Cordell Jackson (July 15, 1923 – October 14, 2004) was an American guitarist thought to be the first woman to produce, engineer, arrange and promote music on her own

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

music label.

Early life

She was born Cordell Miller in

Pontotoc, Mississippi Pontotoc is a city in, and the county seat of, Pontotoc County, Mississippi, located to the west of the much larger city of Tupelo. The population was 5,625 at the 2010 census. Pontotoc is a Chickasaw word that means, “Land of the Hanging Gr ...

, where her father led a

string band A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass. While being active countr ...

, the Pontotoc Ridge Runners. As a child she learned guitar, piano, and

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

, and soon began performing in her father's band and on radio in

Tupelo Tupelo , genus ''Nyssa'' , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae. In ...

. She married William Jackson in 1943, and settled in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, where she joined the Fisher Air Craft Band and wrote songs. After installing recording equipment in her home, she recorded

demo record A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

s for

Sam Phillips Samuel Cornelius Phillips (January 5, 1923 – July 30, 2003) was an American record producer. He was the founder of Sun Records and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he produced recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, ...

before he set up

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny ...

Career

Jackson founded the Moon Records label in Memphis in 1956. Unable to break into the Sun label's stable of male artists, she received the advice and assistance of

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music ...

in forming this new label to release her music. She began releasing and promoting on the label singles she recorded in her home studio, serving as engineer, producer and arranger. The artists recorded included her and a small family of early

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

, and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

performers she recruited from several Southern states.

Tav Falco's Panther Burns Tav Falco's Panther Burns, sometimes shortened to (The) Panther Burns, is a rock band originally from Memphis, Tennessee, United States, led by Tav Falco. They are best known for having been part of a set of bands emerging in the late 1970s and ...

and

Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s ...

helped create new interest in her career in the 1980s when they began covering some of her Moon label's old singles such as "Dateless Night", a song she originally wrote in the 1950s for Florida artist Allen Page. Jackson then began playing occasional shows in the 1980s with her signature red Hagstrom electric guitar as a solo artist in Memphis, Hoboken, New York, and Chicago nightclubs. She recorded new material on her label with Memphis musicians Colonel Robert Morris and Bob Holden, becoming known as a "rock-and-roll granny" solo guitar instrumentalist. She appeared in 1991 and 1992 on national talk shows like '' Late Night with David Letterman'' and in a television commercial duelling with rockabilly artist

Brian Setzer Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with ...

on guitar. In the late 1990s, Cordell co-wrote and played with the

Rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

icon, Colonel Robert Morris in Memphis. Colonel Robert also helped edit the book based on her life and career. Her Moon Records label was the oldest continuously operating label in Memphis at the time of her death in 2004. ''The 50s Rock on the Moon of Memphis, Tennessee + an Oddity'', a compilation album of the label's 1950s singles, was released on vinyl in the early 1980s and was later sold on compact disc until her death in 2004. The original 1950s vinyl singles compiled on that album have been displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. She also released video singles through her label in the 1990s, including "Football Widow" and filmmaker Dan Rose's production of "The Split." Her marketing of her own video singles, as opposed to marketing them in multiple-song video collections, is reputed to be another first in her innovative lifetime of doing things her own way, bucking the trends of standard industry practice. Jackson's only solo full-length album to date, ''Cordell Jackson — Live in Chicago'' was released on Bughouse Records in 1997. Information and memorabilia about Jackson is included in the Memphis Rock N' Soul Museum in Memphis.

Death

She died in Memphis in 2004, aged 81. Cordell Jackson Biography, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 29 November 2019

Trivia

* Appeared in a

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrela ...

commercial where she interrupts

during his rehearsal, to teach him a fast lesson on how to play rock-and-roll guitar. * Had a role as "Bathroom Lady" in the 1992 film '' The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag''. * On January 23, 1995, Cordell Jackson sent a letter to then Moon Records requesting them to cease the use of the name Moon Records, thus prompting the New York-based ska label to add the "ska" portion to their current name Moon Ska Records.

Discography

Singles

;Cordell Jackson * "Rock And Roll Christmas" / "Beboppers' Christmas" - Moon Records G80W-6407/8 - (1956) ;Cordell Jackson and her Guitar * "Football Widow" / "I'm at Home Again (In the Memories of My Mind)" Moon Records EP-311 - (1983)Country Music Showcase Internationa
Moon Records
* "Rockin' Rollin' Eyes" / "Memphis Drag" - Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI 50 - (1990)Discog
Cordell Jackson Discography
/ref>

EPs

;Cordell Jackson * ''The Split'' - Moon Records MR 333 - (1980s) * '' Knockin' Sixty'' - Moon EP-312 - (1983) ;Various artist compilations * ''Moon Records of Memphis, Tennessee'' - Moon - EP-1001 - (198?)

Albums

;Cordell Jackson * ''Live in Chicago'' - Bughouse 3 - (1997)All Musi
Cordell Jackson ''Live in Chicago''
/ref> ;Various artists compilations * ''The 50s Rock On The Moon of Memphis, Tennessee + an Oddity'' - Moon Records LP-MR 3010 - (1979) (Moon compilation LP, rereleased later on CD, United States, 1981* ''Rock And Roll Christmas'' (Jan/Star Club compilation, Sweden, 1989) * ''Rock On The Moon'' (Redita compilation, the Netherlands) * ''Living in a State of Love''. (Memphis Music Community, 1990s) * ''Rockabilly Xmas''. (Buffalo Bop compilation, Germany, 2000) * '' Past, Present and Future''. (Inside Sounds, 2003)

Song sample

* Johnny Tate: "Bop With Me Baby" / "Keeping Your Memories" / "Kind And Gentle '57" Cleveland Rock-n-Roll Hall Of Fame

References for article

* Cline, Cheryl

''Country Grrl''. Accessed May 3, 2005.

''Rockabilly Hall of Fame website''. Accessed May 3, 2005. * Gordon, Terry (2004)

''Rockin' Country Style Artist Discography''. Accessed May 3, 2005. * Gordon, Terry (2004)

''Rockin' Country Style Artist Discography''. Accessed May 3, 2005. * Hanas, Jim (August 4, 1997)

''Weekly Wire''. Accessed May 3, 2005. * Hoppula, Peter (1998–2005)

''Wang Dang Dula!'' Accessed May 3, 2005. * Porter, James and Austen, Jake (1993)

''Rocktober #6''. Accessed May 3, 2005.

''Thrust Electronic''. Accessed May 3, 2005.

References

External links

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Country GRRL page

Legends of the Memphis Music Scene ''Billboard'' article few Cordell Jackson

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Cordell 1923 births 2004 deaths People from Pontotoc, Mississippi American rock guitarists 20th-century American guitarists Women audio engineers Guitarists from Mississippi Record producers from Mississippi American women record producers Early Recording Engineers (1930-1959) 20th-century American women guitarists 21st-century American women