Frank Steven Jackson

Frank Steven Jackson, better known to everyone as, Franko “Washboard Jackson, “passed away peacefully Friday, October 11, 2019 at home with his wife and family. Born in Oklahoma City, OK in 1950, Jackson’s family soon moved to Atlanta, GA where he spent his early childhood. The family moved to Dallas, TX when he was 14 and from there, he moved to the East Wind Community in Missouri as a young adult. At East Wind Jackson discovered his joy: Washboard Music.

Washboard Jackson’s life was rich and deep and never uninteresting. He hitchhiked to New Orleans from the commune to be there for the birth of his sister Cindy’s 1st child. He wound up playing washboard with the Bad Oyster Band and played the New Orleans Jazz Festival several times in the mid-seventies. He didn’t go back to the commune. He played the streets of the French Quarter, busking with musicians from all over the world.

In the early eighties, Washboard Jackson and the Hot Damn Jug Band was formed from those street performers to play the 1984 Louisiana World’s Fair from beginning to end. That jugband went on to play festivals and gatherings in New York and to record a jugband CD still available.

HUBBA HUBBA , the big electric blues band, came together in the nineties after Washboard moved to Florida and brought a tune with him that proved fateful. He taught Bill Garrett “Bayou Country” written by Duke Bardwell and by strange coincidence the three of them met, started playing music together, added Doug Dickerson and Rick Arnett to become the long-time favorite band of the beach community along Hwy 30A in Walton County FL. A movie, “Bayou Country: The Movie” by Kris Wheeler and Wayne Franklin, documents the changes and the life-long friendships caused by that song.

Around 2000, Jackson began painting primitive memory paintings of his family and musicians who had influenced him. His 1st solo show at the Toulouse Women Gallery in 2004 sold well and advanced his reputation as a folk artist. That, and his wife had a folk-art gallery. He said he slept his way to the top.

Jackson’s favorite gig was Stinky’s on 30A where he played every Sunday Brunch with The Steenos, Lisa and Bobby, his dearest friends for many years. He has his own art gallery there, where Jim Richard and Stan Meadows show his artwork in the main room where he played so many years.

A Second Line in his honor will tumble at Stinky’s Crab Shack on County Rd 30A in Seagrove on Sunday Oct. 20th at 2PM. Bring your kazoos.

A ceremony TBA to put some of his ashes in the foundation of the Red Bar in Grayton Beach where Oli Petit hired him to work in the kitchen and then hired HUBBA HUBBA to permanently play the annual anniversary blow out as they had done since the day it opened.

A celebration of his life will be held Thanksgiving Week. Details will be announced on his facebook page, Franko “Washboard” Jackson. Some of his original songs are on YouTube as well as covers with a variety of musicians. His friends, family, and fans will meet to share their memories of the icon he has become.

He is preceded in death by his adoring parents, Elizabeth and Frank.

Franko is survived by his wife of 40 years, Eileen West; two children he helped raise, Jeffre Lynn West and Scott Lucas West and his wife Cheryl; grandchildren, Caslen West, Tucker and Lillia Luinstra, and Jackson Heath; wonderful sisters, Cindy Mounger and Lisa West and her husband Brad; loving brother, Rob Jackson; nieces, Kaitlyn West and Angela Connelly; nephews, Kevin West, Mart Mounger, and Paul Mounger; and many, many wonderful friends.

Arrangements are under the direction of Davis-Watkins Funeral Home and Crematory.