James Charles Rodgers (1897 - 1933)

Born 8 Sep 1897 in Meridian, Mississippi, USA

Ancestors

Died 26 May 1933 at age 35 in New York City, New York, United States

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Biography

Jimmie Rodgers is Notable.

James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American country, blues and folk singer, songwriter and musician in the early 20th century, known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling. Rodgers, along with his contemporaries the Carter Family, was among the first country music stars, cited as an inspiration by many artists and an inductee into numerous halls of fame.

He has been called "The Father of Country Music," "The Singing Brakeman" and "The Blue Yodeler".

Father - Aaron Woodberry Rodgers 1865–1933

Mother - Eliza Bozeman 1868–1903

Siblings - Walter Love Rodgers 1886-unknown, Dewitt Talmage Rodgers 1890–1949, Lee Rodgers 1900–1910.

Spouse - Carrie Cecil Williamson (1902–1961)

Children - Carrie Anita Rodgers (Court) 1921–1993, June Rebecca Rodgers, who died as an infant of 6 months in 1923

He had another daughter named Katherine Rodgers (Rhyne) 1918-1938. Her mother was Stella Crocker 1907-1990 (married to Jimmie in 1917).

The following is the biography from the Jimmierodgers.com website:

Jimmie Rodgers was born on September 8, 1897, in Meridian, Mississippi, the youngest of three sons. His mother died when he was very young, and Jimmie spent the next few years with relatives in southeast Mississippi and southwest Alabama. He eventually returned home to live with his father, Aaron Rodgers, a maintenance foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, who had settled with a new wife in Meridian.

Jimmie’s affinity for entertaining and the road developed early. By age 13, he had twice organized traveling shows, only to be brought home by his father. The first time, he stole some of his sister-in-law’s bedsheets to make a crude tent. Upon his return to Meridian, he paid for the sheets with money he had made from his show! For the second trip, he charged to his father (without his father’s knowing) an expensive canvas tent. Not long after that, Mr. Rodgers found Jimmie his first railroad job, as water boy on his father’s gang. A few years later, Jimmie became a brakeman on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, a position secured by his oldest brother, Walter, a conductor on the line.

In 1924, at the age of 27, Jimmie contracted tuberculosis. The disease temporarily ended his railroad career but gave him the chance to get back to his first love, entertainment. He organized a traveling road show and performed across the Southeast until a cyclone destroyed his tent. He returned to railroad work as a brakeman on the east coast of Florida, but eventually his illness cost him his job. He relocated to Tucson, Arizona (thinking the dry climate might lessen the effects of his TB), and worked as a switchman for the Southern Pacific. The job lasted less than a year, and the Rodgers family (which by then included wife Carrie and daughter Anita) settled back in Meridian in 1927.

Later that year, Jimmie traveled to Asheville, North Carolina. In February 1927, Asheville’s first radio station, WWNC, went on the air, and on April 18, Jimmie and Otis Kuykendall performed for the first time on the station. A few months later, Jimmie recruited a group from Tennessee called the Tenneva Ramblers and they secured a weekly slot on the station as the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers. A review in The Asheville Times remarked that “Jimmy [sic] Rodgers and his entertainers managed ... with a type of music quite different than the station’s usual material, but a kind that finds a cordial reception from a large audience.” Another columnist said, “Whoever that fellow is, he either is a winner or he is going to be.”

The Tenneva Ramblers hailed from Bristol, Tennessee, and in late July of 1927, Rodgers’ bandmates got word that Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company was coming to Bristol to record area musicians. Rodgers and the group arrived in Bristol on August 3 and auditioned for Peer, who agreed to record them the next day. That night the band argued about how it would be billed on the record, which led Jimmie to declare, “All right ... I’ll just sing one myself.”

On August 4, Jimmie Rodgers recorded two songs: “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” and “The Soldier’s Sweetheart.” For the recordings, he received $100.

The recordings were released on October 7, 1927, to modest success. In November of that year, Peer recorded Rodgers again at the Victor studios in Camden, New Jersey. Four songs made it out of this session: “Ben Dewberry’s Final Run,” “Mother Was a Lady,” “Away out on the Mountain” and “T for Texas.” In the next two years, “T for Texas” (released as “Blue Yodel”) sold nearly half a million copies, rocketing Rodgers into stardom.

In the next few years, Rodgers did a movie short, "The Singing Brakeman", and made various recordings across the country. He toured the Midwest with humorist Will Rogers. On July 16, 1930, he even recorded “Blue Yodel No. 9” (also known as “Standin’ on the Corner”) with a young jazz trumpeter named Louis Armstrong, whose wife, Lillian, played piano on the track.

