Stonewall Jackson (singer)

Stonewall Jackson (November 6, 1932 – December 4, 2021) was an American country music singer and musician who achieved his greatest fame during country's "golden" honky tonk era in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Biography

Early years

Born in Tabor City, North Carolina on November 6, 1932,<ref name="LarkinCountry">Template:Cite book</ref> Jackson was the youngest of three children. Stonewall is not a nickname; he was named after Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.<ref name="LarkinCountry"/> (Some publicity claimed he was a descendant of the general, but that is unlikely.)

When Stonewall was two, his father died after which his mother moved the family to Worth County in South Georgia,<ref name="LarkinCountry"/> where he grew up working on his uncle's farm. Jackson enlisted in the Navy in 1950 and was discharged in 1954.<ref name="LarkinCountry"/> He moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1956.<ref name="LarkinCountry"/>

Recording career

After hearing Jackson's demo tape, Wesley Rose, president of Acuff-Rose Music, arranged for Jackson to audition for the Grand Ole Opry.<ref name="LarkinCountry"/> Jackson became the first artist to join the Grand Ole Opry before obtaining a recording contract.<ref name="GOO">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He toured with Ernest Tubb, who became his mentor.<ref name="Today.com">Template:Cite news</ref> Jackson signed with Columbia Records in 1958.Template:Citation needed

His breakthrough came in the country Top 40 in late 1958, with a song written by a young George Jones, "Life to Go".<ref name="LarkinCountry"/> It peaked at No.Template:Nbsp2 in early 1959 and his follow-up record, "Waterloo", was No.Template:Nbsp1 for five weeks,<ref name="LarkinCountry"/> and crossed over into the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it reached No. 4. The track also reached No. 24 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1959.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">Template:Cite book</ref> It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">Template:Cite book</ref> The song was a haunting and catchy tune that states "Everybody has to meet his Waterloo", meaning their fate. The song cites Adam, Napoleon and Tom Dooley as examples.

His next No. 1 hits came in 1964 with "Don't Be Angry" and "B.J. the D.J." (Jackson's foray into the teenage tragedy song trope,<ref name="LarkinCountry"/> about an over-worked country music radio station disc jockey, who crashes his car in a rainstorm). In 1971, Jackson was the first artist to record a live album from the Grand Ole Opry with Recorded Live At The Grand Ole Opry.<ref name="LarkinCountry"/> His other hit songs include "The Carpet on the Floor", "Why I'm Walkin'", "A Wound Time Can't Erase", and "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water".<ref name="LarkinCountry"/> Jackson also recorded a cover version of Lobo's 1971 hit, "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo", which became Jackson's final top 10 hit.<ref name="LarkinCountry"/>

From 1958 to 1971, Jackson had 35 Top 40 country hits.Template:Citation needed

Later years

In 2006, Jackson sued the Grand Ole Opry for $10 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages, claiming age discrimination. As a member of the Opry for over fifty years, Jackson believed management was sidelining him in favor of younger artists. In his court filing, Jackson claimed that Opry general manager Pete Fisher stated that he did not "want any gray hairs on that stage or in the audience, and before I'm done there won't be any." Fisher is also alleged to have told Jackson that he was "too old and too country".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The lawsuit was settled on October 3, 2008 for an undisclosed amount and Jackson returned to performing on the show.<ref>"Stonewall Jackson's Lawsuit Against Opry Settled" Cmt.com, October 6, 2008</ref> He was a member of the Opry from 1956 until his death.<ref name="GOO"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He largely retired from performing by 2012, with his last public performance being at the funeral of his longtime friend George Jones.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Jackson lived on a farm in Brentwood, Tennessee where his wife Juanita died on January 11, 2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was also his personal manager and operated his song publishing company, Turp Tunes.<ref name="Obituary: Juanita Wair Jackson">Template:Cite news</ref> He has a son, Stonewall Jackson Jr.<ref name="Obituary: Juanita Wair Jackson" />

He was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame on October 11, 2012.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jackson died in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 4, 2021, at the age of 89, from complications of vascular dementia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Discography

