Shot Jackson

One of the premier steel guitar and Dobro players of the postwar generation, Shot Jackson was a solo and session artist who also gained fame as a designer and manufacturer of musical instruments. Born Harold B. Jackson on September 4, 1920, in Wilmington, NC, he earned the nickname Buckshot -- later abbreviated to simply Shot -- while still a child. His interest in music also began at an early age, and he became a devoted fan of the Grand Ole Opry, in particular of <a href="spotify:artist:7heUyuJw3gZftFZRa1rV6M">Roy Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys</a> and their Dobro player, <a href="spotify:artist:04KqDWKKn34Ze4rtrur9qQ">Bashful Brother Oswald</a>. In 1941, Jackson joined the house band on a local country radio station, and in 1944, he moved to Nashville to sign on with the Opry as a sideman for Cousin Wilbur Westbrooks.

After a year in the Navy, Jackson began playing electric steel guitar with <a href="spotify:artist:2YXDEGkPNUPsSHB8WQ5A6e">the Bailes Brothers</a> and continued performing with the group throughout their tenure on the Shrevport, LA, station KWKH's Louisiana Hayride program. After <a href="spotify:artist:2YXDEGkPNUPsSHB8WQ5A6e">the Bailes Brothers</a> left the show, Jackson remained at KWKH, where he performed and recorded with the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:1ARZrF9nU4zgdDHuBIfqMq">Webb Pierce</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3fXAyE2WOUuoSxc44G6Z9M">Jimmie Osborne</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7wVgfy012qNvQ607JM5Qsf">Red Sovine</a>. In 1951, he joined <a href="spotify:artist:2uka1ggrgDYJkt2y3qT68j">Johnnie & Jack's Tennessee Mountain Boys</a>, and over the next half-dozen years, he played Dobro on virtually all of the group's live dates and studio sessions. He also played on many of <a href="spotify:artist:4fxdqujwhb2NIQyr7qnnPX">Kitty Wells</a>' first hits, in addition to recording a few solo sides.

In 1957, Jackson fulfilled a personal dream by becoming the electric steel player for Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys and remained with the group for five years. During his affiliation with Acuff, Jackson and <a href="spotify:artist:30CKw91YOH49ow02aqBg1g">Buddy Emmons</a> designed an electric pedal steel guitar; to market it, they founded their own company, Sho-Bud. Gradually, the company's success began to absorb more and more of Jackson's time, and he left the Smoky Mountain Boys, although he did remain an active musician, particularly as a steel player for <a href="spotify:artist:6TeB6t5E1uJfbJGRZvJAAv">Melba Montgomery</a>, who had also left Acuff to go solo some time before. In addition to working with <a href="spotify:artist:6TeB6t5E1uJfbJGRZvJAAv">Montgomery</a> (on both her solo work and her duets with <a href="spotify:artist:2OpqcUtj10HHvGG6h9VYC5">George Jones</a>), he recorded with many other artists and even cut his own solo LP, Singing Strings of Steel Guitar and Dobro, in 1962.

Jackson rejoined Acuff full-time in 1964, but his tenure abruptly ended in July of 1965 when he, Acuff, and singer <a href="spotify:artist:1FAt6R7W57QrbOgBVuOeJB">June Stearns</a> were all sidelined by a near-fatal car crash. After a long recovery period, he began performing with his wife Donna Darlene, a former vocalist on the Jamboree program; in 1965, he also issued the solo record Bluegrass Dobro. His latest creation, a seven-string resonator guitar called the Sho-Bro, hit the market not long after, and again, Jackson distanced himself from music to focus on business. Still, he continued to play on occasion, rejoining <a href="spotify:artist:2YXDEGkPNUPsSHB8WQ5A6e">the Bailes Brothers</a> for a number of reunion concerts and recordings. He also hooked up with <a href="spotify:artist:6iOpZ3mUTWOjjER4mGcZmS">the Roy Clark Family Band</a> for a pair of albums and appearances on the TV program Hee Haw. In 1980, Baldwin-Gretsch purchased Sho-Bud, and three years later, Jackson sold his instrument repair business as well. Soon after retirement, he suffered a stroke which left him unable to speak and play music. In 1986, he was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame; shortly after suffering another stroke several years later, Jackson died on January 24, 1991. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi