Today in 1923, the birthday of Cordell Jackson, a guitarist who rocked out exactly the way she wanted to for over half a century.
Born Cordell Miller in Mississippi, she was interested in music almost right away, picking up instruments and learning to play them when she was still very young.
There were a lot of instruments around, since her dad was in a string band; she started playing with the group at age 12.
Jackson said the reactions she got from audiences and fellow musicians all boiled down to one idea: that girls weren’t supposed to play guitar.
But that’s what she did, and she played her way: loud, fast, electric, ferocious.
Jackson strummed so hard she not only broke guitar strings, she regularly snapped her guitar picks in half!
She said she was playing a form of rock and roll music before people used the term.
In the 1940s, Jackson moved to Memphis with her husband.
That’s where a recording studio owner, Sam Phillips, would bring artists like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison to the world with Sun Records.
Cordell Jackson made a few recordings with Phillips in the 50s, but she didn’t end up on Sun.
Instead, she started her own label, Moon Records, where she recorded and produced a number of local acts and occasionally put out her own recordings.
For decades, this was a very underground operation; Jackson worked a number of day jobs while also playing and making records.
But eventually the underground started to buzz about a Memphis guitarist who could shred with the best of them, while wearing a puffy gown.
The “rockin’ granny,” as Jackson became known, started playing at some big-name clubs, and making appearances on MTV and late-night talk shows.
Cordell Jackson lived to be 81, and whether she was playing to millions on TV or a small crowd in a tiny club, she stayed true to her musical vision – and made her mark on music along the way.
Of course, there are other ways to get some attention.
Today in 2023, a fire truck from the Wellborn, Florida Volunteer Fire Department ran out of gas.
Authorities figured out that a local woman who had stayed at the fire station the night before had apparently taken the truck out for a spin.
When they caught up with her, she claimed that she was actually a volunteer firefighter on duty!
She was eventually arrested and the department got its truck keys back.
Jackson, Cordell (Women In Rock Project)
Woman accused of impersonating firefighter after stealing firetruck, Florida cops say (Miami Herald)