Stonewall Jackson

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Stonewall Jackson Years active: 1956-2012

Stonewall Jackson (born November 6, 1932) is an American country singer, guitarist and musician who achieved his greatest fame during country's "golden" honky tonk era in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Press Reports

by jwills | December 5, 2021

Stonewall Jackson Passes at Age 89

Stonewall Jackson passed away Saturday, December 4th 2021, at the age of 89 after a battle with vascular dementia.

Stonewall, know for his 1959 number-one hit “Waterloo” joined the Grand Ole Opry three years earlier in November of 1956.

After news of Stonewall’s passing reached him, fellow Opry legend Bill Anderson shared, “Stonewall Jackson was one of the first Opry stars I met when I started coming to Nashville, and as two ol’ boys with Georgia roots, we became fast friends. We toured the U.S. and Canada together, sharing a lot of laughs and a lot of country music. He was about as ‘genuine’ a person as I’ve ever known. He will certainly be missed.”

Born November 11th, 1932 in North Carolina, Stonewall was named after Civil War General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson as there was believed to be a family connection. But, unlike the General who carried “Stonewall” as a nickname, the country singer had it as his given name. Before music Stonewall served in the US Navy in the early 1950s. He also owned a Georgia based log-trucking company in the 50s.

In 1958 Stonewall released his first single, “Life To Go” - written by the great George Jones.

Jackson’s second single, and first number-one, “Waterloo” arrived the following year in ’59.

Stonewall would go on to release more that 40 songs to radio, with his only other trip to the top of the Billboard chart came 1964 with “B.J. The D.J.” Jackson is also credited with making the first “live” album at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville with his 1971 project, Recorded Live At The Grand Ole Opry. Talking about that album Stonewall shared, “We went in and recorded a few new songs, and a few of the hits I already had, kind of like I did my show out on the road. It was a real good seller for me.” Stonewall Jackson was inducted in the North Carolina Music Hall Of Fame in 2012.

Background information From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biography

Early years

Born in Tabor City, North Carolina on November 6, 1932, Jackson was the youngest of three children. Stonewall is not a nickname; he was named after Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. (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 Moultrie in South Georgia, where he grew up 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.

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. 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 with Columbia Records in 1958.

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 hits came in 1964 with "Don't Be Angry" and "B.J. the D.J." (about an over-worked country music radio station disc jockey, who crashes his car in a rainstorm).

In 1963, Jackson was the first artist to record a live album from the Grand Ole Opry with "Old Showboat". Other song hits 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", which became Jackson's final top 10 hit.

From 1958 to 1971, Jackson had 35 Top 40 country hits.

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". The lawsuit was settled on October 3, 2008 for an undisclosed amount and Jackson returned to performing on the show. He was a member of the Opry from 1956 until his death. He largely retired from performing by 2012, with his last public performance being at the funeral of his longtime friend George Jones.

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

He was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame on October 11, 2012.

Jackson died in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 4, 2021, at the age of 89 from complications of vascular dementia.