Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)
Encyclopedia
James Charles Rodgers known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling
. Among the first country music
superstars and pioneers, Rodgers was also known as The Singing Brakeman, The Blue Yodeler, and The Father of Country Music.
; however, in documents signed by Rodgers later in life, his birthplace was listed as Geiger, Alabama
, the home of his paternal grandparents. Historians who have researched the circumstances of that document, however, including Nolan Porterfield and Barry Mazor, continue to identify Pine Springs, Mississippi, just north of Meridian, as his genuine birthplace. Rodgers' mother died when he was about six or seven years old, and Rodgers, the youngest of three sons, spent the next few years living with various relatives in southeast Mississippi and southwest Alabama
, near Geiger. (In the 1900 Census for Daleville, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, Jimmie's mother, Eliza [Bozeman] Rodgers, was listed as already having had seven children, with four of them still living at that date. Four living sons were listed in the Census. Jimmie ["James" in the Census] was next to the youngest at that time, and was probably born sixth of the total of seven children.) He eventually returned home to live with his father, Aaron Rodgers, a Maintenance-of-Way foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad
, who had settled with a new wife in Meridian.
, a position formerly secured by his oldest brother, Walter, a conductor on the line running between Meridian and New Orleans.
In 1924 at the age 27, Rodgers contracted TB
. The disease temporarily ended his railroad career, but at the same time gave him the chance to get back to the entertainment industry. He organized a traveling road show and performed across the Southeastern United States until, once again, he was forced home after a cyclone destroyed his tent. He returned to railroad work as a brakeman in Miami, Florida
, but eventually his illness cost him his job. He relocated to Tucson, Arizona
and was employed as a switchman by the Southern Pacific Railroad
. He kept the job for less than a year, and the Rodgers family (which by then included wife Carrie and daughter Anita) settled back in Meridian in early 1927.
, later that same year. On April 18, at 9:30 p.m., Jimmie, and Otis Kuykendall performed for the first time on WWNC
, Asheville’s first radio station. A few months later Rodgers recruited a group from Bristol, Tennessee
called the Tenneva Ramblers and secured a weekly slot on the station listed as "The Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers."
In late July 1927, Rodgers' bandmates learned that Ralph Peer
, a representative of the Victor Talking Machine Company
, was coming to Bristol to hold an audition for local musicians
. Rodgers and the group arrived in Bristol on August 3, 1927, and auditioned for Peer in an empty warehouse. Peer agreed to record them the next day. That night, as the band discussed how they would be billed on the record, an argument ensued, the band broke up, and Rodgers arrived at the recording session the next morning alone. On Wednesday, August 4 Jimmie Rodgers completed his first session for Victor. It lasted from 2:00 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. and yielded two songs: "The Soldier's Sweetheart" and "Sleep, Baby, Sleep". For the test recordings, Rodgers received $100.
The recordings were released on October 7 earning modest success. In November, Rodgers, determined more than ever to make it in entertainment, headed to New York City
in an effort to arrange another session with Peer. Peer agreed to record him again, and the two met in Philadelphia before traveling to Camden, New Jersey
, to the Victor studios. Four songs made it out of this session, including "Blue Yodel", better known as "T for Texas". In the next two years, this recording sold nearly half a million copies, rocketing Rodgers into stardom. After this, he got to determine when Peer and Victor would record him, and he sold out shows whenever and wherever he played.
Over the next few years, Rodgers was very busy. He did a movie short for Columbia Pictures
, The Singing Brakeman, and made various recordings across the country. He toured with humorist Will Rogers
as part of a Red Cross tour across the Midwest. On July 16, 1930, he recorded "Blue Yodel No. 9" with jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong
, whose wife, Lillian
, played piano on the recording.
A song written by Clayton McMichen
and recorded as “Prohibition Has Done Me Wrong” was not issued, possibly because of copyright conflicts with Columbia. According to Juanita McMichen Lynch, Peer thought it was "too controversial for the times." The master was put aside and then accidentally lost.
, where he had relocated when "T for Texas" became a hit. Earnings from his recordings enabled Rodgers to build a large house for his family in Kerrville, Texas
, a location chosen partly for health reasons. But it was not in Rodgers' make-up to stay still, and his constant touring and recording schedule only hurt his chances of recovering from TB.
