Wanda Jackson

Wanda Jackson – Rockabilly Queen (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · December 27, 2023 · Comments off

Wanda LaVonne Jackson is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, recording a series of 1950s singles that helped give her the nickname “The Queen of Rockabilly”. She is also counted among the first female stars in the genre of country music.

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Wanda Jackson – Rockin’ With Wanda! (1960/2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 1, 2023 · Comments off

Rockin’ with Wanda is a compilation album by country music and rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson. It was released in 1960 by Capitol Records (catalog no. T-1384). The album cover calls it “a collection of great country songs in the rhythmic singing style of Wanda Jackson.”

AllMusic gave the album a rating of four-and-a-half stars. Reviewer Richie Unterberger called it “absolutely the best collection of Wanda Jackson’s rockabilly recordings” and “a leading candidate for the best female rock & roll album of the 1950s.”

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Wanda Jackson – Wonderful Wanda! (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 5, 2022 · Comments off

This quintessential release features one of Wanda Jacksons finest albums from her most inspired years: the long unavailable LP Wonderful Wanda. This masterpiece, originally released on Capitol Records, was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee and released in 1962. This collection includes one of Wandas bigest hit singles, If I Cried Every Time You Hurt Me, as well as her earlier smash seller, In the Middle of a Heartache. Wanda also offers a couple of all-time pop favorites with her fine versions of Seven Lonely Days and I Need You Now, and on You Dont Know, Baby she demonstrates her very special knack of singing a blues song the way its supposed to be sung. This formidable album has been packaged in this very special collectors edition, which also includes 4 bonus tracks from the same period.

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Wanda Jackson – Queen of Rockabilly (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 5, 2022 · Comments off

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. Jackson was born in Oklahoma, but her father Tom – himself a country singer who quit because of the Depression – moved the family to California in 1941. He bought Wanda her first guitar two years later, gave her lessons, and encouraged her to play piano as well. In addition, he took her to see such acts as Tex Williams, Spade Cooley, and Bob Wills, which left a lasting impression on her young mind. Tom moved the family back to Oklahoma City when his daughter was 12 years old. In 1952, she won a local talent contest and was given a 15-minute daily show on KLPR. The program, soon upped to 30 minutes, lasted throughout Jackson’s high-school years. It’s here that Thompson heard her sing. Jackson recorded several songs with the Brazos Valley Boys, including “You Can’t Have My Love,” a duet with Thompson’s bandleader, Billy Gray. The song, on the Decca label, became a national hit, and Jackson’s career was off and running. She had wanted to sign with Capitol, Thompson’s label, but was turned down, so she signed with Decca instead. Jackson insisted on finishing high school before hitting the road. When she did, her father came with her. Her mother made and helped design Wanda’s stage outfits. “I was the first one to put some glamour in the country music – fringe dresses, high heels, long earrings,” Jackson said of these outfits. When Jackson 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. In 1956, Jackson finally signed with Capitol, a relationship that lasted until the early ’70s. Her recording career bounced back and forth between country and rockabilly; she did this by often putting one song in each style on either side of a single. Jackson cut the rockabilly hit “Fujiyama Mama” in 1958, which became a major success in Japan. Her version of “Let’s Have a Party,” which Elvis had cut earlier, was a U.S. Top 40 pop hit for her in 1960, after which she began calling her band the Party Timers. A year later, she was back in the country Top Ten with “Right or Wrong” and “In the Middle of a Heartache.” In 1965, she topped the German charts with “Santa Domingo,” sung in German. In 1966, she hit the U.S. Top 20 with “The Box It Came In” and “Tears Will Be the Chaser for Your Wine.” Jackson’s popularity continued through the end of the decade. Jackson toured regularly, was twice nominated for a Grammy, and was a big attraction in Las Vegas from the mid-’50s into the ’70s. She married IBM programmer Wendell Goodman in 1961, and instead of quitting the business – as many women singers had done at the time – Goodman gave up his job in order to manage his wife’s career. He also packaged Jackson’s syndicated TV show, Music Village. In 1971, Jackson and her husband became Christians, which she says saved their marriage. She released one gospel album on Capitol in 1972, Praise the Lord, before shifting to the Myrrh label for three more gospel albums. In 1977, she switched again, this time to Word Records, and released another two. In the early ’80s, Jackson was invited to Europe to play rockabilly and country festivals and to record. She’s since been back numerous times. More recently, American country artists Pam Tillis, Jann Browne, and Rosie Flores have acknowledged Jackson as a major influence. In 1995, Flores released a rockabilly album, Rockabilly Filly, and invited Jackson, her longtime idol, to sing two duets on it with her. Jackson embarked on a major U.S. tour with Flores later that year. It was her first secular tour in this country since the ’70s, not to mention her first time back in a nightclub atmosphere. Jackson returned to the studio in 2010 to begin work on a new album. Produced by Jack White and featuring a band comprised of the White Stripes frontman, his wife Karen Elson, various Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket’s Carl Broemel, and a host of others, The Party Ain’t Over arrived in early 2011. Jackson’s 31st studio album, 2012’s Unfinished Business, was produced by Justin Townes Earle and featured original material as well as covers of songs by Woody Guthrie, Etta James, Bobby Womack, and others. – Kurt Wolff

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Wanda Jackson – Encore (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 5, 2022 · Comments off

Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, releases her final album ENCORE featuring duets with Joan Jett, Elle King, Pistol Annies’ Angalenna Presley, and Candi Carpenter.

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