Waterloo

A name like Stonewall Jackson cannot be taken lightly. Seventy years separated the death of the great Confederate General and the birth of the Grand Ole Opry star who shares his name, but they have things in common. For one, both held fast to the old way of doing things. Stonewall Jackson, OUR Stonewall Jackson was a country music fairytale come true. He drove to Nashville from Georgia in October 1956, and was on the Grand Ole Opry just days later, and has been there ever since. Signed to Columbia Records in January 1957, he recorded hardcore stone country music. Stonewall Jackson's first session was held on the day that Sonny James held the top spot in the country charts with Young Love, but Stonewall's music came from a harder, grimmer place. In the book that accompanies this set he tells us about his childhood, in which he was wretchedly poor and frequently abused. You can hear it all in his music. It's not pretty music, but it's raw and commanding. He scored many great country hits, all of them here, including Life To Go, Why I'm Walking, B.J. the D.J., A Wound Time Can't Erase, Don't Be Angry, and the fabulous original version of I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water (later recorded by Johnny Rivers, Elvis, and many others).

All of the alternative country bands pay lip-service to hardcore country music, but THIS is hardcore country... sung and played by the master with his story in his own words. In all, there are 124 songs recorded between 1957 and 1967, most of which have never been available on CD, and seven of which are previously unissued anywhere!