With the country in the grip of the Depression
, the practice of making field recordings was quickly fading, so in May 1933, Rodgers traveled again to New York City for a group of sessions beginning May 17, 1933. He started these sessions recording alone and completed four songs on the first day. When he returned to the studio after a day's rest, he had to record sitting down and soon retired to his hotel in hopes of regaining enough energy to finish the songs he had been rehearsing. The recording engineer hired two session musicians to help Rodgers when he came back to the studio a few days later. Together they recorded a few songs, including "Mississippi Delta Blues". For his last song of the session, however, Jimmie chose to perform alone, and as a matching bookend to his career, recorded "Years Ago" by himself.
During his last recording session in New York City on May 24, 1933, after years of fighting the tuberculosis, Rodgers was so weakened that he needed to rest on a cot between songs. Jimmie Rodgers died two days later on May 26, 1933 from a lung hemorrhage while staying at the Taft Hotel
; he was only 35 years old.
and Hank Williams) to be inducted. Rodgers was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 1970 and, as an early influence, to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. "Blue Yodel No. 9" was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Rodgers was ranked #33 on CMT
's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003.
Since 1953, Meridian's Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival has been held annually during May to honor the anniversary of Rodgers' death. The first festival was on May 26, 1953.
Both Gene Autry
and future Louisiana
governor Jimmie Davis
(author of "You Are My Sunshine
") began their careers as Jimmie Rodgers copyists, and Merle Haggard
, Hank Snow
, and Lefty Frizzell
later did tribute albums. In 1997 Bob Dylan
put together a tribute compilation of major artists covering Rodgers' songs, "The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, A Tribute" (Sony – ASIN: B000002BLD). The artists included Bono
, Alison Krauss
& Union Station, Jerry Garcia
, Dickey Betts
, Dwight Yoakam
, Aaron Neville
, John Mellencamp
, Willie Nelson
and others. Dylan had earlier once remarked, "The songs were different than the norm. They had more of an individual nature and an elevated conscience... I was drawn to their power."
In 1969, country singer Merle Haggard
released Same Train, A Different Time: Merle Haggard Sings The Great Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers. Haggard also covered "No Hard Times" and "T.B. Blues" on his best-selling live albums "Okie From Muskogee"
(1969) and "Fightin' Side of Me" (1970). "Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)" was covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd
on their live One More from the Road
album, and by Tompall Glaser
, in a version that was included on country music's first million-selling album, Wanted! The Outlaws
.
On May 24, 1978, the United States Postal Service
issued a 13-cent commemorative stamp
honoring Rodgers, the first in its long-running Performing Arts Series. The stamp was designed by Jim Sharpe (who did several others in this series), who depicted him with brakeman's outfit and guitar, giving his "two thumbs up", along with a locomotive in silhouette in the background.
Rodgers' legacy and influence is not limited to Country music
. The 2009 book "Meeting Jimmie Rodgers: How America's Original Roots Music Hero Changed the Pop Sounds of a Century" tracks Rodgers influence through a broad range of musical genres, internationally. He was influential to Ozark poet Frank Stanford
, who composed a series of "blue yodel" poems, and a number of later blues
artists. Rodgers was one of the biggest stars of American music between 1927 and 1933, arguably doing more to popularize blues than any other performer of his time. Rodgers influenced many later blues artists, among them Muddy Waters
, Big Bill Broonzy
, and Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf
. Jimmie Rodgers was Wolf's childhood idol. Wolf tried to emulate Rodgers's yodel, but found that his efforts sounded more like a growl or a howl. "I couldn't do no yodelin'," Barry Gifford quoted him as saying in Rolling Stone, "so I turned to howlin'. And it's done me just fine."
Rodgers' influence can also be heard in artists including Tommy Johnson, the Mississippi Sheiks
, and Mississippi John Hurt
, whose "Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me" is based on Rodgers’ hit "Waiting On A Train". Elvis Presley
has also been quoted as mentioning Jimmie Rodgers as an important influence and stating that he was a big fan. Jerry Lee Lewis
listed Rodgers as a major stylist and covered many of his songs. Moon Mullican
, Tommy Duncan
and many other western swing singers also were influenced by him. Gene Autry
's earlier material largely copied Rodgers' blues records.
The 1982 film, Honkytonk Man
, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
was loosely based on Rodgers' life.
In "Cleaning Windows
," Van Morrison
sings about listening to Rodgers.
In the book, Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music
, the song "T.B. Blues" is presented as one the first truly autobiographical songs
.
