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Rock N Roll

Third Man, 2011

Wanda Jackson

In the early 1960s Capitol steered Wanda Jackson back to country, and she kept scoring country hits through the decade. Wendell Goodman, whom she married in 1961, left his job at IBM to manage her. She recorded in German for Electrola, which found her an audience in Austria, and hosted the syndicated TV show Music Village from 1965 to 1967. In 1971 the couple became born-again Christians, and gospel took over. A Swedish label owner pulled her back to rock in 1984. She entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. Jack White produced her 2011 album for Third Man, her first to reach the Billboard 200. A stroke led her to retire in 2019, and Joan Jett produced her last album in 2021.

Columbia University, 1969

Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na started as the Columbia Kingsmen, an a cappella group at Columbia University, and became a 1950s revival act in 1969, with a stage show dreamed up by grad student George Leonard. The name, from doo-wop nonsense syllables, kept them from being mixed up with the other Kingsmen. There were twelve at first, in gold lamé or greaser leather with ducktails. Their friend Jimi Hendrix helped get them onto Woodstock just before his own closing set, and the film made them famous. They opened at both Fillmores and played John Lennon's One to One benefit in 1972. Their syndicated TV variety show ran from 1977 to 1981, and they played Johnny Casino and the Gamblers in Grease. They stopped touring in 2022.

American duo, 1950s

Lou & Ginny

Lou & Ginny were an American rock and roll duo of the late 1950s who recorded for the small Hep label. Ginny Charland wrote their material, and Terry Meil played drums on their sessions. Who Lou was, and where the pair came from, isn't on record anywhere easy to find, and nothing else under their name has turned up. Collectors found them anyway, and in 2012 Red Devil Records put them on a compilation of tough-girl rock and roll from the period.

Ottawa to Los Angeles

Peach Kelli Pop

Peach Kelli Pop is Allie Hanlon. She grew up in Ottawa drumming in other people's punk bands, The White Wires among them, and started this project in 2009 to teach herself to write and record on guitar. The first two albums were made in her bedroom, and the first three are just numbered. She moved to California in 2012 and settled in Los Angeles. Sailor Moon and Sanrio matter as much to her as the Ramones. Gentle Leader, out on Mint in 2018, was a collaborative record, with the Negrini sisters on bass and guitar and Andrew Bassett of the Mean Jeans on drums. The title comes from a harness she uses on the pit bulls she fosters. By then they had toured Japan every year for four years.

Cleveland to Paris

Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Jalacy Hawkins was born in Cleveland in 1929 and grew up in foster care. He wanted to sing opera and idolized Paul Robeson. He later told tall stories about Yale and two wars. He did join the Army underage on a forged birth certificate. By 1951 he was working with guitarist Tiny Grimes, and in 1956 he signed to OKeh. Disc jockey Alan Freed then offered him $300 to climb out of a coffin on stage. He refused at first. The act grew to include a smoking skull on a stick called Henry, though he felt it got in the way of his ballads. A flaming prop burned his face in 1976. Jim Jarmusch cast him in Mystery Train. He moved to France in 1993 and died near Paris in 2000.

Bordeaux, Guilain, 1961

Les Blousons Noirs

Les Blousons Noirs named themselves after the black jackets worn by rock-crazy French teenagers around 1960. They came from Bordeaux and recorded for the local Guilain label in 1961 and 1962, a year apart, with no audible improvement and the same cover photo both times. Their producer was Claude Ghislain. Most of what they recorded were covers of Chuck Berry, Johnny Hallyday, Les Chaussettes Noires and Les Chats Sauvages. Nobody knows who they were. The only clue is a copy signed to a fan with the names Clod, Jo, Did and Samy, found by Marc Liozon of the fanzine Le club des années 60. Born Bad Records collected all eight tracks in 2007, and its notes place them ahead of Hasil Adkins and the Shaggs as accidental DIY pioneers.

The Collection