Wanda Jackson dated Elvis Presley in the '50s, and even if she may not have slept with him ("There were things you could and couldn't do, and my daddy made sure I never crossed that line," Jackson's said of the period), just having shared a milk shake with Elvis is claim to fame enough. But the "Queen of Rockabilly" has done plenty of other things most people can't boast. She was the first woman on the rock scene with a record in 1956, she had a huge hit in 1959 with "Let's Have a Party," and she's been inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and even the German Country Music Hall of Fame. In fact, it seems the only Hall of Fame Jackson has yet to walk down is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and her fans have been petitioning to get her inducted for years. And with fans like Bruce Springsteen (who showed up unexpectedly at Jackson's gig in New Jersey last December) and Elvis Costello (who asserts on Jackson's Web site that lots of today's female singers "owe an unconscious debt to the mere idea of a woman like Wanda"), she really should be getting her props any day now.
Sun., Oct. 11, 7 p.m., 2009