Elvis Presley was first. He gave Wanda Jackson his ring. Since then, she's had lots of big-name admirers. Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen sang her praises to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Jack White produced her latest album.

Now, at 73, rockabilly sweetheart Jackson is more popular than ever.

"It's nice to be in your 70s and have this older body of work that you did in your prime and have it popular now," said the female rock pioneer, who will perform twice in Minnesota this month, including Saturday night at the Minnesota Zoo.

After urging her to switch from country, Elvis dubbed her Queen of Rockabilly. The mild-mannered Oklahoma teen had a growl in her voice, which contributed to her reputation that she's described as "a good girl who was just bad in some of her songs." Her image -- a big beehive hairdo and sexy fringe dresses -- probably had something to do with it, too.

"I wanted to get out of cowboy boots and cowboy hats," she said. "By the time I was 15 or 16, I realized -- I couldn't voice it this way then -- that those clothes were covering up my assets. My mother -- she was a professional seamstress for a while -- started with a suede fringe with rhinestones on the tip of maybe every other fringe so it swung and it sparkled. Then we found some silk fringe. I wanted to dress glamorous and sexy."

After enjoying moderate success with a remake of Elvis' "Let's Have a Party" and her own "Right or Wrong" and "In the Middle of a Heartache," Jackson drifted back into country in the mid-1960s and later switched to gospel. She never stopped performing -- she just worked on a different circuit. But since the 1980s rockabilly revival, she's been on a roll, and she was finally inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2009.

This year, the rockabilly pioneer has been invited to open several concerts for British pop-soul siren Adele, who called Jackson her new heroine.

"Wow! I hadn't heard that," said Jackson, who will appear with Adele Aug. 24 at Xcel Energy Center. "I really like that coming from a beautiful, talented young lady like her."

Last year, Jack White approached Jackson about producing an album for her. He didn't want to recast her style, as he'd done with forever-country queen Loretta Lynn on the 2004 album "Van Lear Rose." He just wanted to give Jackson a fresh batch of tunes as well as some retro favorites. Dylan's "Thunder on the Mountain" challenged Jackson because it was wordy and fast. Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good" upset her with some sexually explicit lyrics so White rewrote them.

Titled "The Party Ain't Over," the spirited album indeed proves that Jackson isn't done. Elvis never gave up on her. And she's never given up on him. She still has that ring of his, with those little diamonds.

"My mother took that ring back when I got married. She didn't want anything to happen to it," said Jackson, who dated Elvis for about a year when she was his 17-year-old opening act. "Then I got it back. So now on anniversary shows all over the world, and if his fan club has big celebrations and they invite me, I'll wear the ring around my neck."