The first star of country music and its all-time most influential voice, renowned for his supple yodel that communicated joy and agony alike.
James Charles Rodgers, b. September 8, 1897 in Pine Springs, near Meridian, MS, d. May 26, 1933 in New York. Jimmie was the youngest of three sons of Aaron Woodberry Rodgers, who had moved from Alabama to Meridian to work as foreman of a railroad maintenance crew. In 1904, his mother Eliza (Bozeman) died (probably from tuberculosis), and following his father's remarriage, in 1906, he and elder brother Talmage went to live with their Aunt Dora, who ran the Bozeman family farm at Pine Springs. An ex-music teacher, his aunt probably sparked Rodgers' first real interest in music. Doubtless as the result of Jimmie's delinquent behaviour, in 1911 his father recalled him to Meridian, but his long absences at work led to Jimmie frequenting the local pool halls and barbershops, where he first began singing. At the age of 12, renderings of 'Steamboat Bill' and 'I Wonder Why Bill Bailey Don't Come Home' won him a local amateur talent contest. Flushed with this success, he decided to set up his own touring tent show, illicitly using his father's credit account to buy the tent. Shortly after his father brought him home, Jimmie ran away again with a travelling medicine show, but, soon disillusioned with the life, he was once more collected by his father. On this occasion, he was given the choice of returning to school or working with his father's gang on the railroad - he chose the latter.
During the next decade, he worked on various railroad jobs, including call boy, flagman, baggage master and brakeman, in places that ranged from Mississippi to Texas and the Pacific Coast. He became noted as a flashy dresser (when funds allowed) and for his eye for the girls, although music was never far from his mind. On May 1, 1917, after a short courtship, he married Stella Kelly; by autumn, although she was pregnant, they had separated. Kelly said later, 'He was sweet as could be but he never had any money. He would strum away on some instrument and fool away his time and his money'. Divorced two years later, Rodgers continued his nomadic existence, and while working as a brakeman for the New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad, he met Carrie Williamson (b. August 8, 1902 in Meridian, MS, d. November 28, 1961), the daughter of a Meridian minister. On April 7, 1920, with Carrie still at high school, they were married. Soon afterwards, Rodgers was laid off by the railroad, and was forced to do menial jobs to survive. He accepted any opportunity to entertain, resulting in absences from home and frequent changes in lodgings; the problems worsened on 30 January 1921 with the birth of the Rodgers' first daughter, Carrie Anita. When their second child, June Rebecca (b. June 20, 1923, d. December 22, 1923), died of diphtheria aged six months, Rodgers was away with a travelling show and was too poor to pay for the funeral. During his travels in the early 20s, possibly in New Orleans, he met and probably worked with Goebel Reeves, who later claimed to have taught Rodgers to yodel (Reeves, known as the Texas Drifter, was noted for his tall tales and this may have been one of them), although their differing styles make this claim very unlikely.
Rodgers' health had never been good, and late in 1924, a doctor diagnosed tuberculosis. Ignoring the fact that the disease usually proved fatal (as with his mother), he discharged himself from hospital. He formed a trio with his piano-playing sister-in-law Elsie McWilliams and fiddler Slim Rozell, and briefly played at local dances. He continued to work on the railroad, played blackface comedy with a touring show and later worked on the Florida East Coast Line. In 1926, believing the warm climate would alleviate his illness, he worked as a switchman for the Southern Pacific in Tucson, Arizona. He also sang and played banjo and guitar at local venues, until this interfered with his work. He was fired and the family moved back to Meridian to live with his in-laws. In 1927, he moved to Asheville, North Carolina, on his own, planning to work on the railroad, but his health was poor and he was unable to do the hard work required by the job. Instead, he drove a taxi, worked as a janitor and boosted his income by playing and singing at local functions and with a band on WWNC radio. He raised enough money for his family to join him, but was soon on the road again. This time he went to Johnson City, Tennessee, where he met Jack Pierce and brothers Claude and Jack Grant. Known as the Teneva Ramblers, the trio were a string band, struggling, like Rodgers, to make it as entertainers. He convinced the trio that he had a radio show in Asheville and they agreed to back him. The radio programme carried no pay but he used it to advertise himself, until the station dropped him.
