Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice

Museum of Art to screen film about Rock and Roll Singer Wanda Jackson, The "Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice."

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Museum of Art will screen the award winning documentary film about Oklahoma's own "Queen of Rockabilly," Wanda Jackson. The film entitled "Wanda Jackson: The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice" will screen Thursday, September 6 through Sunday, September 9 at the Museum of Art's Noble Theater. Ms. Jackson will appear in person at the final screening on Sunday, September 9 at 2pm to meet fans and sign CDs.

After appearing as a country singer on an Oklahoma City radio show, Wanda was invited to record with country legend Hank Thompson on the Decca label in 1954. Then she began dating a young Elvis Presley who convinced her to begin performing rock and roll songs. Before long she was touring with Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly. Wanda signed with Capitol Records in 1956 where she had her first chart success with the song "Let's Have a Party." Wanda Jackson is often called the first female rock and roll singer.

Wanda Jackson has been inducted into the Oklahoma Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the International Hall of Fame, the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, and the German Country Music Hall of Fame, but remains conspicuously absent from the Rock and Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame.

During her 2005 U.S. and European tour a camera crew filmed her performances from her latest album release "I Remember Elvis" in venues ranging from New York City to Sweden. This footage combined with archival film footage, photographs and interviews with Wanda, her husband and manager of forty-five years Wendell Goodman, as well as artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello, tells the story of the "Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice."

"Wanda Jackson: The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice" world premiered at the 2007 deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma City where it won the Founder's Award. The film is produced and directed by Joanne Fish and Victor Kralyevich.

Oklahoma City Museum of Art