The D.J,” as well as “A Wound Time Can’t Erase,” “Don’t Be Angry” and his 1958 debut single “Life To Go,” written by a young George Jones.
Raised on a south Georgia farm, Jackson at age 10 traded his bike for a guitar and began learning songs, according to his biography.
“I came into town, stopped at a little motel on the south side of town, and checked in,” Jackson once said, according to the Grand Ole Opry.
According to the Opry, Jackson worked in shipping for the institution before his career took off, including shifts where he mailed souvenir books from the basement of the National Life building.
The song remains Jackson’s best-known, giving listeners a haunting story of three historical men — Biblical figure Adam, Napoleon Bonaparte and Tom Dooley — who “met Waterloo,” a nod to death.
Jackson regularly performed on the Opry throughout his career; in 2006 he sued the longtime program for age discrimination, according to the Associated Press.