On this day (December 4) in 2021, country singer Stonewall Jackson died in Nashville, Tennessee, from vascular dementia at the age of 89. Jackson found success in the late 1950s and early 1960s in what is considered the golden age of honky tonk. He was the first artist to join the Grand Ole Opry without a record deal. Decades later, he sued the Opry for age discrimination.
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According to the Grand Ole Opry, Jackson came to Nashville in 1956. “I came into town, stopped at a little motel on the south side of town, and checked in,” he recalled. That hotel was across the street from Acuff-Rose Music, the premier country music publishing house. “I said, I think I’ll walk over there and see if anybody in country music will talk to me.”
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Upon arriving in the Acuff-Rose offices, he got the chance to sing a few songs for Wesley Rose, who was immediately impressed. Ros, knowing a star when he saw one, introduced Jackson to Grand Ole Opry founder George D. Hay. He repeated his previous performance for Hay and, within minutes, he was signing his contract. Later, Rose and Hay helped Jackson land a deal with Columbia Records.
While waiting for his career to take off, he worked in the shipping department at the Opry and toured with Ernest Tubb.
Stonewall Jackson Finds Early Success
In 1958, two years after coming to Nashville, Stonewall Jackson released his debut single. The George Jones-penned “Life to Go” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard country chart. He released his second single, “Waterloo,” the next year. It reached the top of the chart, where it stayed for five weeks. It was also a crossover hit, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, several top 40 hits on the country chart with songs like “Why I’m Walkin’,” “A Wound Time Can’t Heal,” “Leona,” and “Old Showboat,” among others. The 1970s saw his chart success begin to diminish.
Jackson remained a regular performer on the Grand Ole Opry for decades. Then, in the late 1990s, a management change allegedly led to him being largely sidelined. This pushed him to file a lawsuit against the Opry.
Jackson Sues the Opry
In 2006, the then-74-year-old Stonewall Jackson filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the Grand Ole Opry. He sued for $10 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.
According to an Associated Press report, Jackson’s suit named the Opry’s then-general manager, Pete Fisher, and its parent company, Gaylord Entertainment. The suit alleged that the institution wasn’t allowing him to perform due to his age.
Jackson alleged that, after Fisher took the GM role in 1998, his appearances sharply declined. In the filing, he claimed that Fisher told him, “I don’t want any gray hairs on that stage or in the audience, and before I’m done there won’t be any.” Additionally, Fisher allegedly told Jackson, “You’re too old and too country.”
“The allegations of age discrimination are without merit, as evidenced by our lineups in eavh and every show,” Steve Buchanan, VP of media and entertainment at Gaylord Entertainment, said. Instead, the defendants claimed that Jackson’s lack of Opry appearances was due to a scheduling dispute.
The lawsuit was later settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Jackson soon returned to being a regular on the Opry stage.
Stonewall Jackson’s final performance came in 2012, when he sang at his longtime friend George Jones’ funeral.
Featured Image by David Redfern/Redferns
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