On May 28, 2010, Slim Bryant, the last surviving singer to have made a recording with Rodgers, died at the age of 101. They recorded Bryant's song "Mother, the Queen of My Heart" in 1932. The Union, a collaborative album between Elton John
and Leon Russell
, featured a song entitled "Jimmie Rodgers' Dream", which was a tribute to Rodgers.
, as Rodgers' birthplace, was the first site outside the Mississippi Delta
to receive a Mississippi Blues Trail
designation. The ceremony was held at the Singing Brakeman Park located on Front Street and emphasized the importance of Rodgers to the development of the blues in Mississippi. Rodgers was known as the "Singing Brakeman" and the train was influential in the development of the blues both in the Mississippi Delta and throughout the state. In May, 2010, a second marker, on the Mississippi Country Music Trail, was erected near Rodgers' gravesite, marking his role as The Father of Country Music.
Yodeling
Yodeling is a form of singing that involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal or chest register to the falsetto/head register; making a high-low-high-low sound.The English word yodel is derived from a German word jodeln meaning "to...
. Among the first country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
superstars and pioneers, Rodgers was also known as The Singing Brakeman, The Blue Yodeler, and The Father of Country Music.
Early years
Rodgers' traditional birthplace is usually given as Meridian, MississippiMeridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi. It is the sixth largest city in the state and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area...
; however, in documents signed by Rodgers later in life, his birthplace was listed as Geiger, Alabama
Geiger, Alabama
Geiger is a town in Sumter County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 161.-Geography:Geiger is located at .According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....
, the home of his paternal grandparents. Historians who have researched the circumstances of that document, however, including Nolan Porterfield and Barry Mazor, continue to identify Pine Springs, Mississippi, just north of Meridian, as his genuine birthplace. Rodgers' mother died when he was about six or seven years old, and Rodgers, the youngest of three sons, spent the next few years living with various relatives in southeast Mississippi and southwest Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, near Geiger. (In the 1900 Census for Daleville, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, Jimmie's mother, Eliza [Bozeman] Rodgers, was listed as already having had seven children, with four of them still living at that date. Four living sons were listed in the Census. Jimmie ["James" in the Census] was next to the youngest at that time, and was probably born sixth of the total of seven children.) He eventually returned home to live with his father, Aaron Rodgers, a Maintenance-of-Way foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad
Mobile and Ohio Railroad
The Mobile and Ohio Railroad was a railroad in the Southern U.S. The M&O was chartered in January and February 1848 by the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It was planned to span the distance between the seaport of Mobile, Alabama and the Ohio River near Cairo, Illinois...
, who had settled with a new wife in Meridian.
Performing career
Rodgers' affinity for entertaining came at an early age, and the lure of the road was irresistible to him. By age 13, he had twice organized and begun traveling shows, only to be brought home by his father. His father found Rodgers his first job working on the railroad as a water boy. Here he was further taught to pick and strum by rail workers and hobos. A few years later, he became a brakeman on the New Orleans and Northeastern RailroadNew Orleans and Northeastern Railroad
The New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad was a Class I railroad in Louisiana and Mississippi in the United States. The railroad operated of track from its completion in 1883 until it was absorbed by the Alabama Great Southern Railroad subsidiary of the Southern Railway in 1969.- History :The...
, a position formerly secured by his oldest brother, Walter, a conductor on the line running between Meridian and New Orleans.
In 1924 at the age 27, Rodgers contracted TB
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. The disease temporarily ended his railroad career, but at the same time gave him the chance to get back to the entertainment industry. He organized a traveling road show and performed across the Southeastern United States until, once again, he was forced home after a cyclone destroyed his tent. He returned to railroad work as a brakeman in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, but eventually his illness cost him his job. He relocated to Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
and was employed as a switchman by the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
. He kept the job for less than a year, and the Rodgers family (which by then included wife Carrie and daughter Anita) settled back in Meridian in early 1927.
Success
Rodgers decided to travel to Asheville, North CarolinaAsheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
, later that same year. On April 18, at 9:30 p.m., Jimmie, and Otis Kuykendall performed for the first time on WWNC
WWNC
WWNC is a radio station in Asheville, North Carolina. It transmits at 5000 Watts of power. It currently has a News/Talk format and is affiliated with Fox News Radio...
