Love it
Jess | Coal Country, PA | 09/01/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you like Country Music (real country music), this album is a "must-have". Noone sang a song like Stonewall; and it's doubtful anyone ever will. Not a bad song on the CD, but a few more songs would always be appreciated. It's sad that this artist isn't more appreciated today, and as with many great pioneers and stylists of Country Music, he's overlooked. If you like Stonewall, I suggest you also check out Mel Street, who seemed to be greatly influenced by Jackson and often imitated his singing approach. In any case, you owe it to yourself to purchase this one."
The One Who Didn't Sell Out
Mel C. Thompson | san francisco | 03/28/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I think others are more capable than me of giving the real estimate of this man's body of work. But I shall add my two cents.
This album is astonishingly strong. (Sadly, even many "Best Of" albums are not strong.) And I, like others, attribute this to his consistent refusal to sell out. True, he had his moments of temptation and did a weak cross-over or two. But finally, he parted ways with record companies rather than leave his roots.
The record companies tried hard to, at various points, "manage" Stonewall's sound, but he resisted repeatedly. He was and is truly a man that was proud to be a hillbilly. I liken him to the proud politico who is not ashamed to bear the label conservative or liberal, even when that label is out of style.
It was never his goal to finesse hillbilly music or to try to "make it acceptable." Instead, with his unwavering work ethic, he struck to his sound and found believers where he could.
By the way, if you've never heard his version of "Waterloo," (not the Abba song, but one far deeper than that one), you really are in for a treat. It did, in fact, cross over to the pop charts, but on Stonewall's terms. And it was that song that alerted me to Stonewall Jackson, in fact.
However, the rest of the album is solid, and every other song is great. In the end, his career and his life are standing the test of time. And, additionally, the life story, which was both very horribly hard and truly wonderfully miraculous is succinctly and yet deeply covered in the slight two-page booklet/cover.
I've said it honestly before, I'm mostly a pop and rock fan, but every so often I buy a country album. But when I go country, I find I'm never attracted to "New Country," which seems to me like R & B with a twang, AND I'M SO SICK OF R & B! Stonewall has some of the sparseness of Cash and the really fun twang of Dwight Yoakam, who, by the way, is the closest thing to a "modern" country singer that ever appealed to me.
Clue: Any singer of any genre gravitating toward the on-stage headset-wireless-microphone gadgets is probably not going to work out for me. Much of the "soul singing" that seems now to have infected rock and pop is really to me, overstated singing that covers for the fact that there's no real song underneath. Stonewall had really real songs, and so he could just sing them, without being a jockish vocal athlete like the over-coached, over-managed sort of artist-by-corporate-committee folks we see today.
Stonewall lives! As an artistic culture, we are far more likely to forestall our "Waterloo" if we return to the rooty roots."
Great!
James L. Bumbalo | 10/03/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I bought this CD based on two songs on a Columbia collection. I am so glad I did. This is one of the greatest honky tonk CDs there is. Stonewall Jackson is easily one of the greatest country singers of all time, yet he seems to have been forgotten. What a voice and what great songs. These songs are amazing. I can't recommend this CD enough. Fantastic!"
