Born in Tabor City, North Carolina on November 6, 1932,[1] Jackson was the youngest of three children.

When Stonewall was two, his father died after which his mother moved the family to Worth County in South Georgia,[1] where he grew up working on his uncle's farm.

[citation needed] His breakthrough came in the country Top 40 in late 1958, with a song written by a young George Jones, "Life to Go".

(Jackson's foray into the teenage tragedy song trope,[1] about an over-worked country music radio station disc jockey, who crashes his car in a rainstorm).

[1] His other hit songs include "The Carpet on the Floor", "Why I'm Walkin'", "A Wound Time Can't Erase", and "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water".

As a member of the Opry for over fifty years, Jackson believed management was sidelining him in favor of younger artists.

In his court filing, Jackson claimed that Opry general manager Pete Fisher stated that he did not "want any gray hairs on that stage or in the audience, and before I'm done there won't be any."

[6] The lawsuit was settled on October 3, 2008 for an undisclosed amount and Jackson returned to performing on the show.

[11] He has a son, Stonewall Jackson Jr.[11] He was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame on October 11, 2012.