, Asheville’s first radio station. A few months later Rodgers recruited a group from Bristol, Tennessee
Bristol, Tennessee
Bristol is a city in Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 26,702 at the 2010 census. It is the twin city of Bristol, Virginia, which lies directly across the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. The boundaries of both cities run parallel to each other along State...
called the Tenneva Ramblers and secured a weekly slot on the station listed as "The Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers."
In late July 1927, Rodgers' bandmates learned that Ralph Peer
Ralph Peer
Ralph Sylvester Peer was an American talent scout, recording engineer and record producer in the field of music in the 1920s and 1930s...
, a representative of the Victor Talking Machine Company
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
, was coming to Bristol to hold an audition for local musicians
Bristol sessions
The Bristol sessions are considered the "Big Bang" of modern country music. They were held in 1927 in Bristol, Tennessee by Victor Talking Machine Company company producer Ralph Peer. They marked the commercial debuts of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family....
. Rodgers and the group arrived in Bristol on August 3, 1927, and auditioned for Peer in an empty warehouse. Peer agreed to record them the next day. That night, as the band discussed how they would be billed on the record, an argument ensued, the band broke up, and Rodgers arrived at the recording session the next morning alone. On Wednesday, August 4 Jimmie Rodgers completed his first session for Victor. It lasted from 2:00 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. and yielded two songs: "The Soldier's Sweetheart" and "Sleep, Baby, Sleep". For the test recordings, Rodgers received $100.
The recordings were released on October 7 earning modest success. In November, Rodgers, determined more than ever to make it in entertainment, headed to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in an effort to arrange another session with Peer. Peer agreed to record him again, and the two met in Philadelphia before traveling to Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
, to the Victor studios. Four songs made it out of this session, including "Blue Yodel", better known as "T for Texas". In the next two years, this recording sold nearly half a million copies, rocketing Rodgers into stardom. After this, he got to determine when Peer and Victor would record him, and he sold out shows whenever and wherever he played.
Over the next few years, Rodgers was very busy. He did a movie short for Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, The Singing Brakeman, and made various recordings across the country. He toured with humorist Will Rogers
Will Rogers
William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
as part of a Red Cross tour across the Midwest. On July 16, 1930, he recorded "Blue Yodel No. 9" with jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, whose wife, Lillian
Lil Hardin Armstrong
Lil Hardin Armstrong was a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader, and the second wife of Louis Armstrong with whom she collaborated on many recordings in the 1920s....
, played piano on the recording.
A song written by Clayton McMichen
Clayton McMichen
Clayton McMichen was an American fiddler and country musician.-Biography:Born in Allatoona, Georgia, McMichen learned to play the fiddle from his father and uncle. He moved to Atlanta with his family in 1913, working as an automobile mechanic. While there, he entered and won several competitions...
and recorded as “Prohibition Has Done Me Wrong” was not issued, possibly because of copyright conflicts with Columbia. According to Juanita McMichen Lynch, Peer thought it was "too controversial for the times." The master was put aside and then accidentally lost.
Final years
Rodgers' next-to-last recordings were made in August 1932 in Camden, and it was clear that the tuberculosis was getting the better of him. He had given up touring by that time, but did have a weekly radio show in San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, where he had relocated when "T for Texas" became a hit. Earnings from his recordings enabled Rodgers to build a large house for his family in Kerrville, Texas
Kerrville, Texas
Kerrville is a city in Kerr County, Texas, United States. The population was 20,425 at the 2000 census. In 2009, the population was 22,826...
, a location chosen partly for health reasons. But it was not in Rodgers' make-up to stay still, and his constant touring and recording schedule only hurt his chances of recovering from TB.
With the country in the grip of the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, the practice of making field recordings was quickly fading, so in May 1933, Rodgers traveled again to New York City for a group of sessions beginning May 17, 1933. He started these sessions recording alone and completed four songs on the first day. When he returned to the studio after a day's rest, he had to record sitting down and soon retired to his hotel in hopes of regaining enough energy to finish the songs he had been rehearsing. The recording engineer hired two session musicians to help Rodgers when he came back to the studio a few days later. Together they recorded a few songs, including "Mississippi Delta Blues". For his last song of the session, however, Jimmie chose to perform alone, and as a matching bookend to his career, recorded "Years Ago" by himself.
During his last recording session in New York City on May 24, 1933, after years of fighting the tuberculosis, Rodgers was so weakened that he needed to rest on a cot between songs. Jimmie Rodgers died two days later on May 26, 1933 from a lung hemorrhage while staying at the Taft Hotel
The Michelangelo
The Taft Hotel building is a historic 22-story pre-war Spanish Renaissance structure that occupies the entire eastern-facing block of 7th Avenue between 50th and 51st Street and Seventh Avenue, just north of Times Square, in New York City. In its modern configuration, it features two separate and...
