent one of the tapes I gave him to MCA. This led to a contract. Pappy Dave Stone, the first owner of KDAV, helped Buddy get his record contract with Decca/MCA.
Another disc jockey at KDAV was Arlie Duff. He wrote the country classic, "Y'all Come." It has been recorded by nineteen well-known artists, including Bing Crosby. When Waylon Jennings and Don Bowman were hired by the Corbin brothers, Slim, Sky, and Larry, of KLLL, Buddy started to hang around there. They all did jingles, sang live, wrote songs, and recorded. Niki Sullivan, one of the original Crickets, was also a singing DJ at KLLL. Sky Corbin has an excellent book about this radio era and the intense competition between KLLL and KDAV. All the DJs had mottos. Sky Corbin's was "lover, fighter, wild horse rider, and a purty fair windmill man."
Don Bowman's motto was "come a foggin' cowboy." He'd make fun of the sponsors and get fired. We played poker together. He'd take breaks in the poker game to sing funny songs. I played poker with Buddy Holly before and after he got famous. He was incredibly polite and never had the big head. The nation only knew Buddy Holly for less than two years. He was the most famous guy around Lubbock from the age of fourteen.
Niki Sullivan, an original Cricket, and I had a singing duo as children. We cut little acetates in 1948. We also appeared several times on Bob Nash's kid talent show on KFYO. This was at the Tech Theatre. Buddy Holly and Charlene Hancock, Tommy's wife, also appeared on this show. Larry Holley, Buddy's brother, financed his early career, buying him a guitar and whatever else he needed. Buddy recorded twenty acetates at KDAV from 1953 until 1957. He also did a lot of recording at KLLL. Larry Holley said Niki was the most talented Cricket except Buddy. All of Buddy's band mates and all of Joe Ely's band mates were musicians as children.
Buddy and Elvis met at the Cotton Club. Buddy taught Elvis the lyrics to the Drifter's "Money Honey". After that, Buddy met Elvis on each of his Lubbock visits. I think Elvis went to the Cotton Club on every Lubbock appearance. When Elvis played a show at the Johnson Connelly Pontiac showroom, Mac Davis was there. I was too.
The last time Elvis played the Fair Park Coliseum on April 10,1956, he was as famous as it gets. Buddy Holly, Sonny Curtis, Jerry Allison, and Don Guess were a front act. They did two shows and played for over 10,000 people. Those wonderful I.G. Holmes photos, taken at several locations, usually show Buddy and his pals with Elvis. Lubbock had a population of 80,000 at the time. Elvis was still signing everything put in front of him. Not many people could have signing women as a hobby.
.
Many of the acetates recorded at KLLL and KDAV by Buddy and others were later released, many as bootlegs. When Buddy Holly recorded four songs at KDAV, the demo got him his first record contract. It wasn't just Lubbock radio that so supportive of Buddy Holly. The City of Lubbock hired him to play at teenage dances. He appeared at Lubbock High School assemblies and many other places in town.
Everyone in Lubbock cheered Buddy Holly on with his career. The newspaper reports were always positive. At one teenage gig, maybe at the Glassarama, there was only a small crowd. Some of us were doing the "dirty bop." The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal had photos the next day showing people with their eyes covered with a black strip. Sonny Curtis mentions that in his song, "The Real Buddy Holly Story." When Buddy Holly and the Crickets were on the Ed Sullivan show, the newspaper featured that. The whole town watched.
Buddy was fighting with his manager Norman Petty over money before he died. They were totally estranged. Larry Holley told me that Norman said to Buddy, "I'll see you dead before you get a penny." A few weeks later, Buddy was dead. When Buddy Holly died in a plane crash, it was headline news in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Over 1000 people attended the funeral on February 7, 1959. Buddy was only twenty-two years old. His widow, Maria Elena Holly, was too upset to attend. The pall bearers were all songwriters and musicians that had played with Buddy: Niki Sullivan, Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Sonny Curtis, Bob Montgomery, and Phil Everly. Elvis was in the Army. He had Colonel Tom send a large wreath of yellow roses.
