Jimmie mother-flippin Rodgers, people.
The Man Who Started It All.
The Singing Brakeman!!!
His influence on popular music can’t be overstated. He invented the guitar and the drums and also the Moog. OK, maybe it can be overstated.
But still, nobody made music like Jimmie until Jimmie came along. He made his own kind of music by taking elements form all the types of music he liked and putting them all together, and he lived he kind of life that makes for memorable lyrics: railroads, rounders, cyclones, medicine shows, and the tuberculosis that would take him at 35.
Jimmie Rodgers – T.B. Blues
PS – Jimmie Rodgers moved to Tucson in 1927. I’m flying to Tucson at 1:00. Coincidence? Yes.
Bonus Time Travel
There’s only one known movie of Jimmie Rodgers in existence — so, you know, hooray for YouTube.
From 1929:
“Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas)” (Jimmie sold 500,000 copies of the 1927 recording of this)
“Waiting For A Train”
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I will show you my version of John Jackson’s version of Jimmie Rodgers TB Blues on the guitar next time we meet. No where near as good as either artist but perhaps you’ll take it further than I can…
I can’t wait to play my version of Crazyfoot’s version of John Jackson’s version of Jimmie Rodgers! Maybe it’ll be like a game of Telephone and when I play it it will sound like Slayer.