; he was only 35 years old.
Legacy
When the Country Music Hall of Fame was established in 1961, Rodgers was one of the first three (the others were Fred RoseFred Rose (musician)
Fred Rose was an American Hall of Fame songwriter and music publishing executive.-Biography:Born in Evansville, Indiana, Fred Rose started playing piano and singing as a small boy. In his teens, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked in bars busking for tips, and finally vaudeville...
and Hank Williams) to be inducted. Rodgers was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
in 1970 and, as an early influence, to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. "Blue Yodel No. 9" was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Rodgers was ranked #33 on CMT
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003.
Since 1953, Meridian's Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival has been held annually during May to honor the anniversary of Rodgers' death. The first festival was on May 26, 1953.
Both Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
and future Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
governor Jimmie Davis
Jimmie Davis
James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...
(author of "You Are My Sunshine
You Are My Sunshine
"You Are My Sunshine" is a popular song first recorded in 1939. It has been declared one of the state songs of Louisiana as a result of its association with former state governor and country music singer Jimmie Davis. The song is copyright 1940 Peer International Corporation, words and music by...
") began their careers as Jimmie Rodgers copyists, and Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
, Hank Snow
Hank Snow
Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian-American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980...
, and Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
later did tribute albums. In 1997 Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
put together a tribute compilation of major artists covering Rodgers' songs, "The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, A Tribute" (Sony – ASIN: B000002BLD). The artists included Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
, Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
& Union Station, Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, Dickey Betts
Dickey Betts
Forrest Richard "Dickey" Betts is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and also won with the band a best rock performance Grammy Award for his...
, Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...
, Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville is an American soul and R&B singer and musician. He has had four top-20 hits in the United States along with four platinum-certified albums...
, John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...
, Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
and others. Dylan had earlier once remarked, "The songs were different than the norm. They had more of an individual nature and an elevated conscience... I was drawn to their power."
In 1969, country singer Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
released Same Train, A Different Time: Merle Haggard Sings The Great Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers. Haggard also covered "No Hard Times" and "T.B. Blues" on his best-selling live albums "Okie From Muskogee"
Okie from Muskogee
Okie from Muskogee is an album by Merle Haggard and the Strangers, released in 1969. The album won the Academy of Country Music award for Album of the Year in 1969. Haggard also won Single of the Year for "Okie from Muskogee" as well as Top Male Vocalist.Haggard has stated that the title song on...
(1969) and "Fightin' Side of Me" (1970). "Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)" was covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
on their live One More from the Road
One More from the Road
One More From the Road is a live album by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. It marked the band's first live album, and the only live album from the so-called "classic" era of the band prior to the plane crash that killed lead singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, as well as band members Steve...
album, and by Tompall Glaser
Tompall Glaser
Tompall Glaser is an American country music artist. Active since the 1950s, he has recorded both as a solo artist and with his brothers Chuck and Jim in the trio Tompall & the Glaser Brothers...
, in a version that was included on country music's first million-selling album, Wanted! The Outlaws
Wanted! The Outlaws
Wanted! The Outlaws is an album by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser, released in RCA Victor in 1976, and consisting of previously released material. Released to capitalize on the new outlaw country movement, Wanted! The Outlaws earned its place in music history by...
.
On May 24, 1978, the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
issued a 13-cent commemorative stamp
Commemorative stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event or person. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike definitive stamps which normally depict the subject along with the...
honoring Rodgers, the first in its long-running Performing Arts Series. The stamp was designed by Jim Sharpe (who did several others in this series), who depicted him with brakeman's outfit and guitar, giving his "two thumbs up", along with a locomotive in silhouette in the background.
Rodgers' legacy and influence is not limited to Country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
. The 2009 book "Meeting Jimmie Rodgers: How America's Original Roots Music Hero Changed the Pop Sounds of a Century" tracks Rodgers influence through a broad range of musical genres, internationally. He was influential to Ozark poet Frank Stanford
Frank Stanford
Frank Stanford was a prolific American poet. He is most known for his epic, The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You— a labyrinthine, highly lexical book absent stanzas and punctuation...
