Tommy Jackson

about

Thomas Lee Jackson (born March 31, 1926 in Birmingham, Alabama, died December 9, 1979 in Nashville, Tenessee) was a virtuoso fiddler. In his time, from the end of the 1940s until the beginning of the 1960s, he was the first important session fiddle player in Nashville, and the best and busiest violinist in country music, working on records by Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, and George Jones, among numerous others. One of the sad ironies of his career was that his influence led to Jackson's own forced retirement -- so many younger players followed in his footsteps that he found precious little work during the final decade of his life and died in relative obscurity. Thomas Lee Jackson was born in Birmingham, AL, but his family moved to Nashville before he was a year old, and he grew up there listening all of the best country music that local radio and the Grand Ole Opry had to offer. Among his favorite groups growing up were George Wilkerson and the Fruit Jar Drinkers and Arthur Smith's Dixieliners. His father was a barber, not a musician, but he encouraged the boy -- by age seven, Tommy was playing fiddle tunes at local bars for nickels and dimes, and at 12 he was going on tour with John Wright and Kitty Wells. He formed a group called the Tennessee Mountaineers and became a regular guest on Nashville's WSIX. By 17, he was playing on the Opry with Curly Williams and His Georgia Peach Pickers. A year later, however, his budding musical career was interrupted when Jackson joined t

top songs

albums

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Square Dance Vol. 2

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Fiddle Classics & Square Dancing

Square Dance Tonight

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30 Essential Bluegrass Hits - CD1

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Promise Institute

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Old Country Songs from Down On the Farm, Vol. 1

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Country Strings CD2

Square Dances Without Calls

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Garage Covers

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Rockabilly Rock

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20 Bluegrass Originals Instrumentals

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30 Essential Bluegrass Hits Disc 1of 2

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