Wanda Jackson
Unfinished Business
Available on Sugar Hill Records (Oct. 9, 2012)

At an age when most people have left business concerns behind, Wanda Jackson is still working harder than people just getting started. The Queen of Rockabilly has cranked out her second album in as many years, again produced by a musician who wasn’t even born when Wanda started rockin'.

Jackson’s Unfinished Business collects 10 tracks that touch on each of her strengths: rockabilly, heartache-y country, blues and gospel. Justin Townes Earle makes his production debut, giving the proceedings a lean, honky-tonk feel. Fresh off of 2011’s The Party Ain’t Over—produced by Jack White—Business once again gathers several standards, some in Jackson’s wheelhouse, others not quite a full realization of Jackson’s legendary, gravelly voice.

One of the first women to record a rock and roll song, Jackson has been singing blistering rockabilly tunes since the late ‘50s. Fortunately for listeners, her voice hasn’t left her and still has its bite as evidenced on “Tore Down,” the album’s opener. Bobby Womack’s “It’s All Over Now” gets the vengeful, not-sorry-for-myself blues treatment and the Etta James hit “Pushover” finds Jackson’s sultry croon scolding a would-be lothario.
 

For years, Jackson left rockabilly behind to focus on country and later gospel before coming back to her first love. She duets with Earle on “Am I Even a Memory,” as they trade verses of heartache and loss, a steel guitar wailing with nearly palpable regret all the while. She’s not lost the touch for Saturday night barroom ballads or those more appropriate for Sunday morning service, as evidenced on the joyous “Two Hands.” 

Song selection aside, the centerpiece of Unfinished Business is Jackson’s voice. Even on the weakest track, the Woody Guthrie-penned and Jeff Tweedy-finished “California Stars,” a song that doesn’t play to her strengths, that voice still sounds magical. Earle’s inexperience behind the controls shows in spots, as the music sounds thin and the band as if they’re in another room. That’s not the point though, as Jackson proves she still has pipes many aspiring singers would kill for. While not as vital as her previous effort, it’s good to see Jackson still taking care of business.

 
JD McPherson
Signs and Signifiers
Available now on Rounder Records (April 17, 2012)

If there’s a way to go straight forward while looking backward, JD McPherson has found it.

McPherson delivers a dozen straight ahead, no-nonsense R&B rockers on Signs and Signifiers, all with an eye on rock and roll’s formative decade. To be sure, this is no regression, just an exercise in honoring the past without falling into a nostalgia trip. With a voice that calls to mind Little Richard, McPherson joyfully belts out songs designed to get feet on the dance floor.

“North Side Gal,” the opening track and first single, is a sure sign of what’s in store. McPherson strums on his six string, focusing more on his vocals, while Jimmy Sutton and Alex Hall put down a smooth rolling rhythm. That’s primarily the formula throughout: McPherson’s raspy, yet smooth-around-the-edges vocals glide along over beats that sound like they’d be at home in a 1950s dance hall.

“Wolf Teeth” is perhaps the roughest cut, as McPherson veers his farthest into rough rock territory, but he proves he can work his way around a smooth, slower-tempo number as evidenced in the title track and “Country Boy,” a cover of Tiny Kennedy’s tale of a farm hand who only knows working the land. Sutton, who also produced and plays upright bass, shines on the latter, plucking a bass line that frames the whole affair without getting flashy.

While it would be easy to shoot for a sound that captures an era and miss, McPherson’s aim is true. He’s not singing about malt shops, sock hops or any other number of ‘50s archetypes, yet he has managed to capture the feel of rock and roll music from a bygone era. Signs and Signifiers is R&B that honors its roots. The themes are timeless, the band is tight and McPherson has a voice too big to contain in a museum piece.