Wanda Jackson's new album, The Party Ain't Over, produced by Jack White, is out today. Jackson and White will perform a song from the new record on Conan tonight. They were featured on NPR's Morning Edition today. The Los Angeles Times says Jackson "shows that a 73-year-old grandmother is still fully capable of ripping things up—especially when you throw in with someone as party-ready as producer Jack White." The Toronto Star calls it "a fun, eclectic and admirably raucous record."
Wanda Jackson's new album, The Party Ain't Over, produced by Jack White, is out today on Third Man / Nonesuch Records. To celebrate the big day, Jackson, White, and The Third Man House Band will perform a song from the new record as musical guests on Conan tonight. The show's other guests are martial arts master Steven Ho and actor Patton Oswalt. Tune in tonight at 11 PM EST on TBS. To pick up a copy of the album, head to the Nonesuch Store.
Jackson was featured on NPR's Morning Edition this morning. "In the 1950s, Wanda Jackson became one of the first women to start singing rock 'n' roll music," says NPR. "Now, after more than 50 years of performing everything from country to rockabilly to gospel, Jackson is updating her sound."
Jackson and White spoke with Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep about working together on The Party Ain't Over, in particular some of the finer points of putting together an album with such an eclectic set of songs. You can listen to the segment online at npr.org.
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The Los Angeles Times—which, after Sunday night's sold-out record-release concert at the El Rey Theater, said "Half a century after the King first anointed her, Jackson is still very much the First Lady of Rockabilly"—has now reviewed The Party Ain't Over as well.
"The Oklahoma firebrand once dubbed 'the female Elvis' for raucous rockabilly records such as 'Let’s Have a Party,'" writes reviewer Randy Lewis, "shows that a 73-year-old grandmother is still fully capable of ripping things up—especially when you throw in with someone as party-ready as producer Jack White."
Lewis goes on to say that Jackson's trademark voice "retains plenty of sass six decades on, and White’s live-sounding band conjures the ambience of a gritty gig in some back alley bar for a rowdy crowd of mariachi bikers. Well done, Grandma Wanda."
Read the complete review at latimes.com.
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The Toronto Star gives Jackson's new album three stars. "She deserves another kick at the (pop) can," writes Star pop music critic Ben Rayner, "and she gives it a pretty hard one on The Party Ain’t Over, a fun, eclectic and admirably raucous record."
Rayner cites her "rollicking" take on Bob Dylan's "Thunder on the Mountain" as proof that "Jackson can still rock her ass off when she wants to" and hears in the performance "the signs of a pure rock ’n’ roll spirit that will never let go." (You can watch the official video for "Thunder on the Mountain at nonesuch.com/media and on the Nonesuch YouTube channel.)
Read the complete review at thestar.com.
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NME rates the album an eight out of ten, concluding that Jackson is "still kicking up a hot fuss." You can read the review at nme.com.
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Head to the Nonesuch Store now to pick up a copy of The Party Ain't Over on vinyl and CD and receive high-quality MP3s of the complete album at checkout. You can see photos from last Friday's sold-out record-release show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, at nonesuch.com/media.
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