The First Lady of Rockabilly Shakes Chicago

Last night, I had the pleasure of witnessing the awesome power of The First Lady of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson headlining alt-country night (featuring several Bloodshot Records artistas) at Estrojam 2004. It was indie heaven, especially with this one airy-fairy girl with bad hair and a peasant shirt who played a mean organ (as in, keyboard). The first act was Susie Gomez, an instructor at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Then The Lamentations sang country gospel in 3-part harmony (aww). Aforementioned airy-fairy girl was Haley Bonar (who scarily favors Haley Mills at 21). I finally got me some rawk after that with a chick duo, THE MOANERS, whose drummer was described in the program as a "prettier Keith Moon." Well, Keith was awfully pretty before his lifestyle turned him into Elvis with bad skin and I don't think she was as pretty as Keith was pre-1967. And her drums were not tied down to keep them from flying out into the audience. And she didn't put a firecracker in her bass drum or pass out mid-set. But, she certainly did rock and at one point played guitar and drums (WELL!) at the same time. The singing guitarista sounded like Kim Gordon and looked like Patti Smith without the frizzies. They were great and I signed up for their band spam. BUT, the night belonged to Wanda.

Because I am a slave to the capitalist system and had to be at work this morning, I could not stay to the rocking end but I caught a good 30-45 minutes of her set. She is about 5' maybe, and she had big hair and a bright red shirt with 8 rows of fringe. She sounded fantastic! I could not get over the crowd, and neither could she. Loads of she-shes (girl couples) because the Estrojam festival is at its core a celebration of womyn in music, art and film. It’s not noted in the official site that it is mostly womyn but…it’s a good time anyway if you have an open mind and respect for others. And, since Wanda is country LEGEND…there was a tractor-trailer load of old country fans, in both senses of the phrase. You could immediately tell who was there for the Event, and who was there for Wanda. Western wear was in full effect on both sides, though. Most of the crowd knew most of the songs! She kept saying how blessed she is to have young people interested in ‘her kind of music’ and how the kids know more about her stuff than she does. She did several songs I knew, and a few I didn’t know were her's. She still has that growl of her’s down, so it was great. And, she was really rocking out and having a good time herself…which makes it even better. I hope she gets into the Rock Hall of Fame. She was one of the first female Rock and Roll singers to have some hit records (when such things literally existed) and if the Eagles can get into the Hall…she sure as hell should too! I’m waiting for her to tour with the Dixie Chicks as her back up band or something. That would be stunning.