Carl Jackson

Born September 18, 1953, in Louisville, Mississippi, Carl Jackson built a career as a bluegrass instrumentalist and songwriter. At age fourteen, while performing in his father's bluegrass ensemble, he received an invitation from Jim & Jesse to become a member of the Virginia Boys. He accepted, and throughout his teenage years he played banjo behind Jim & Jesse and additional acts on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Those abilities secured him a deal with the independent Prize imprint, which issued the album Bluegrass Festival in the late 1960s.

In 1971 Jackson departed to work with the Sullivan Family, yet less than twelve months later he relocated to Ohio and formed Country Store alongside Keith Whitley and Jimmy Gaudreau. Soon afterward he accepted an offer to join Glen Campbell's touring ensemble. Twelve years with Campbell followed, during which he also cut the Capitol albums Banjo Player and Old Friend. Signing with Sugar Hill in 1981, he delivered the Earl Scruggs tribute Banjo Man; Songs of the South appeared the next year, and in 1983 he reunited with Jim & Jesse for Banjo Hits.

After moving to Columbia in 1984, Carl Jackson parted ways with Glen Campbell and began charting singles. His Lefty Frizzell cover "She's Gone, Gone, Gone" climbed to number 44 that year, although three subsequent releases failed to equal its performance. Jackson himself composed the hit "(Love Always) Letter to Home," which reached the Top 15 for Campbell in May 1984. Throughout the late 1980s his layered harmony vocals enriched sessions by Emmylou Harris, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Roger Miller, and numerous others. Recognition arrived in the 1990s: the International Bluegrass Music Association named "Little Mountain Church Home"—recorded by Ricky Skaggs and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. 2—its Song of the Year in 1990, and the following year Jackson shared a Best Bluegrass Album Grammy with John Starling & the Nash Ramblers for Spring Training.