Customer Reviews

The Best of Stonewall Jackson

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Check out the alternative and you are sure to agree that the best value for your money is this 24 song collection from Collectors' Choice. Here you will find just about everything you would want from one of the most beloved figures in country music history. Stonewall Jackson was a major player during the heyday of country music. You will find all of Stonewall Jacksons biggest hits here including the 1959 classic "Waterloo" as well as "B.J. the D.J." "A Wound That Time Can't Erase" and "Stamp Out Loneliness". You will also discover a number of other gems that may not have been quite as successful on the charts but are every bit as good. Of these I particularly enjoyed "Mary Don't You Weep", an adaptation of an ancient black spiritual, "One Look At Heaven" and one of his last charted singles "Torn From The Pages Of Life" from the summer of 1972. Also included are familiar tunes like "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water" and of course Jacksons last big chart hit "Me and You and A Dog Named Boo". Stonewall was more or less forced to record that song and despite its success it proved to be the beginning of the end of his long time association with Columbia Records.
Though it has been more than 30 years since Stonewall Jackson had a hit single, he continues to make live appearances today. In addition, he has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1956. This collection is a "must" for serious collectors of country music. It is miles ahead of Columbia's "American Originals" offering. The remastering job is superb and the two pages of included liner notes are OK but nothing special. Recommended.

What did they do?? They once again took a classic country music artist who was grossly under-represtented on cd, and reissued all of his greatest songs remastered and in their original versions.

For me, I always looked at Stonewall Jackson as someone who did second-rate Johnny Horton style songs with an occasional great song like "Don't Be Angry."

Well this cd reissue set me straight. Stonewall was a fantastic honky tonk singer. Sure he had his lowpoints, but his high points makes up for everything.

This is an essential cd for anyone desiring to have a country music cd collection. All of his big hits and best known songs are here in their original forms. The booklet has a terrific essay by Colin Escott.

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.

This is by far one of the most complete cd's covering this great country artist.I only had a few regrets that a couple songs were not on but all of his hits are there and in excellent sound quality.

This cd is the best collection of songs from Stonewall Jackson that I have found. It comes with historical information about the artist and his music. It even shows the date that each song was recorded and what position the song reached on the charts. This cd is a must have for classic country music fans. Stonewall Jackson was overlooked and underrated in my opinion. In my opinion, he should be rated as one of the great legends of country music. This cd definately gets a 5 star rating from me.

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!

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.

This is an excellent CD of Stonewall Jackson's hits. His recorded music was a little difficult to locate so I ordered this CD when I found it on Amazon.com. If you are a fan of this singer, Buy this album.

If you like Stonewall Jackson's songs when he was in his "hayday", then you'll like this one, it has some very good ones on it.

Although I'm pleased that this is not just another "best of the best of the best" release similar to those that have flooded the music market, I'm disappointed nevertheless. It would seem that almost all, if not all, of these songs are re-recordings of the originals. I would have much preferred a new CD of old original songs from vinyl albums that have not yet made it to CD.