MUSIC REVIEW: WANDA JACKSON - LIVE AT STUBB'S BBQ (SXSW 2011)

The Most Regal Lady of Rockabilly Shows All That Is Good at SXSW

By: Ramus Dahl

March 22, 2011

(Saturday, March 19, 2011 in Austin, TX) Yeah, the sun was hot Saturday, but not quite as hot as Wanda Jackson, the Queen of Rockabilly, who set fire to the Stubb’s outdoor stage at the Rachel Ray Feedback Party during SXSW 2011.  

“I was so disappointed when Rachel invited out to this event and I found out it wasn’t for my cooking,” Wanda said, winking up at her hostess who stood enjoying the show to the side of the stage.  “She obviously hasn’t heard of my scratch biscuits.”

Wanda Jackson is no stranger to the Austin music scene, and dressed to kill in all black behind a white-fringed jacket lit up by silver rhinestones, she served up a plate of the hottest tunes that have been burning up the jukejoints and jukeboxes for more than a half-century.  Although she occasionally consulted a lyric sheet (modestly quipping, “This is not the most professional thing ya’ll see...but Elvis did this in Las Vegas"), Wanda Jackson commanded the stage with a charismatic gravitas that was lighting the fires of Rock 'n' Roll long before artists could fall back on stage lighting and effects to ignite a crowd.  

Backed by perhaps the most understated collection of renowned rock and roll legends, Wanda Jackson sashayed across the stage while Tom Lewis (drummer for Junior Brown), bassist Kevin Smith (who’s supported the likes of Brian Setzer), longtime friend and fellow rockabilly icon Danny B. Harvey on guitar, and none other than local favorite (and the legendary pianist for The Man in Black) Earl Poole Ball cooked up a feast of Rock 'n' Roll standards, many of which Wanda herself penned with The King himself.  

This woman can rock!!!  She electrified maybe the most energized audience of the whole festival with a feast of everything from a ruckus rendition of “Heartbreak Hotel” to the gospel of “I Saw The Light.”  She rolled out her own “Fujiyama Momma,” Leiber and Stoller’s “Riot in Cell Block Nine,” and “Rip It Up” with like a haloed hell-kitten tempting a man to go set fire to the city and beg for forgiveness all at the same time.

While Wanda paid homage to the man from Memphis who gave her her big break in the 1950s, she expressed infinite gratitude to the young man from Detroit who has reintroduced her to a whole new audience in the 21st century.  “Shakin’ All Over” and the Amy Winehouse cover “You Know That I’m No Good” (both cuts from her latest album, The Party Ain’t Over, recently released by Jack White’s Third Man Records) kick just as hard live as the time-tested tunes she’s been perfecting for more than fifty years.

This show hit the spot.  And, while I know every fan under the hot sun would kill for a taste of one of those scratch biscuits, we left Stubb’s Saturday more than satisfied to have just stood in the presence of the Queen.

Standout Tracks: "You Know That I'm No Good," "Heartbreak Hotel," “Fujiyama Momma,” "Rip It Up"

For Fans Of: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Reverend Horton Heat, Jack White