Cordell Jackson: America’s Female Music Pioneer By Sakae Kidd

Rock and Roll lovers all over Memphis Tennessee know Cordell Jackson. But Jackson is most famous for paving the way for women in the music industry. She was born in Pontotoc, Mississippi on July 15, 1923 as Cordell Miller. Cordell took an interest in music when her father encouraged her to play. Young Cordell learned how to play the guitar, piano, and upright bass. At the age of twelve she was performing on her father’s radio show with his band the “Pontotoc Ridge Runners”. Later she added the mandolin, banjo, and harmonica to her list of instruments. But she's known for playing her trademark Hagstrom electric guitar. She married William Jackson in 1943 and started a new life in Memphis. In 1947 with the purchase of her recording equipment, Cordell became a woman of many firsts. Jackson wanted to sign with Sun Records label, but was unable to break into the label's established group of male artists. With the advice and assistance from RCA Records' Chet Atkins, he suggested she form her own record label to release her music under. In 1956 Jackson founded Moon Records and released her first single under her Moon label, "Bebopper's Christmas." In her home studio she served as an engineer, producer, and arranger, releasing and promoting singles. Artists under Cordell’s label consisted of herself and a small group of rock and roll, rockabilly, and country performers that she recruited from several Southern states. Jackson made music history as the first female recording engineer in the United States. She is counted as the first woman to write, sing, accompany, record, engineer, produce and manufacture a record. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s Jackson remained active in the music scene. Discovering her Moon singles were collector's items, Jackson revived Moon Records in 1980. In the early 80's she released a compilation album on vinyl with the labels 1950's singles titled “The 50's Rock on the Moon of Memphis Tennessee: An Oddity.” In 1983 under Moon she released a four song EP of instrumentals called “Knockin’ at 60.” Throughout the 80's she began to do more solo performances in Hoboken, Memphis, Chicago, and New York City nightclubs. New material was recorded on her label with Memphis musicians Colonel Robert Morris and Bob Holden. Morris and Holden coined her the nickname "Rock-and-Roll Granny." "If I want to wang dang rock 'n' roll at 69 years old dressed up in an antebellum dress, it ain't nobody's business but mine." says Cordell. Jackson released her last album in the late 90's titled “Cordell Jackson: Live in Chicago," on Bughouse Records. Jackson’s Moon Records label was the oldest continuously operating label in Memphis at the time of her death on October 14, 2004. Her original 1950s vinyl singles compiled on “The 50's Rock on the Moon of Memphis Tennessee: An Oddity” album have been displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Cordell is a heroine to any woman who has or wants to pursue a career in the music industry. She knocked down the barriers of a profession that was seen as a “Mans World.” Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordell_Jackson http://www.steamiron.com/cgrrl/cordell.html