Songwriter, performer, writer and visual artist born at the 9th of December 1932 in Boone County, West Virginia, USA.

Wheeler was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2007, and the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2011. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from his two alma maters: Berea College in 2004, and Warren Wilson College in 2011.

He also received 13 awards from ASCAP, the Best Appalachian Poetry from Morris Harvey College, and Billboard Magazine’s Pacesetter Award for Music and Drama. In June, 2005, Country Music Television voted Jackson one of the Ten Greatest Love Songs of Country Music.

Wheeler died September 16, 2024, in Swannanoa, North Carolina, USA.