, who composed a series of "blue yodel" poems, and a number of later blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
artists. Rodgers was one of the biggest stars of American music between 1927 and 1933, arguably doing more to popularize blues than any other performer of his time. Rodgers influenced many later blues artists, among them Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
, and Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
. Jimmie Rodgers was Wolf's childhood idol. Wolf tried to emulate Rodgers's yodel, but found that his efforts sounded more like a growl or a howl. "I couldn't do no yodelin'," Barry Gifford quoted him as saying in Rolling Stone, "so I turned to howlin'. And it's done me just fine."
Rodgers' influence can also be heard in artists including Tommy Johnson, the Mississippi Sheiks
Mississippi Sheiks
The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues, but were adept at many styles of United States popular music of the time, and their records were bought by both black and white audiences.In 2004, they...
, and Mississippi John Hurt
Mississippi John Hurt
John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...
, whose "Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me" is based on Rodgers’ hit "Waiting On A Train". Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
has also been quoted as mentioning Jimmie Rodgers as an important influence and stating that he was a big fan. Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
listed Rodgers as a major stylist and covered many of his songs. Moon Mullican
Moon Mullican
Aubrey Wilson Mullican , known as Moon Mullican, was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. However, he also sang and played jazz, rock 'n' roll and the blues...
, Tommy Duncan
Tommy Duncan
Thomas Elmer Duncan , better known as Tommy Duncan, was a pioneering American Western swing vocalist and songwriter who gained fame in the 1930s as a founding member of The Texas Playboys...
and many other western swing singers also were influenced by him. Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
's earlier material largely copied Rodgers' blues records.
The 1982 film, Honkytonk Man
Honkytonk Man
Honkytonk Man is a 1982 American drama film set in the Great Depression. Clint Eastwood, who produced and directed, stars with his son, Kyle Eastwood. Clancy Carlile's screenplay is based on his novel of the same name...
, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
was loosely based on Rodgers' life.
In "Cleaning Windows
Cleaning Windows
"Cleaning Windows" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and recorded on his 1982 album, Beautiful Vision.-Recording and Composition:...
," Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
sings about listening to Rodgers.
In the book, Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music
Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music
Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music is a book written in 2007 by Yuval Taylor and Hugh Barker. In this book the authors discuss the quest for authenticity in popular music and the influence that that quest has had in the type of music that is played and listened, in particular a...
, the song "T.B. Blues" is presented as one the first truly autobiographical songs
Autobiographical songs
Autobiographical and biographical songs. This is a list of songs concerning real people and events in the life of the songwriter.-#-D:*"7 Things" by Miley Cyrus...
.
On May 28, 2010, Slim Bryant, the last surviving singer to have made a recording with Rodgers, died at the age of 101. They recorded Bryant's song "Mother, the Queen of My Heart" in 1932. The Union, a collaborative album between Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
, featured a song entitled "Jimmie Rodgers' Dream", which was a tribute to Rodgers.
Historic marker
Meridian, MississippiMeridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi. It is the sixth largest city in the state and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area...
, as Rodgers' birthplace, was the first site outside the Mississippi Delta
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
to receive a Mississippi Blues Trail
Mississippi Blues Trail
The Mississippi Blues Trail, created by the Mississippi Blues Commission, is a project to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the growth of the blues throughout the state of Mississippi. The trail extends from the border of Louisiana in southern Mississippi...
designation. The ceremony was held at the Singing Brakeman Park located on Front Street and emphasized the importance of Rodgers to the development of the blues in Mississippi. Rodgers was known as the "Singing Brakeman" and the train was influential in the development of the blues both in the Mississippi Delta and throughout the state. In May, 2010, a second marker, on the Mississippi Country Music Trail, was erected near Rodgers' gravesite, marking his role as The Father of Country Music.
