God bless Jack White and his excellent taste in women. In 2004 he brought the Coalminer’s Daughter back into the limelight by producing Loretta Lynn’s Grammy winning album Van Lear Rose. Now his gone and done the same by launching rock-a-billy pioneer Wanda Jackson onto the cretinous ipad generation. Back in the 50s Wanda dated a young whippersnapper called Elvis Presley. He suggested ditching her country roots in favor of the emerging rock-a-billy music. She rasped and rocked with her dirty, mean vocals . She shimmied and strutted, played her guitar. Not only was she the first woman in rock, for a while she was the only woman in rock and in many ways years ahead of her time. Wanda is 73 years old now and White is not letting her rest on her laurels here. He’s taken Bob Dylan’s “Thunder In The Mountain” and giving it a rock-a-billy spin. He’s gathered a tight group of backing musicians (including a few of the Racountours), whilst Wanda growls like a catwoman in heat, looking for Jerry Lee all over Tennessee. What I love about this is there are no gimmicks. Just good ol’ straightforward rock’n'roll proving age is just a number when you let the good times roll like THIS.
