WANDA JACKSON with the RIZDALES at the Cadillac Lounge (1296 Queen West), Saturday (September 5), 9 pm. $30. 416-536-7717.
Inside a glass case in Cleveland hangs a dress belonging to Wanda Jackson. A fringe dress, to be exact, the kind Jackson wore over 50 years ago when, instead of being prim and proper like most female country singers, she was strummin’ her guitar and singing sassy rockabilly tunes.
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Jackson’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April was, many would argue, long overdue. The presenter was Rosanne Cash, alongside whose father Jackson toured when she was an Oklahoma teenager and rare female participant in a boys’ club that included her old pal Elvis.
“Makes you feel a bit like a relic,” laughs Jackson about being in the museum.
“We sent up one of my fringe dresses that I had saved. Hall of Fames all over the world are always asking me for things. The dresses are dwindling out, but I saved this one for the [Rock and Roll] Hall.”
Jackson, 71, doesn’t wear fringe dresses any more, opting instead for fringe tops due to the “sands of time.” But she still belts out classics like Mean, Mean Man and Let’s Have A Party, a top-40 hit in 1960.
You might expect her current audience to be the shuffleboard and canasta set, but when Jackson looks out from the stage, she says it’s younger faces staring back.
“The majority are young adults from 20 to 40 – something like that.
“[The appeal] is the simplicity of the music. It denotes a totally different lifestyle and era that most of them wish they had lived to experience.
“Because they didn’t have that opportunity, they want to live it now as much as they can, dressing in vintage clothes and driving classic cars. I think it’s very sweet that they’re envious of my generation.”
One said fan is Cadillac Lounge owner Sam Grosso, who sought out the singer five years ago and brought her to Canada for the first time in decades.
“A few years ago, he calls out of the clear blue sky wanting me to sing in his club. He’s had us back every year since. I feel quite at home now.”
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