Stonewall Jackson
Jackson in 1966
Background information
Born	(1932-11-06)November 6, 1932 Tabor City, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	December 4, 2021(2021-12-04) (aged 89) Nashville,Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Country honky-tonk
Occupations	Singer musician
Instruments	Vocals acoustic guitar
Years active	1956–2012
Labels	Columbia
Formerly of	Ray Price Hank Williams Lefty Frizzell Ernest Tubb

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

Born inTabor City, North Carolina on November 6, 1932,^[1] Jackson was the youngest of three children. Stonewall is not a nickname; he wasnamed after Confederate GeneralThomas "Stonewall" Jackson.^[1] (Some publicity claimed he was a descendant of the general, but that isunlikely.)

When Stonewall was two, his father died after which his mother moved the family to Collquit County in SouthGeorgia,^[1] where he grew up working on his uncle's farm. Jackson enlisted in theNavy in 1950 and was discharged in 1954.^[1] He moved toNashville, Tennessee in 1956.^[1]

After hearing Jackson'sdemo tape,Wesley Rose, president ofAcuff-Rose Music, arranged for Jackson toaudition for theGrand Ole Opry.^[1] Jackson became the first artist to join the Grand Ole Opry before obtaining arecording contract.^[2] He toured withErnest Tubb, who became his mentor.^[3] Jackson signed withColumbia Records in 1957.^[1]

His breakthrough came in the countryTop 40 in late 1958, with a song written by a youngGeorge Jones, "Life to Go".^[1] It peaked at No. 2 in early 1959 and his follow-up record, "Waterloo", was No. 1 for five weeks,^[1] and crossed over into the Top 40 of theBillboard Hot 100chart, where it reached No. 4. The track also reached No. 24 in theUK Singles Chart in July 1959.^[4] It sold over one million copies, and was awarded agold disc.^[5] The song was a haunting and catchy tune that states "Everybody has to meet hisWaterloo", meaning theirfate. The song citesAdam,Napoleon andTom 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 theteenage tragedy song trope,^[1] 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 withRecorded Live At The Grand Ole Opry.^[1] 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".^[1] Jackson also recorded acover version ofLobo's 1971hit, "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo", which became Jackson's final top 10 hit.^[1]

From 1958 to 1971, Jackson had 35 Top 40 country hits.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Jackson sued the Grand Ole Opry for $10 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages, claimingage discrimination. As a member of the Opry for over 50 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".^[6] The lawsuit was settled on October 3, 2008 for an undisclosed amount and Jackson returned to performing on the show.^[7] He was a member of the Opry from 1956 until his death.^[2][8] He largely retired from performing by 2012, with his last public performance being at the funeral of his longtime friendGeorge Jones.^[9]

Jackson lived on a farm inBrentwood, Tennessee, where his wife Juanita died on January 11, 2019.^[10] She was also his personal manager and operated his song publishing company, Turp Tunes.^[11] He has a son, Stonewall Jackson Jr.^[11]

He was inducted into theNorth Carolina Music Hall of Fame on October 11, 2012.^[12]

Jackson died in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 4, 2021, at the age of 89, from complications ofvascular dementia.^[13][14]

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Notes

Bibliography

Trott, Walt (1998). "Stonewall Jackson". InThe Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 259.ISBN 9780199840441

• Stonewall Jackson atAllMusic Allmusic overview
• Stonewall Jackson discography atDiscogs
• Stonewall Jackson atIMDb

• 1932 births
• 2021 deaths
• People from Tabor City, North Carolina
• American country singer-songwriters
• American male singer-songwriters
• Grand Ole Opry members
• Country musicians from North Carolina
• Singer-songwriters from North Carolina
• American country guitarists
• American acoustic guitarists
• Guitarists from North Carolina
• 20th-century American guitarists
• American male guitarists
• 20th-century American male musicians
• Deaths from vascular dementia
• Deaths from dementia in Tennessee
• Columbia Records artists

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