Recordings
| Title | Record # | Recording date | Recording location |
|---|---|---|---|
| “The Soldier’s Sweetheart” | Victor 20864 | August 4, 1927 | Bristol, Tennessee |
| “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” | Victor 20864 | August 4, 1927 | Bristol, Tennessee |
| “Ben Dewberry’s Final Run” | Victor 21245 | November 30, 1927 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Mother Was a Lady” | Victor 21433 | November 30, 1927 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)” | Victor 21142 | November 30, 1927 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Away out on the Mountain” | Victor 21142 | November 30, 1927 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Dear Old Sunny South by the Sea” | Victor 21574 | February 14, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Treasures Untold” | Victor 21433 | February 14, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “The Brakeman’s Blues” | Victor 21291 | February 14, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “The Sailor’s Plea” | Victor 40054 | February 14, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “In the Jailhouse Now In the Jailhouse Now "In The Jailhouse Now" is an American novelty blues song originally found in vaudeville performances from the early 20th century, usually credited to Jimmie Rodgers... ” |
Victor 21245 | February 15, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Blue Yodel No. 2 (Lovin' Gal Lucille)” | Victor 21291 | February 15, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Memphis Yodel” | Victor 21636 | February 15, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Blue Yodel No. 3” | Victor 21531 | February 15, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “My Old Pal” | Victor 21757 | June 12, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “My Little Old Home Down in New Orleans” | Victor 21574 | June 12, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “You and My Old Guitar” | Victor 40072 | June 12, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Daddy and Home” | Victor 21757 | June 12, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “My Little Lady” | Victor 40072 | June 12, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Lullaby Yodel” | Victor 21636 | June 12, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Never No Mo’ Blues” | Victor 21531 | June 12, 1928 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “My Carolina Sunshine Girl” | Victor 40096 | October 20, 1928 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “Blue Yodel No. 4 (California Blues)” | Victor 40014 | October 20, 1928 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “Waiting for a Train” | Victor 40014 | October 22, 1928 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “I’m Lonely and Blue” | Victor 40054 | October 22, 1928 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “Desert Blues” | Victor 40096 | February 21, 1929 | New York, New York |
| “Any Old Time” | Victor 22488 | February 21, 1929 | New York, New York |
| “Blue Yodel No. 5” | Victor 22072 | February 23, 1929 | New York, New York |
| “High Powered Mama” | Victor 22523 | February 23, 1929 | New York, New York |
| “I’m Sorry We Met” | Victor 22072 | February 23, 1929 | New York, New York |
| “Everybody Does It in Hawaii” | Victor 22143 | August 8, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues” | Victor 22220 | August 8, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Train Whistle Blues” | Victor 22379 | August 8, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Jimmie’s Texas Blues” | Victor 22379 | August 10, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Frankie and Johnnie” | Victor 22143 | August 10, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Whisper Your Mother’s Name” | Victor 22319 | October 22, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “The Land of My Boyhood Dreams” | Victor 22811 | October 22, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Blue Yodel No. 6” | Victor 22271 | October 22, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Yodelling Cowboy” | Victor 22271 | October 22, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “My Rough and Rowdy Ways” | Victor 22220 | October 22, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “I’ve Ranged, I’ve Roamed and I’ve Travelled” | Bluebird 5892 | October 22, 1929 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Hobo Bill’s Last Ride” | Victor 22421 | November 13, 1929 | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| “Mississippi River Blues” | Victor 23535 | November 25, 1929 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “Nobody Knows But Me” | Victor 23518 | November 25, 1929 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “Anniversary Blue Yodel” | Victor 22488 | November 26, 1929 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “She Was Happy Till She Met You” | Victor 23681 | November 26, 1929 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “Blue Yodel No.11” | Victor 23796 | November 27, 1929 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “A Drunkard’s Child” | Victor 22319 | November 28, 1929 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “That’s Why I’m Blue” | Victor 22421 | November 28, 1929 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “Why Did You Give Me Your Love?” | Bluebird 5892 | November 28, 1929 | Atlanta, Georgia |
