Various Artists – Hard-Headed Woman: A Celebration Of Wanda Jackson

With her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination, plus the kudos surrounding her star-studded 2003 comeback Heart Trouble, rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson finally seems to be receiving critical due commensurate with her achievements. (On her home turf, that is; in Japan and Europe she’s long been lauded as a goddess.) But while the arrival of Hard-Headed Woman is timely, this is no slapdash affair; the 21-track collection was several years in the making. And judging from the final results, it was time well invested.

Clocking in at exactly an hour, Hard-Headed Woman front-loads many of its best cuts. Right out of the gate, Carolyn Mark tackles “Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad” with a mixture of sass, sweetness and spitfire (dig that growl in her throat) that conjures up all things wonderful about Wanda without short-changing her own high-spirited personality.

Given Jackson’s affiliation with Elvis Presley, it’s appropriate that the next cut, Nora O’Connor’s “Sticks And Stones”, shimmies like a kissin’ cousin of the King’s recording of “Bossa Nova Baby”. Kickass contributions from Asylum Street Spankers, Robbie Fulks and others round out a smashing eight-song run, with Kelly Hogan (“Right Or Wrong”, infused with hints of jazz and blue-eyed soul) and Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter (a slowly unfolding “Weary Blues From Waiting”) ranking among the best of the best.

If the remainder of the program isn’t quite as tight, it certainly isn’t without merit. Three cuts in particular warrant singling out. In the disc’s most radical overhaul, Trailer Bride turn “Fujiyama Mama” into a slow-moving, mesmerizing threnody; this Mama sounds like she’s propped up on a barstool next to Lola, the dazed-and-confused showgirl from “Copacabana”. The only European participants, the Netherlands’ Ranch Girls & the Ragtime Wranglers, enliven “If You Don’t Somebody Else Will” with intertwined vocal harmonies and acoustic instrumentation. And special praise to Jane Baxter Miller, who, with her plaintive take on the Kris Kristofferson-penned “One Day At A Time”, is the only artist to address Jackson’s mid-’70s gospel period.