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Rappahannock native John Jackson was recently named as one of 13 National Heritage Fellows by the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Jackson is widely known as a master of the “Piedmont” style of folk music, which he learned during his boyhood in Rappahannock.
He was born in 1924, the son of a tenant farmer, one of 14 children who lived on land once part of a plantation in ante bellum times. Mr. Jackson began playing music at the age of four on his father’s $4.98 flattop guitar.
Music was an integral part of the Jackson family’s life, as it was part of the community’s life. There was of course music at church, but there were also dances and house parties. Even field work could be an occasion for music. Both of Mr. Jackson’s parents sang and played music.
Mr. Jackson never was taught how to play his father’s guitar. He watched his father and figured it out for himself. Several years later, his father bought a Victrola. From that time on the young Mr. Jackson listened to the blues masters of the era. The music of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller and Jimmie Rodgers influenced the budding bluesman.
John Jackson lived on the family farm in Rappahannock until he was 25, when he moved his wife Cora Lee and family to Fairfax. There he found work on another farm, work which he continues to do to support his family.
It was not until 1962 that Mr. Jackson was “discovered” sitting in a gas station strumming his guitar. His chance meeting with folklorist Charles Perdue led eventually to five record albums and concerts in places as distant and diverse as London and Sri Lanka.
Mr. Jackson’s music still reflects the myriad influences of his boy
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