Stonewall Jackson (musician)
Encyclopedia
Stonewall Jackson is an American
country
singer and musician who achieved his greatest fame during country's "golden" honky tonk era in the 1950s and early 1960s.
, is the youngest of three children. He was named after the Confederate
Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
, who he claims was an ancestor; the name is not a nickname. His father died when he was two and his mother moved the family to South Georgia
. Jackson grew up there working on his uncle's farm. Jackson enlisted in the Navy
in 1950 and was discharged in 1954. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee
in 1956.
, president of Acuff-Rose Music
, arranged for Jackson to audition
for the Grand Ole Opry
. Jackson became the first artist to join the Grand Ole Opry before obtaining a recording contract
. He toured with Ernest Tubb
, who became his mentor. Jackson signed to Columbia Records
and debuted in 1958 with "Don't Be Angry". The song did not score in the country music top 40, but it got him recognition.
His breakthrough came in the country Top 40 in late 1958, with a song written by a young George Jones
, "Life to Go". It peaked at No. 2 in early 1959 and his follow-up record, "Waterloo
", was No. 1 for five weeks 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. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
. 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 hit came in 1964, with "B.J. the D.J.
" (about an over-worked country music radio station
disc jockey
, who crashes his car in a rainstorm because of bad tires). In 1963, Jackson was the first artist to record a live album
from the Grand Ole Opry with Old Showboat. Other songs of his include "The Carpet On The Floor", "Why I'm Walkin'", "A Wound Time Can't Erase" and "I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water". Jackson also recorded a cover version
of Lobo
's 1971 hit
, "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo".
From 1958 to 1971, Jackson had 35 Top 40 country hits. Along with Ray Price
, Jackson is considered a cornerstone, after Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell
, of the hard-driving honky tonk sound in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Jackson lives on a farm in Brentwood, Tennessee
with his wife Juanita, who is also his personal manager and operates his song publishing company, Turp Tunes. He has a son, Stonewall Jackson, Jr.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer and musician who achieved his greatest fame during country's "golden" honky tonk era in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Early years
Jackson, born Tabor City, North CarolinaTabor City, North Carolina
Tabor City is a town in Columbus County, North Carolina, United States.It was named after Mount Tabor Baptist Church , which itself is named after the biblical Mount Tabor. Originally named Mt...
, is the youngest of three children. He was named after the Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
Stonewall Jackson
ຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...
, who he claims was an ancestor; the name is not a nickname. His father died when he was two and his mother moved the family to South Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. Jackson grew up there working on his uncle's farm. Jackson enlisted in the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
in 1950 and was discharged in 1954. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
in 1956.
Recording career
After hearing Jackson's demo tape, Wesley RoseWesley Rose
Wesley Rose was an American music industry executive and record producer.The son of songwriter Fred Rose, he was born in Chicago, Illinois, and studied to become a Chartered Accountant...
, president of Acuff-Rose Music
Acuff-Rose Music
Acuff-Rose Music was an American music publishing firm formed by Roy Acuff and Fred Rose in Nashville, Tennessee. Acuff-Rose's honest behavior towards their writers set them apart from other music publishing firms at the time and lead them to fame throughout the 50's, 60's, 70's.-History:Acuff-Rose...
, arranged for Jackson to audition
Audition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performing artist.Audition may also refer to:* The sense of hearing* Adobe Audition, audio editing software...
for the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. Jackson became the first artist to join the Grand Ole Opry before obtaining a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
. He toured with Ernest Tubb
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb , nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...
, who became his mentor. Jackson signed to Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
and debuted in 1958 with "Don't Be Angry". The song did not score in the country music top 40, but it got him recognition.
His breakthrough came in the country Top 40 in late 1958, with a song written by a young George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, "Life to Go". It peaked at No. 2 in early 1959 and his follow-up record, "Waterloo
Waterloo (Stonewall Jackson song)
"Waterloo" was a number-one hit for country singer Stonewall Jackson in 1959. It was written by John D. Loudermilk and Marijohn Wilkin. The single was the most successful of Jackson's career, spending five weeks at number one on the U.S. country music chart. The B-side of "Waterloo", "Smoke Along...
", was No. 1 for five weeks and crossed over into the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
, where it reached No. 4. The track also reached No. 24 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in July 1959. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
. The song was a haunting and catchy tune that states "Everybody has to meet his Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
", meaning their fate
Destiny
Destiny or fate refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual...
. The song cites Adam
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
, Napoleon and Tom Dooley
Tom Dooley (song)
"Tom Dooley" is an old North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio. This version was a multi-format hit, reaching #1 in Billboard, the...
as examples.
His next No. 1 hit came in 1964, with "B.J. the D.J.
B.J. the D.J.
"B.J. the D.J." is a song written by Hugh X. Lewis, and made famous by country music star Stonewall Jackson.Released in November 1963, "B.J. the D.J." became Jackson's second and final No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in February 1964; the song had a 22-week run in the chart's...
" (about an over-worked country music radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, who crashes his car in a rainstorm because of bad tires). In 1963, Jackson was the first artist to record a live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
from the Grand Ole Opry with Old Showboat. Other songs of his include "The Carpet On The Floor", "Why I'm Walkin'", "A Wound Time Can't Erase" and "I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water". Jackson also recorded a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Lobo
Lobo (musician)
Roland Kent LaVoie, better known by the stage name Lobo , is an American singer-songwriter who was successful in the early 1970s, scoring several U.S...
's 1971 hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
, "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo".
From 1958 to 1971, Jackson had 35 Top 40 country hits. Along with Ray Price
Ray Price (musician)
Ray Price is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music...
, Jackson is considered a cornerstone, after Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
, of the hard-driving honky tonk sound in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Later years
In 2006, Jackson sued the Grand Ole Opry for $10 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damage, claiming age discrimination. As a member of the Opry for over fifty years, Jackson believed that 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." The lawsuit was settled on October 3, 2008 for an undisclosed amount and Jackson returned to performing on the show.Jackson lives on a farm in Brentwood, Tennessee
Brentwood, Tennessee
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 23,445 people, 7,693 households, and 6,808 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 7,889 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.63% European American, 1.89% African American,...
with his wife Juanita, who is also his personal manager and operates his song publishing company, Turp Tunes. He has a son, Stonewall Jackson, Jr.
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 Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
CAN Country | |||
| 1958 | "Life to Go" | 2 | The Dynamic Stonewall Jackson | ||
| 1959 | "Waterloo Waterloo (Stonewall Jackson song) "Waterloo" was a number-one hit for country singer Stonewall Jackson in 1959. It was written by John D. Loudermilk and Marijohn Wilkin. The single was the most successful of Jackson's career, spending five weeks at number one on the U.S. country music chart. The B-side of "Waterloo", "Smoke Along... " |
1 | 4 | ||
| "Smoke Along the Track" | 24 | ||||
| "Igmoo (The Pride of South Central High)" | 29 | 95 | single only | ||
| 1960 | "Mary Don't You Weep" | 12 | 41 | The Dynamic Stonewall Jackson | |
| "Why I'm Walkin'" | 6 | 83 | |||
| "Life of a Poor Boy" | 15 | singles only | |||
| "A Little Guy Called Joe" | 13 | ||||
| 1961 | "Greener Pastures" | 26 | The Sadness in a Song | ||
| "Hungry for Love" | 27 | ||||
| 1962 | "A Wound Time Can't Erase" | 3 | I Love a Song | ||
| "Second Choice" | 18 | The Sadness in a Song | |||
| "One Look at Heaven" | 11 | ||||
| "Leona" | 9 | ||||
| 1963 | "Can't Hang Up the Phone" | 11 | single only | ||
| "Old Showboat" | 8 | Trouble & Me | |||
| "Wild Wild Wind" | 15 | I Love a Song | |||
| 1964 | "B.J. the D.J. B.J. the D.J. "B.J. the D.J." is a song written by Hugh X. Lewis, and made famous by country music star Stonewall Jackson.Released in November 1963, "B.J. the D.J." became Jackson's second and final No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in February 1964; the song had a 22-week run in the chart's... " |
1 | |||
| "Not My Kind of People" | 24 | Trouble & Me | |||
| "Don't Be Angry" | 4 | 3 | I Love a Song | ||
| 1965 | "I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water" | 8 | Trouble & Me | ||
| "Trouble and Me" | 30 | ||||
| "Lost in the Shuffle" | 22 | Stonewall Jackson's Greatest Hits | |||
| "Poor Red Georgia Dirt" | 44 | singles only | |||
| "If This House Could Talk" | 24 | ||||
| 1966 | "The Minute Men (Are Turning in Their Graves)" | 24 | All's Fair in Love 'N' War | ||
| "Blues Plus Booze (Means I Lose)" | 12 | ||||
| 1967 | "Stamp Out Loneliness" | 5 | Help Stamp Out Loneliness | ||
| "Promises and Hearts (Were Made to Break)" | 15 | ||||
| "This World Holds Nothing (Since You're Gone)" | 27 | Country | |||
| 1968 | "Nothing Takes the Place of Loving You" | 39 | Nothing Takes the Place of Loving You | ||
| "I Believe in Love" | 31 | ||||
| "Angry Words" | 16 | 13 | Greatest Hits 2 | ||
| 1969 | "Somebody's Always Leaving" | 52 | The Lonesome in Me | ||
| "'Never More' Quote the Raven" | 25 | 13 | |||
| "Ship in the Bottle" | 19 | ||||
| 1970 | "Better Days for Mama" | 72 | |||
| "Born That Way" | 72 | The Real Thing | |||
| "Oh Lonesome Me Oh Lonesome Me "Oh Lonesome Me" is a popular song written and recorded by Don Gibson with Chet Atkins producing for RCA Victor in Nashville in 1958. The song topped the country chart for eight non consecutive weeks, in addition to reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100... " |
63 | ||||
| 1971 | "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo Me and You and a Dog Named Boo "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" is the 1971 debut single by Lobo. The single peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first of his four number ones on the Easy Listening chart, where it had a two-week stay at number one in May 1971.... " |
7 | 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 | The World | ||
| "Torn from the Pages of Life" | 71 | singles only | |||
| 1973 | "I'm Not Strong Enough (To Build Another Dream)" | 70 | |||
| "True Love Is the Thing" | |||||
| "Herman Schwartz" | 41 | 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 |
External links
- [ Allmusic overview]
- Trott, Walt (1998). "Stonewall Jackson". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 259.