The Queen of Rockabilly Looks Back: Wanda Jackson at 9th Street Summerfest

Rockabilly royalty Wanda Jackson revved up the 9th Street Summerfest crowd out in front of The Blue Note rock club in Columbia, Missouri, with a feisty autobiographical set. In chronicling her career, Jackson sang “Heartbreak Hotel”, thanking Elvis for convincing her to try rockabilly on her first tour fresh out of high school. She acknowledged Jack White for producing and touring with her to support her 2011 comeback album The Party Ain’t Over, plucking “Shaking All Over” and “You Know That I’m No Good” from that record. And Wanda gave a nod to her latest producer, Justin Townes Earle, by playing Bobby Womack‘s “It’s All Over Now” from 2012’s Unfinished Business. Elsewhere, the First Lady of Rockabilly used her own compositions to crisscross from hard country (“Right or Wrong”) to rockabilly classics (“Rock Your Baby”, “Mean Mean Man”) with her excellent young backing band The Ladybirds hanging tight. She closed out the set with her first Number One hit (in Japan anyway) “Fujiyama Mama” followed by the crowd-pleasing “Let’s Have a Party”.

Setlist

Riot in Cell Block #9

Rock Your Baby

Funnel of Love

Heartbreak Hotel

Shaking All Over

You Know That I’m No Good

It’s All Over Now

Right or Wrong

Mean Mean Man

Fujiyama Mama

Let’s Have a Party

Photos by Mark Manary