ロカビリーの女王ワンダジャクソン。ジョーン・ジェットがプロデュースしたキャリア最後のアルバム『Encore』。ジョーン・ジェット、エル・キング、アンガレンナ・プレスリー、キャンディ・カーペンターとのデュエットをフィーチャー。

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2022/02/17）

One of the greatest singers in the history of rock & roll, country, and rockabilly, Wanda Jackson literally has nothing left to prove to anyone. Her place in history is understood and assured, and at the age of 83 she doesnt have to do much of anything she doesnt want to. However, while Jackson retired from live performing in 2019, she still hasnt shaken the songwriting bug, and after penning a few fresh tunes, she decided to record them for posterity, hence 2021s Encore, an eight-song effort that demonstrates she still has some fire left in her. Jacksons late-period work has seen her collaborating with celebrities in the production chair -- Jack White on 2011s The Party Aint Over and Justin Townes Earle on 2012s Unfinished Business -- and for Encore, she teamed with another iconic (albeit very different) female rocker, Joan Jett, who handled the sessions in tandem with her longtime studio collaborator Kenny Laguna. If Jackson and Jett sound like an odd match on the surface, its immediately clear that Jett has the utmost respect for the artist at the microphone, and shes not afraid to put the right touch of growling guitar menace in the arrangements without taking the spotlight away from the star of the show. Sounding tough is second nature to Jett, and if Jackson is by her nature a bit sweeter, her vocals are still very much the work of a woman you dont want on your bad side. Big Baby, Good Girl Down, and Treat Me Like a Lady are missives from a woman who never surrendered in the battle of the sexes, and if her voice is more fragile than it was in the 1950s and 60s, it still commands attention and her phrasing is savvy. Unlike some of Jacksons collaborators, Jett doesnt shy away from Jacksons gift for singing country weepers -- the bluesy force of We Gotta Stop allows her to communicate sadness without weakness, and Thats What Love Is is a powerfully honest assessment of the good and not-so-good sides of a long-term relationship. (Jackson and her husband Wendell Goodman were married for 56 years before his passing in 2017, and the ache of his absence is audible in her voice.) Clocking in at a very 1950s 25 minutes, Encore doesnt feel like a major event and it doesnt add a great deal to the Wanda Jackson story, but its a welcome reminder that the first truly great female rocker is still among us and hasnt surrendered to time, changing tastes, or the music business. Encore confirms that Wanda Jackson is still Wanda Jackson, and thats no small feat. ~ Mark Deming

Rovi