| “My Blue-Eyed Jane” | Victor 23549 | June 30, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “Why Should I Be Lonely?” | Victor 23609 | June 30, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “Moonlight and Skies” | Victor 23574 | June 30, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “Pistol Packin’ Papa” | Victor 22554 | July 1, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “Take Me Back Again” | Bluebird 7600 | July 2, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “Those Gambler’s Blues” | Victor 22554 | July 5, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “I’m Lonesome Too” | Victor 23564 | July 7, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “The One Rose” | Bluebird 7280 | July 7, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “For the Sake of Days Gone By” | Victor 23651 | July 9, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “Jimmie’s Mean Mama Blues” | Victor 23503 | July 10, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “The Mystery of Number Five” | Victor 23518 | July 11, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “Blue Yodel No. 8 Mule Skinner Blues "Mule Skinner Blues" is a classic country song written by Jimmie Rodgers; "George Vaughn" is sometimes listed as co-author; the name is a pseudonym for Vaughn Horton, who wrote Bill Monroe's "New Mule Skinner Blues" the second version recorded by Monroe.The song was first recorded by Rodgers in... ” |
Victor 23503 | July 11, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “In the Jailhouse Now, No. 2” | Victor 22523 | July 12, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “Blue Yodel No. 9” | Victor 23580 | July 16, 1930 | Los Angeles, California |
| “T.B. Blues” | Victor 23535 | January 31, 1931 | San Antonio, Texas |
| “Travellin’ Blues” | Victor 23564 | January 31, 1931 | San Antonio, Texas |
| “Jimmie the Kid” | Victor 23549 | January 31, 1931 | San Antonio, Texas |
| “Why There’s a Tear in My Eye” | Bluebird 6698 | June 10, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “The Wonderful City” | Bluebird 6810 | June 10, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “Let Me Be Your Sidetrack” | Victor 23621 | June 11, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “Jimmie Rodgers Visits the Carter Family” | Victor 23574 | June 12, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers in Texas” | Bluebird 6762 | June 12, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “When the Cactus Is in Bloom” | Victor 23636 | June 13, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “Gambling Polka Dot Blues” | Victor 23636 | June 15, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “Looking for a New Mama” | Victor 23580 | June 15, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “What’s It?” | Victor 23609 | June 16, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “My Good Gal’s Gone” | Bluebird 5942 | June 16, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “Southern Cannon-Ball” | Victor 23811 | June 17, 1931 | Louisville, Kentucky |
| “Roll Along, Kentucky Moon” | Victor 23651 | February 2, 1932 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Hobo’s Meditation” | Victor 23711 | February 3, 1932 | Dallas, Texas |
| “My Time Ain’t Long” | Victor 23669 | February 4, 1932 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Ninety-Nine Years Blues” | Victor 23669 | February 4, 1932 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Mississippi Moon” | Victor 23696 | February 4, 1932 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Down the Old Road to Home” | Victor 23711 | February 5, 1932 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Blue Yodel No. 10” | Victor 23696 | February 6, 1932 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Home Call” | Victor 23681 | February 6, 1932 | Dallas, Texas |
| “Mother, the Queen of My Heart” | Victor 23721 | August 11, 1932 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Rock All Our Babies to Sleep” | Victor 23721 | August 11, 1932 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Whippin’ That Old T.B.” | Victor 23751 | August 11, 1932 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “No Hard Times” | Victor 23751 | August 15, 1932 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Long Tall Mama Blues” | Victor 23766 | August 15, 1932 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Peach-Pickin’ Time Down in Georgia” | Victor 23781 | August 15, 1932 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “Gambling Barroom Blues” | Victor 23766 | August 15, 1932 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “I’ve Only Loved Three Women” | Bluebird 6810 | August 15, 1932 | Camden, New Jersey |
| “In the Hills of Tennessee” | Victor 23736 | August 29, 1932 | New York, New York |
| “Prairie Lullaby” | Victor 23781 | August 29, 1932 | New York, New York |
| “Miss the Mississippi and You” | Victor 23736 | August 29, 1932 | New York, New York |
| “Sweet Mama Hurry Home” | Victor 23796 | August 29, 1932 | New York, New York |
| “Blue Yodel No. 12” | Victor 24456 | May 17, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “The Cowhand’s Last Ride” | Victor 24456 | May 17, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “I’m Free from the Chain Gang Now” | Victor 23830 | May 17, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “Dreaming with Tears in My Eyes” | Bluebird 7600 | May 18, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “Yodeling My Way Back Home” | Bluebird 7280 | May 18, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “Jimmie Rodger’s Last Blue Yodel” | Bluebird 5281 | May 18, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “The Yodelling Ranger” | Victor 23830 | May 20, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “Old Pal of My Heart” | Victor 23816 | May 20, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “Old Love Letters” | Victor 23840 | May 24, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “Mississippi Delta Blues” | Victor 23816 | May 24, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “Somewhere Down Below the Dixon Line” | Victor 23840 | May 24, 1933 | New York, New York |
| “Years Ago” | Bluebird 5281 | May 24, 1933 | New York, New York |
External links
- Nashville Songwriters Foundation
- Hall of Fame inductee
- Neal, Jocelyn R. The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009.
- Mazor, Barry. Meeting Jimmie Rodgers. http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Music/PopularMusic/PopRockPopularCulture/?view=usa&ci=9780195327625 New York., Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Waiting for a Train. A jukebox musical celebrating the life and times of Jimmie Rodgers.