Leaving the family in Asheville, Rodgers and the trio took to the road. They played various venues as the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers, before gaining a residency as a dance band at the affluent North Fork Mountain Resort. Rodgers then heard that Ralph Peer, a field representative for The Victor Talking Machine Company, equipped with portable recording equipment, was in Bristol, Tennessee, seeking local acts to record. With Rodgers' persuasion, the band went to Bristol and were offered an audition, but they argued over the name of their act. The result was that the trio again became the Teneva Ramblers and Rodgers found himself minus his Entertainers. Nevertheless, he convinced Peer that he should record as a solo artist and consequently, on August 4, 1927, with only his own guitar accompaniment, Rodgers made his first recordings, 'The Soldier's Sweetheart' and 'Sleep, Baby, Sleep'. The two songs were released on October 7, 1927 (Vi 20864) and although the record did not become a major seller, it marked a first step towards musical success. When Rodgers knew the record had been released, he headed for New York, booked himself in at a hotel by telling them he was an RCA - Victor Records recording artist, and contacted Peer.
His impudence paid off and on November 30, 1927, he made four more recordings at RCA's Camden studios. It was the third recording, 'Blue Yodel' (often referred to as 'T for Texas'), that proved to be the boost Rodgers needed. It was coupled with Rodgers' version of Kelly Harrell's song 'Away Out On The Mountain' (Vi 21142). The wistful yodel, which eventually became a million-seller, became so popular that it led to him recording a series of 'Blue Yodel' numbers during his career and won him the nickname of 'America's Blue Yodeler'. Late in 1927, Rodgers, who had moved to Washington, appeared on a weekly show on WTFF billed as the Singing Brakeman (he always dressed as a brakeman on stage) and to help with family expenses, Carrie worked as a waitress. The northern climate, however, worsened his illness, and medication was expensive. In February 1928, Rodgers recorded eight more sides at Camden, including 'Blue Yodels #3 and #4', and a version of 'In The Jailhouse Now' that has become a country classic. Peer provided accompaniment from Julian Ninde (guitar) and Ellsworth T. Cozzens (steel guitar, mandolin, ukulele, banjo). Three further sessions were held that year, one at Camden and two in Atlanta, which produced 14 more sides. Peer constantly pressed him for new material, and Elsie McWilliams came to Rodgers' rescue. In a week, she and Rodgers wrote nine new songs. These included 'Daddy And Home', 'My Old Pal' and 'You And My Old Guitar', while Cozzens co-wrote 'Dear Old Sunny South By The Sea' and 'Treasures Untold', both very successful Rodgers recordings.
By the end of the year, he was receiving a considerable sum in royalties and had played major tours in the south, allegedly receiving a weekly wage of $600 dollars for a 20-minute spot each night. He was hailed a hero on a visit to Meridian, but his health again gave cause for concern. By this time, he had forsaken his image and dress as the Singing Brakeman. He now sometimes dressed in a tuxedo and bowler hat and gloried in his billing as 'America's Blue Yodeler'. In February 1929, he recorded 11 sessions in New York (two), Dallas (four) and Atlanta (five). He also recorded the soundtrack for the short film The Singing Brakeman. He received backing on many of the recordings from Joe Kaipo (steel guitar), Billy Burkes (guitar) and Weldon Burkes (ukulele). Between the recording sessions, he played many venues, including a number on the major Radio-Keith-Orpheum Interstate Circuit tour (RKO), which visited cities in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia. Over 12 days during June and July 1930, Rodgers recorded a total of 16 tracks, including 'Pistol Packin' Papa' and 'Blue Yodel #8' (Muleskinner Blues) which featured only his guitar, while others had backing from Lani McIntire's Hawaiians ('Moonlight And Skies' and 'For The Sake Of Days Gone By'). On the recording of 'Blue Yodel #9', he was backed by Lillian Armstrong (piano) and the trumpet of a young Louis Armstrong.
