Longtime guitarist George "Leo" Jackson died Sunday 4th May 2008 in his Goodlettsville home from an apparent suicide, according to police and family members.
Jackson, 73, was best known for playing with musician Jim Reeves and other artists such as Alabama and Hank Williams Jr.
Family members say Jackson "wasn't in his right mind" when he pulled the trigger and shot himself in bed Sunday afternoon. He had undergone minor surgery last week, but had only taken his prescription of Mepergan, a potent pain medicine, after longtime back problems flared up Sunday, according to family members.
"On top of the operation, I guess it was just too much for him," said Jackson's son, Leo, 42.
Jackson's family fears the medication affected his mental state.
Jackson began to act irrationally, he said, and made comments that he would rather die than live with his pain. His son was called to remove weapons from the house, but he got there too late. He found his father fatally wounded in bed.
"That's a picture I'll never get out of my mind," he said.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been made.
"He led a good life," Leo Jackson said. "He would do anything for anybody. He never would have done this to himself."
Those who knew Jackson said the loss would be hard-felt in the music industry.
"He had such a wonderful personality and he was such a wonderful commercial guitar player," said Harold Bradley, president of The Nashville Association of Musicians, Local 257, of which Jackson was a member. "It happened so suddenly. It's extremely sad. He had a marvelous career and it's not the way we want people's careers to end."
An elegant stylist known for his clean, nimble guitar lines, Jackson joined Reeves' band as a teenager, first appearing on the Louisiana Hayride with him and, later, on the Grand Ole Opry.
Besides his work on guitar, which was integral to "Gentleman Jim's" country-pop sound, Jackson contributed harmony vocals to hits such as "Mexican Joe," the 1953 novelty that became Reeves' first number country single.
Larry Jordan, a biographer for Jim Reeves who spent time interviewing Jackson, said Jackson was never the kind of man who would take his own life.
"He was too conscientious about his own state of health and worried about himself to the point that you couldn't think he'd turn around and inflict grievous injury on himself," Jordan said.
He remembered Jackson as introverted on stage, but enthusiastic and charismatic in more personal settings.
"With the camera focused on Leo he would turn three shades of red - he was such a shy person," Jordan said. "But if you asked Leo a question, you better be prepared for the answer because he would not sugar coat anything. He called a spade a spade."
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