Wanda Jackson: Unfinished Business (Dec 30, 2012) (Dec 30, 2012)

A few years back, KGOU’s Jim ‘Hardluck’ Johnson spoke with one of Oklahoma’s musical icons, Wanda Jackson. The conversation happened soon after the release of her retrospective 2006 album I Remember Elvis. In the time since, the pioneering “Queen of Rockabilly” has enjoyed the greatest success of her already-storied musical career as she and her husband Wendell Goodman recounted in an end-of-the-year broadcast of The Weekend Blues.

Interview Highlights

On her 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Wanda: “It’s truly amazing the amount of celebrity I’m enjoying these days. I think I was more shocked than anyone, because I never dreamed of being in the ‘hall’… I thought performers had to have a string of number one hits. But, I found out they had different categories… I was put in the category of ‘early influence’ and to me that’s where I should be. That felt very right.”

On her husband Wendell Goodman’s role in her success
Wanda: “He’s still getting things right for me. As soon as I go on he’s out front listening… He’s busy almost the whole time I’m on stage.”
Wendell: “The truth of the matter is that I do all the work, and Wanda gets all the glory. We have an agreement… she promised in the next life that I’m the singer. (laughs) No, it’s a combination that we love so much… and wouldn’t take (anything) for it.”

On a planned movie about her life
Wendell: “We’ve come up with a title…’The Sweet Lady With A Nasty Voice’.“
Wanda: “Somebody asked me in an interview, ‘Do you like that title?’ I said, ‘Well it isn’t really true… because I’m not all sure I’m a sweet lady’. (laughs) I don’t know what the movie title will be, but that’s one option.”

On working with Jack White
Wanda: “I got a phone call from Jack White (laughs) and to me was unbelievable! Wendell said, ‘Fasten your seatbelt… here we go, again’. He’s such a big name in music. He took his whole band out on tour with me… and Jack running back and forth around the stage. It was so fun!”

On her new album, Unfinished Business
Wanda: “I love blues, and when you can a song like ‘Tore Down’ and ‘It’s All Over Now’… they have a lot of blues. I’m like you. I like blues. And, the gospel song ‘Two Hands’ is very fitting for me - being a Christian.

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