Away from the studios, he suffered health and personal problems, including the reappearance of his first wife Stella. Accompanied by her daughter Kathryn (b. February 16, 1918), who bore a startling resemblance to Rodgers, Stella demanded money to support the child, evidently intending to capitalize on Rodgers' new-found financial success. On February 3, 1931, she launched a civil action; Rodgers did not dispute the parentage, but was perturbed by the huge sums being demanded. Rodgers decided to head west with his family, while his lawyer brother-in-law sorted out the problem (the final judgement in June 1932, ordered Rodgers to pay $50 per month until Kathryn was 18 years old - a total of $2, 650). In January and February 1931, Rodgers worked with Will Rogers on a Red Cross tour to raise funds for families affected by the drought and Depression in Texas and Oklahoma. Rodgers also found that bookings were affected as a result of the Depression, and in consequence, he struggled to maintain his lifestyle. His health worsened, but he managed to keep up with his recording schedules. In January, he cut seven sides in San Antonio, among which was his now famous 'T.B. Blues'. (Four recordings, including an alternative cut of that song, were unissued by RCA-Victor and remained so until released by Bear Family Records in 1992.)
He moved his recording centre to Louisville, where, on June 10, he made his only recordings with a female vocalist, one also being the only gospel number that he ever recorded. Sara Carter (a member of the Carter Family, who had also made their first recordings at the same Bristol sessions as Rodgers) duetted on 'Why There's A Tear In My Eye' and 'The Wonderful City', to the accompaniment of Maybelle Carter's guitar. Two days later, Peer recorded two novelty items containing vocals and dialogue in 'Jimmie Rodgers Visits The Carter Family' and 'The Carter Family And Jimmy Rodgers In Texas'. Among the more serious songs were 'When The Cactus Is In Bloom', a self-penned number that evoked Rodgers' love for the Old West. He made 12 recordings in Dallas during a five-day period in February 1932, which included the prophetical 'My Time Ain't Long' and 'Blue Yodel #10'. A plan for Rodgers to tour the UK was never finalized, since his health prevented him from making the trip. In August, he travelled to Camden and with a backing that included Clayton McMichen and Slim Bryant, he managed 12 further recordings. Two of the numbers, 'Mother, The Queen Of My Heart' and 'Peach Picking Time In Georgia', were written by Bryant and McMichen, respectively, and both have subsequently become country standards. He also recorded 'Whippin' That Old T.B.' - a brave but overly optimistic number. Two weeks later, Rodgers went to New York, insisting that Bryant accompanied him, and with other musicians, he made four recordings, including 'Prairie Lullaby' and his delightful version of 'Miss The Mississippi And You'.
A promised network show on WEAF New York failed to materialize and his health had deteriorated so much that he was constantly taking painkillers and alcohol. He refused to surrender to his illness, and is quoted as telling McMichen: 'I want to die with my shoes on'. In late 1932 and the spring of 1933, Rodgers' desperate need for money saw him alternate periods of enforced rest with appearances in tawdry venues in Texas, even appearing with vaudeville acts between films in nickelodeons. While living in San Antonio, he did for a time manage a weekly show on KMAC. In February 1933, he collapsed in Lufkin and was rushed to the Memorial Hospital, Houston. Realizing that money to support his family was still vitally needed, Rodgers contacted Peer and persuaded him to bring forward the proposed summer recording session to May. Realizing the financial and health problems involved, Peer agreed to pay Rodgers $250 dollars a side for 12 recordings. On May 17, with only his own guitar, he recorded four songs in New York, including 'Blue Yodel #12' and another Western-orientated number in 'The Cowhand's Last Ride'. The following day he added 'Dreaming With Tears In My Eyes', 'Yodeling My Way Back Home' and 'Jimmie Rodgers' Last Blue Yodel'. He had to be carried out of the studio; after two days' rest, he made recordings of 'The Yodeling Ranger' and 'Old Pal Of My Heart'. Four days later, he returned to the studios. On the first three recordings, 'Old Love Letters', 'Mississippi Delta Blues' (its bluesy sadness has led many devotees to rate this one of his finest works) and 'Somewhere Below The Dixon Line', he had Tony Colicchio (guitar) and John Cali (steel guitar, guitar, banjo) providing instrumental backing.
