Life Of A Poor Boy : RCA Country Hits 1958-1972

Stonewall Jackson is not one of the most critically respected figures of late-'50s and '60s Nashville country, but his steady brand of mainstream country brought him extraordinarily consistent commercial success. Not earthy enough to be considered a top honky tonker despite the definite trace of that style in his music, Jackson made the most of the sorrowful lyrical stances that form much of commercial country's backbone, though with a stoic dignity that avoided both undue self-pity and unbridled passion.
Perhaps this two-CD compilation might be too extensive to be considered the definitive Jackson anthology, but it has no less than 40 songs that made the charts for Columbia between 1958 and 1972. Not all of these were big hits, of course, but many of them were, including "Waterloo" (his one big pop crossover single, making number four in 1959), the George Jones-penned "Life to Go," "B.J. the D.J.," "Don't Be Angry" (actually a 1964 remake of his first single that didn't chart until this re-recording), and the wonderfully titled "Help Stamp Out Loneliness." Along the way, he benefited from compositions by several notable writers, including Jones, Marijohn Wilkin, Mel Tillis, John Loudermilk, Harlan Howard, and Cindy Walker. The one major strike against this album's qualification as a definitive Jackson retrospective is the inclusion of 17 tracks designated as "album versions," without any explanation in the otherwise decent notes as to if, or how, they differ from the hit single versions. Whatever the case, it's a good representation of Jackson's talents during his years of stardom, with occasional songs that venture into rousing honky tonk ("Can't Hang Up the Phone"), catchy near-pop (the mordant "Somebody's Always Leaving," a highlight despite its failure to rise above number 52), and even some folk- and blues-influenced material (a quite solid "I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water"). His cover of Lobo's "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" is not one of his shining moments, however, although it gave him his last Top Ten country hit. ~ Richie Unterberger|