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Albums

Year	Album	US Country	Label
1959	The Dynamic Stonewall Jackson		Columbia
1962	The Sadness in a Song
1963	I Love a Song	2
1965	Trouble & Me	15
	The Exciting Stonewall Jackson
	Stonewall Jackson's Greatest Hits	20
1966	All's Fair in Love 'n' War	5
1967	Help Stamp Out Loneliness	36
	Country
1968	Nothing Takes the Place of Loving You	34
	The Great Old Songs	38
1969	Old Country Church
	Greatest Hits 2
	Tribute to Hank Williams
1970	The Lonesome in Me
	The Real Thing
1971	Recorded Live at the Grand Ole Opry
	Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
1972	The World
1976	Greatest Hits		GRT
1979	Platinum Country		Little Darlin'
	Bad Ass
1981	Stars of the Grand Ole Opry		1st Generation
1983	Audiograph Live		Audiograph

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions				Album
		US Country	US Cash Box Country	US	CAN Country
1958	"Life to Go"	2	1			The Dynamic Stonewall Jackson
1959	"Waterloo"	1	1	4
	"Smoke Along the Track"	24	30
	"Igmoo (The Pride of South Central High)"	29	16	95		single only
1960	"Mary Don't You Weep"	12	8	41		The Dynamic Stonewall Jackson
	"Why I'm Walkin'"	6	8	83
	"Life of a Poor Boy"	15	22			singles only
	"A Little Guy Called Joe"	13	11
1961	"Greener Pastures"	26	14			The Sadness in a Song
	"Hungry for Love"	27	13
1962	"A Wound Time Can't Erase"	3	1			I Love a Song
	"Second Choice"	18	38			The Sadness in a Song
	"One Look at Heaven"	11	14
	"Leona"	9	33
1963	"Can't Hang Up the Phone"	11	8			single only
	"Old Showboat"	8	11			Trouble & Me
	"Wild Wild Wind"	15	11			I Love a Song
1964	"B.J. the D.J."	1	2
	"Not My Kind of People"	24	27			Trouble & Me
	"Don't Be Angry"	4	4		3	I Love a Song
1965	"I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water"	8	4			Trouble & Me
	"Trouble and Me"	30	35
	"Lost in the Shuffle"	22				Stonewall Jackson's Greatest Hits
	"Poor Red Georgia Dirt"	44				singles only
	"If This House Could Talk"	24	18
1966	"The Minute Men (Are Turning in Their Graves)"	24	19			All's Fair in Love 'N' War
	"Blues Plus Booze (Means I Lose)"	12	21
1967	"Help Stamp Out Loneliness"	5	5			Help Stamp Out Loneliness
	"Promises and Hearts (Were Made to Break)"	15	13
	"This World Holds Nothing (Since You're Gone)"	27	27			Country
1968	"Nothing Takes the Place of Loving You"	39	20			Nothing Takes the Place of Loving You
	"I Believe in Love"	31	35
	"Angry Words"	16	15		13	Greatest Hits 2
1969	"Somebody's Always Leaving"	52	47			The Lonesome in Me
	"'Never More' Quote the Raven"	25	18		13
	"Ship in the Bottle"	19	34
1970	"Better Days for Mama"	72
	"Born That Way"	72				The Real Thing
	"Oh Lonesome Me"	63	52
1971	"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo"	7	5		3	Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
	"Push the Panic Button"
1972	"That's All This World Needs" (w/ Brentwood Children's Choir)	51	50			The World
	"Torn from the Pages of Life"	71	52			singles only
1973	"I'm Not Strong Enough (To Build Another Dream)"	70
	"True Love Is the Thing"
	"Herman Schwartz"	41	50		89
	"Ol' Blue"
1974	"Don't Be Late"					Greatest Hits
1978	"Spirit of Saint Louis"					Bad Ass
	"Walk Out on Me (Before I Walk All Over You)"					single only
	"My Favorite Sin"					Bad Ass
1979	"Point of No Return"					singles only
	"Listening to Johnny Paycheck"
1981	"Full Moon Empty Pockets"					Stars of the Grand Ole Opry
1983	"Let the Sun Shine on the People"					Audiograph Live

References

Notes

Bibliography

Trott, Walt (1998). "Stonewall Jackson". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 259.

External links

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