Rodgers had to rest on a cot during the recording, and, with only his own guitar, he cut his final song, 'Years Ago'. After the sessions, Rodgers visited Coney Island pleasure beach; on his return to the hotel, he attempted to walk from the car but collapsed onto a fire hydrant after a short distance. He apparently told his brother-in-law, Alex Nelson, 'Let me take a blow'. Later that night, he developed a bad cough and began to haemorrhage badly. A doctor was called, but before he arrived at the hotel, Rodgers had slipped into a coma. He died in the early hours of 26 May, having literally drowned in his own blood. His body was taken by train to Meridian, where hundreds of mourners met it at Union Station in Meridian; on 29 May, his body lay in state. He was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, next to the grave of June, his baby daughter. After Rodgers' death, his wife and daughter suffered severe financial problems. When it was discovered that Carrie had cancer and was in need of major surgery, friends started a fund to help with the costs. However, the treatment failed to halt the cancer and Carrie Williamson Rodgers died on November 28, 1961. Rodgers' daughter, Carrie Anita Rodgers Court, died from emphysema in San Antonio on December 5, 1993 and was taken to Meridian, where she was buried next to her father. She had requested that only Jimmie's recording of 'Sleep, Baby, Sleep' was to be played at her funeral (the second song he had recorded in Bristol in 1927, it was one he had often sung to her in her childhood).
Following Rodgers' death, RCA Victor released very few of the unissued recordings, the last single being in 1938, to mark the fifth anniversary of his death. In the early 50s, no doubt through Peer's efforts, RCA released four 10-inch albums of his recordings. In 1956, they released the first 12-inch album. The interest it raised and the sales led to the release of seven more by 1964. In 1987, the Smithsonian Institution produced a boxed set of 36 recordings and later RCA released a boxed set in Japan. In the early 90s, Rounder issued a series of compact discs and cassettes, which included some alternative takes. In 1992, Bear Family released a definitive set of six compact discs of Rodgers' work. Among the countless tribute recordings that have been made over the years are those by Gene Autry (probably the first Rodgers soundalike in his early days), Bradley Kincaid and Ernest Tubb. In October 1936, even Mrs Carrie Rodgers made a recording, when, with Ernest Tubb accompanying her on Rodgers' guitar, she rendered the rather maudlin 'We Miss Him When The Evening Shadows Fall'. Probably the best tribute is the long 'Jimmie Rodgers' Blues' by Elton Britt, which cleverly uses the titles of his songs within its lyrics. Later, several artists, including Hank Snow, Merle Haggard, Wilf Carter, Yodeling Slim Clark and Australia's Buddy Williams all recorded albums of Rodgers' songs.
Naturally, there has also been much written about the artist. In 1935, his widow, with some persuasion and assistance, privately published her account of Rodgers' life. The book attracted little attention either then or in 1953, when it was reprinted to coincide with the first Jimmie Rodgers memorial celebration in Meridian (both Ernest Tubb and Hank Snow were greatly influenced in their early careers by Rodgers and the two singers worked together to establish the annual Meridian memorial event). It was reprinted again by the Country Music Foundation Press in 1975. Carrie Rodgers' book tended to avoid any controversial subject matter, but it does offer some insight into his family's lifestyle. Mike Paris and Chris Comber published a far more interesting volume in 1977, but the definitive book on the artist is undoubtedly the 1979 volume (revised 1992) written by Nolan Porterfield and published by the University Of Illinois Press as a volume in their series Music In American Life.
Jimmie Rodgers' influence on subsequent American (and other) artists is incalculable. Many of the top stars, including Gene Autry, Jimmie Davis, Hank Snow and Ernest Tubb started their careers virtually as Rodgers impersonators before developing their own styles. During his lifetime, Rodgers was not termed a 'country music singer', since the category did not truly exist at that time. He sang a mixture of folk ballads, blues and vaudeville and even semi-risqué numbers, such as 'Frankie And Johnny', which in his hands, became the accepted fare of not only the first generations of country music listeners and record buyers, but also those that have followed in the years since his death. Over the years, there has been a considerable amount of discussion concerning Rodgers' contribution to country music, a contribution that has seen him named as the 'Father Of Country Music' and elected as the first entrant to the Country Music Hall Of Fame in Nashville on its foundation in 1961. There is no doubt that, in his relatively short career, he established styles that many have followed. He was one of the first to successfully master the art of recording, his mournful yodel was magnetic to many people's ears and he was a very proficient entertainer, who loved to be in front of an audience.