In 1976, I was managing the Joe Ely Band. They had recorded an as-yet -to-be-released album for MCA Records. I was in Nashville to meet with the MCA execs. They wanted Joe to get a booking contract and mentioned some unheard of two-man shops. Bob Neal, Elvis' first manager, had great success in talent managing and booking. He sold his agency to the William Morris Agency, the biggest booking agency in the world, and stayed on as president of the Nashville branch.
I called the William Morris Agency and explained to the secretary that I did indeed know Bob Neal, as we had met at the Cotton Club in Lubbock, Texas when he was Elvis' manager. He came right on the phone. I told him the Joe Ely Band played mostly the Cotton Club. He said that after loading up to leave there one night, a cowboy called Elvis over to his car and knocked him down. Elvis was in a rage. He made them drive all over Lubbock checking every open place, as they looked for the guy. Bob Neal invited me to come right over.
Bob Neal played that, now classic, demo tape from Caldwell Studios and offered a booking contract. We agreed on a big music city strategy: Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, London, and Austin. Bob drove me back to MCA and they could not believe our good fortune. The man had been instrumental in the careers of Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Johnny Rodriguez, and many others. The William Morris Agency sent the Joe Ely Band coast to coast and to Europe, first to front Merle Haggard, then on a second trip to front the Clash. The original Joe Ely Band were Lloyd Maines, Natalie's father, steel guitar, Jesse Taylor, electric guitar, Steve Keeton, drums, and Gregg Wright, bass. Ponty Bone, on accordion, joined a little later. The band did the shows and the recording. The recorded tunes were originals from Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
However, some of the William Morris bookings led to zig zag travel over long distances to so-called listening clubs. When I complained to Bob Neal, he'd recall the 300 dates Elvis played back in 1955. Four guys in Elvis' pink Cadillac. When Buddy made some money, he bought a pink Cadillac. Joe Ely bought a pristine, 1957 pink Cadillac that was much nicer than either of their pink Cadillacs.
When I'd hear from Bob Neal, it was very good news, especially the fantastic, uniformly-rave, album and performance reviews from newspapers and magazines everywhere. Time Magazine devoted a full page to Joe Ely. The earliest big rock critic to praise Joe Ely was Joe Nick Patoski, author of the definitive and critically-acclaimed Willie Nelson: An Epic Life. After one year, MCA was in turmoil. Big stars were leaving or filing lawsuits. We were told they might not re-new the option to make a second record. MCA regularly fired everyone we liked. Bob Neal thought the band should go to Los Angeles for a one-nighter.
He booked the Joe Ely Band into the best known club on the West Coast, the Palomino, owned by his dear pal, Tommy Thomas. We alerted other record companies. They drove back and forth to L.A. in a Dodge Van to play only one night. Robert Hilburn, the top rock critic for the Los Angeles Times, came with his date, Linda Ronstadt.
The Joe Ely Band loved to play music. They started on time, took short breaks, and played until someone made them stop. Robert Hilburn wrote that Ely could be, "the most important male singer to emerge in country music since the mid-60s crop of Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson." The long review with pictures took up the whole fine arts section of the biggest newspaper in the country. Hilburn praised each of the band individually. He was blown away when they just kept playing when the lights came on at closing time. After that, several major record companies were interested.
The last time I saw Bob Neal was at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco on February 22, 1979. Little Pete, a black drarf who was always around Stubb's Bar-B-Q, was traveling with the band. To open the show, Little Pete came out and announced, "Lubbock, Texas produces the Joe Ely Band!" Then he jumped off the elevated stage and Bo Billingsley, the giant roady, caught him. Bob Neal, the old showman that had seen it all, just loved that.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This comment originally appears on www.virtualubbock.com and www.JohnnyHughes.com. Anyone may make copies of this one article or post it on any web site. Thanks to Chris Oglesby and Larry Holley.
Great interview, Adam. I'm guessing this will be a conversation you look back on fondly, for years to come. Wanda Jackson is a treasure.
See you Tuesday!!! :-D
Interesting to note that the old Spence Hotel is still around in the form of the Spence Manor Condominiums, complete with Webb Pierce's famous guitar-shaped pool:
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050601/COLUMNIST0102/105030007/-1/SPECIAL0908
Vote here for best Band of the Week
Slideshows
Top Commenters
