Unless you've spent the last week aggressively avoiding late-night television, the Internet and any other form of media, you've noticed that quite a lot has changed in the world of Wanda Jackson since
The Queen of Rock and I spokenearly two years ago.
Last week alone she brought the house down over at Third Man, killed it on Letterman, wowed Pitchfork's Brooklyn shutter-bugs, reinvented "senior moments" with "septuagenarian" glory over a two-night stand at L.A.'s El Rey Theater, and tonight she plays Conan. And it's all because current Scene cover boy Jack White pulled the 73-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer from the precipice of retirement to helm her latest release, The Party Ain't Over — which drops today on Third Man/Nonesuch. While the year is still young, I'm already feeling fairly confident in predicting that TPAO may indeed prevail as the party album of 2011. Revisit this if you need some convincing.
Last month I got an opportunity to catch up with Jackson over at Third Man HQ, where she divulged the deets on her experience working with White, his process in the studio, her trepidation over attempting Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good," her excitement at a potential career resurgence, and a funnel full of other repartee that you're gonna just love. Peruse the Q&A sesh below.
Nashville Cream: When we last talked you were coming through to play The 5 Spot and you’d just learned about your Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. At the time, the induction ceremony hadn’t happened yet. What was it like, and what was that whole experience like?
Wanda Jackson: My husband was just kind of outraged, [and] had been for several years, that I wasn’t in it. And I would say, “Honey I don’t expect to be in it. I’ve never had a string of No. 1 hit songs, and, in fact, I have never had even one No. 1 rock ’n’ roll song.”