Jimmie Rodgers Biography by David Vinopal
His brass plaque in the Country Music Hall of Fame reads, "Jimmie Rodgers' name stands foremost in the country music field as the man who started it all." This is a fair assessment. The "Singing Brakeman" and the "Mississippi Blue Yodeler," whose six-year career was cut short by tuberculosis, became the first nationally known star of country music and the direct influence of many later performers, from Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, and Hank Williams to Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard. Rodgers sang about rounders and gamblers, bounders and ramblers -- and he knew what he sang about. At age 14 he went to work as a railroad brakeman, and on the rails he stayed until a pulmonary hemorrhage sidetracked him to the medicine show circuit in 1925. The years with the trains harmed his health but helped his music. In an era when Rodgers' contemporaries were singing only mountain and mountain/folk music, he fused hillbilly country, gospel, jazz, blues, pop, cowboy, and folk; and many of his best songs were his compositions, including "TB Blues," "Waiting for a Train," "Travelin' Blues," "Train Whistle Blues," and his 13 blue yodels. Although Rodgers wasn't the first to yodel on records, his style was distinct from all the others. His yodel wasn't merely sugar-coating on the song, it was as important as the lyric, mournful and plaintive or happy and carefree, depending on a song's emotional content. His instrumental accompaniment consisted sometimes of his guitar only, while at other times a full jazz band (horns and all) backed him up. Country fans could have asked for no better hero/star -- someone who thought what they thought, felt what they felt, and sang about the common person honestly and beautifully. In his last recording session, Rodgers was so racked and ravaged by tuberculosis that a cot had to be set up in the studio, so he could rest before attempting that one song more. No wonder Rodgers is to this day loved by country music fans.
The youngest son of a railroad man, Rodgers was born and raised in Meridian, MS. Following his mother's death in 1904, he and his older brother went to live with their mother's sister, where he first became interested in music. Rodgers' aunt was a former teacher who held degrees in music and English, and she exposed him to a number of different styles of music, including vaudeville, pop, and dancehall. Though he was attracted to music, he was a mischievous boy and often got into trouble. When he returned to his father's care in 1911, Rodgers ran wild, hanging out in pool halls and dives, yet he never got into any serious trouble. When he was 12, he experienced his first taste of fame when he sang "Steamboat Bill" at a local talent contest. Rodgers won the concert and, inspired by his success, decided to head out on the road in his own traveling tent show. His father immediately tracked him down and brought him back home, yet he ran away again, this time joining a medicine show. The romance of performing with the show wore off by the time his father hunted him down. Given the choice of school or the railroad, Rodgers chose to join his father on the tracks.
For the next ten years, Rodgers worked on the railroad, performing a variety of jobs along the South and West Coasts. In May of 1917, he married Sandra Kelly after knowing her for only a handful of weeks; by the fall, they had separated, even though she was pregnant (their daughter died in 1938). Two years later they officially divorced, and around the same time, he met Carrie Williamson, a preacher's daughter. Rodgers married Carrie in April of 1920 while she was still in high school. Shortly after their marriage, Rodgers was laid off by the New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad, and he began performing various blue-collar jobs, looking for opportunities to sing. Over the next three years, the couple was plagued with problems, ranging from financial to health -- the second of their two daughters died of diphtheria six months after her birth in 1923. By that time, Rodgers had begun to regularly play in traveling shows, and he was on the road at the time of her death. Though these years were difficult, they were important in the development of Rodgers' musical style as he began to develop his distinctive blue yodel and worked on his guitar skills.
