The Party Ain't Over

Legendary rockabilly icon Wanda Jackson does what she’s always done best, but this time it’s with the White Stripes’ Jack White overseeing the sessions. If the White name can help draw an audience beyond the usual cult circle, then his work is done. The fact is this is a very good Wanda Jackson album. Jackson remains true to her own wild ways and White makes sure she sounds good working over such classic tunes as “Shakin’ All Over,” “Rip It Up” and “Busted.” The arrangements are like space-age country & western with regular doses of hard rock jammed in between. Jackson’s an elder stateswoman in her 70s, but she proves just as aggressive fifty years into her career. The full-band crank-up of Bob Dylan’s “Thunder On the Mountain,” the Hawaiian country-lope of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know That I’m No Good,” the rockabilly jive of “Nervous Breakdown” and the slow, acoustic-backed “Blue Yodel #6” are the sounds of a woman who has always done it her own way. Jack White just made sure it happened the way she wanted.