Wanda Jackson: Influences From Elvis

The female Elvis Presley?

Wanda Jackson did have a 1960 hit with “Let’s Have a Party,” a song associated with rock’s most celebrated figure, but she is best remembered today as a country singer who registered more than a dozen Top 40 hits between 1954 and 1971.

Jackson did tour briefly with Presley in 1956, however, and she shared his love for upbeat country music and blues.

The Maud, Okla., native--whose country and rock recordings are both spotlighted in a new, 18-song Rhino Records retrospective titled “Rockin’ in the Country”--was singing straightforward country music when she met Presley, who had already become a teen sensation in the South.

He encouraged Jackson to try her hand at the new rockabilly style, according to Jackson in a booklet that accompanies the new album. “Elvis said, ‘You should be doing this,’ ” Jackson recalls. “I said, ‘I’m just a country singer.’ He said, ‘I am too, basically. But you can do this . . . .’ He took me to his home and we went through his record collection of black blues.”

Following up on the suggestion, Jackson recorded a rock-edged tune called “I Gotta Know,” which reached No. 15 on the country charts. While that song isn’t on the new CD collection, nine other rock-influenced recordings from early in her career are featured.

Jackson wasn’t a great rock vocalist, but there was a spunkiness and charm to her singing on tunes ranging from “Honey Bop,” which was written by the composers of “Heartbreak Hotel,” to “Let’s Have a Party,” which Presley sang in the film “Loving You.”

Her version of “Party” reached No. 37 on the pop charts, but it was the only one of her rock-tinged efforts to sell well enough to make either the country or pop charts.

Though she also never showed the authority of a Patsy Cline or a Loretta Lynn as a country singer, Jackson did make some appealing country records, including the nine that complete the new Rhino package. Those selections range from “Right or Wrong,” a ballad that reached the Top 10 on the country charts in 1961, to “In the Middle of a Heartache,” the follow-up single that made the country Top 10.

Jackson, who will be 53 next month, still records country, gospel and rock for a Swedish label and has done several tours in recent years, including many in Europe, where her rockabilly material remains especially popular.