Wanda Jackson - Five Classic Albums Plus (Lovin' Country Style / Wanda Jackson / There's A Party Going On / Right Or Wrong / Wonderful Wanda) (Digitally Remastered 2023) (2023)

AVID Pop presents the latest release in our Five Classic Albums Plus series with a remastered 2CD release from Wanda Jackson, complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details.

"Lovin' Country Style'; "Wanda Jackson'; "There's A Party Going On'; "Right Or Wrong'; "Wonderful Wanda' and four bonus tracks

It's wonderful to report that here at AVID HQ we are able to continue our release schedule with another fabulous musician who is still with us in 2023. Recently we have featured Tony Bennett, Ahmad Jamal and Kenny Burrell all in their 90s and here we have another musical great in the relative youngster at 85 years, the incredible Miss Wanda Jackson. Born into a musical family in Oklahoma, in October 1937 Wanda moved with her parents at an early age to Los Angeles where at six her father bought her first guitar and a later move took them to Bakersfield (the famed West Coast country music hot spot) before returning to Oklahoma when she was just nine years old. By now she was singing and playing the guitar and it wasn't long before she was performing on local radio back in Oklahoma City. In fact, she had her own 15 minute segment on a radio show where she performed mainly country tunes. Over the years there have been many artists who have dared to cross the dreaded genre lines the music business lays down for us all to follow. Perhaps the most famous is the King himself, Elvis, who started in country and gospel, moved to rockabilly and rock n roll and then to pop and even had a close shave with easy listening. Coincidentally Wanda Jackson, who had toured with Elvis and is said to have turned down a proposal of marriage from the great man (after all she was only a couple of years younger than him) was also a member of this relatively exclusive club. She had started in her early teens singing country songs but with the encouragement of the hip-swivelling sensation that was Elvis while they were touring together, she turned to rockabilly and became a rockin' legend. Words describing her act included "raunchy', "hot to the core rockabilly', "hard and fast', "sexually aggressive' and best of all "almost frightening savagery'. Having just recently caught some video footage of the her in the Sky documentary "Woman Who Rock' we can certainly agree with that, she was truly awesome. The closest comparison we can think of to the power of her performance was watching the vintage footage of Sister Rosetta Tharpe playing and singing "Didn't It Rain' on that cold and desolate railway station in Manchester in 1964. Wanda Jackson is perhaps best remembered as a country star but later in her career in the late 1960s and '70s having found religion she turned to gospel before returning to country and rock n roll in her later years. Wanda was still releasing music into the new century, working with the likes of Joan Jett and Jack White and even performing a handful of shows in 2018 before retiring after a stroke a year later in 2019. And for all you TV ad and Skoda SUV fans we have included as a bonus track "Whirlpool' where this fab Wanda B side is the featured song. As with all AVID releases, we hope you enjoy this classic set and check out our extensive catalogue for more great music across country, rock n roll, rockabilly, jazz, blues and many other musical genres.