In 1924, Rodgers was diagnosed with tuberculosis, but instead of heeding the doctor's warning about the seriousness of the disease, he discharged himself from the hospital to form a trio with fiddler Slim Rozell and his sister-in-law Elsie McWilliams. Rodgers continued to work on the railroad and perform blackface comedy with medicine shows while he sang. Two years after being diagnosed with TB, he moved his family out to Tucson, AZ, believing the change in location would improve his health. In Tucson, he continued to sing at local clubs and events. The railroad believed these extracurricular activities interfered with his work and fired him. Moving back to Meridian, Rodgers and Carrie lived with her parents before he moved away to Asheville, NC, in 1927. Rodgers was going to work on the railroad, but his health was so poor he couldn't handle the labor; he would never work the rails again. Instead, he began working as a janitor and a cab driver, singing on a local radio station and events as well. Soon, he moved to Johnson City, TN, where he began singing with the string band the Tenneva Ramblers. Prior to Rodgers, the group had existed as a trio, but he persuaded the members to become his backing band because he had a regular show in Asheville. The Ramblers relented, and the group's name took second billing to Rodgers, and the group began playing various concerts in addition to the radio show. Eventually, Rodgers heard that Ralph Peer, an RCA talent scout, was recording hillbilly and string bands in Bristol, TN. Rodgers convinced the band to travel to Bristol, but on the eve of the audition, they had a huge argument about the proper way they should be billed, resulting in the Tenneva Ramblers breaking away from Rodgers. He went to the audition as a solo artist, and Peer recorded two songs -- the old standards "The Soldier's Sweetheart" and "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" -- after rejecting Rodgers' signature song, "T for Texas."
Released in October of 1927, the record was not a hit, but Victor did agree to record Rodgers again, this time as a solo artist. In November of 1927, he cut four songs, including "T for Texas." Retitled "Blue Yodel" upon its release, the song became a huge hit and one of only a handful of early country records to sell a million copies. Shortly after its release, Rodgers and Carrie moved to Washington, where he began appearing on a weekly local radio show billed as the Singing Brakeman. Though "Blue Yodel" was a success, its sales grew steadily throughout early 1928, which meant that the couple wasn't able to reap the financial benefits until the end of the year. By that time, Rodgers had recorded several more singles, including the hits "Way Out on the Mountain," "Blue Yodel No. 4," "Waiting for a Train," and "In the Jailhouse Now." On various sessions, Peer experimented with Rodgers' backing band, occasionally recording him with two other string instrumentalists and recording his solo as well. Over the next two years, Peer and Rodgers tried out a number of different backing bands, including a jazz group featuring Louis Armstrong, orchestras, and a Hawaiian combo.
By 1929, Rodgers had become an official star, as his concerts became major attractions and his records consistently sold well. During 1929, he made a small film called The Singing Brakeman, recorded many songs, and toured throughout the country. Though his activity kept his star shining and the money rolling in, his health began to decline under all the stress. Nevertheless, he continued to plow forward, recording numerous songs and building a large home in Kerrville, TX, as well as working with Will Rogers on several fundraising tours for the Red Cross that were designed to help those suffering from the Depression. By the middle of 1931, the Depression was beginning to affect Rodgers as well, as his concert bookings decreased dramatically and his records stopped selling. Despite the financial hardships, Rodgers continued to record.
Not only did the Great Depression cut into Rodgers' career, but so did his poor health. He had to decrease the number of concerts he performed in both 1931 and 1932, and by 1933, his health affected his recording and forced him to cancel plans for several films. Despite his condition, he refused to stop performing, telling his wife that "I want to die with my shoes on." By early 1933, the family was running short on money, and he had to perform anywhere he could -- including vaudeville shows and nickelodeons -- to make ends meet. For a while he performed on a radio show in San Antonio, but in February he collapsed and was sent to the hospital. Realizing that he was close to death, he convinced Peer to schedule a recording session in May. Rodgers used that session to provide needed financial support for his family. At that session, Rodgers was accompanied by a nurse and rested on a cot in between songs. Two days after the sessions were completed, he died of a lung hemorrhage on May 26, 1933. Following his death, his body was taken to Meridian by train, riding in a converted baggage car. Hundreds of country fans awaited the body's arrival in Meridian, and the train blew its whistle consistently throughout its journey. For several days after the body arrived in Rodgers' hometown, it lay in state as hundreds, if not thousands, of people paid tribute to the departed musician.
The massive display of affection at Rodgers' funeral services indicated what a popular and beloved star he was during his time. His influence wasn't limited to the '30s, however. Throughout country music's history, echoes of Rodgers can be heard, from Hank Williams to Merle Haggard. In 1961, Rodgers became the first artist inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame; 25 years later, he was inducted as a founding father at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though both honors are impressive, they only give a small indication of what Rodgers accomplished -- and how he affected the history of country music by making it a viable, commercially popular medium -- during his lifetime.