Rodgers’ next to last recordings were made in August 1932 in Camden, and it was clear that TB was getting the better of him. He had given up touring by then but did have a weekly radio show in San Antonio, Texas, where he’d relocated when “T for Texas” became a hit.

In 1933, Rodgers traveled to New York for recording sessions beginning May 17. He completed four songs on the first take. But there was no question that Rodgers was running out of track. When he returned to the studio after a day’s rest, he had to record sitting down and soon retreated to his hotel, hoping to regain enough energy to finish the songs he’d 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, Jimmie recorded “Years Ago” by himself, finishing as he’d started six years earlier, just a man and his guitar. Within 36 hours, “The Father of Country Music” was dead.

• Fact: Residence (1900) ED 24 Beat 3 Daleville, Lauderdale, Mississippi, United States
• Fact: Residence (1910) West Point Ward 3, Clay, Mississippi, United States
• Fact: Draft Registration (1917-1918) Lauderdale County no 1, United States, Mississippi
• Fact: Burial (27 May 1933) Oak Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Meridian, Lauderdale, Mississippi, United States
• Fact: Residence San Antonio, Texas

• http://familysearch.org/v1/LifeSketch

"Musician. He was a country singer known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling and for his songs about the common man and his trials. He has been called "The Father of Country Music," "The Singing Brakeman" and "The Blue Yodeler".

It's been reported that he was born on September 8, 1897 in Meridian, Mississippi. In documents signed later in life, he lists his birthplace as Geiger, Alabama, the home of his paternal grandparents. The youngest of three sons, his mother died when he was very young. Rodgers spent the next few years living with various relatives in southeast Mississippi and southwest Alabama. He eventually moved to Meridian to live with his father, Aaron Rodgers, a Foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Jimmie's affinity for entertaining came at an early age, and the lure of the road was irresistible to him.

At thirteen he twice ran away to join traveling shows, but each time was brought back by his father, who found him a job on the railroad as a water boy. He was taught guitar by railroad workers and hoboes he ran into on a daily basis. Later, he became a brakeman on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. At 27 he contracted tuberculosis, which often kept him from working. That same year he traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, where he performed for the first time on Asheville's first radio station, WWNC. He returned a few months later with a group called the Tenneva Ramblers, and secured a weekly slot on the station. A newspaper columnist in Asheville wrote, "Whoever that fellow is, he either is a winner or he is going to be."

Later that year they traveled to Bristol, Tennessee to record for Victor Talking Machine Company. There was a disagreement among the band members and Jimmie was forced to record alone. He received 0 for two recordings, "The Soldier's Sweetheart," and "Sleep, Baby, Sleep." Those recordings changed music history and helped make Jimmie Rodgers an indelible name in country music.

In November he traveled to Camden, New Jersey to record 4 more sides, one of which was "T for Texas," which was released as "Blue Yodel." It sold nearly half a million copies, which rocketed Rodgers into stardom. After this, he sold out shows whenever and wherever he played and recorded when and where he wanted.

Within a few years, tuberculosis affected his ability to sing, however. On May 17, 1933, he returned to the studios to record what would be his last tracks. He recorded 4 songs that day and had to rest for several days to try to recover his energy. When he returned to the studio, he recorded "Years Ago." The effort exhausted him. Within 36 hours, the father of country music was dead.

When the Country Music Hall of Fame was established in 1961, Rodgers was one of the first three 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.

On May 24, 1978, the U. S. Postal Service issued a 13-cent commemorative stamp honoring Rodgers, the first in its Performing Arts Series. The 1982 film Honkytonk Man, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, was very loosely based on Rodgers' life. Rodgers was ranked #33 on CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003. The Jimmie Rodgers Foundation maintains the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian, Mississippi.

Sources

• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9X3-N83 : accessed 17 September 2019), James Rodgers in household of Aaron Rodgers, Beat 3 Daleville, Lauderdale, Mississippi, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 24, sheet 5B, family 88, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,815.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MP87-HZK : accessed 17 September 2019), James Rodgers in household of Arthur W Rodgers, West Point Ward 3, Clay, Mississippi, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 67, sheet 10A, family 156, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 736; FHL microfilm 1,374,749.
• "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZZT-536 : 23 August 2019), James Charles Rodgers, 1917-1918.
• "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WKD-9TF : 10 February 2018), James Charles Rodgers, 26 May 1933; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 2,070,583.
• Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
  Find A Grave: Memorial #890 (accessed 13 February 2024)
  Memorial page for Jimmie Rodgers (8 Sep 1897-26 May 1933), citing Oak Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.

See also:

• Wikidata: Item Q366358, en:Wikipedia
• http://www.jimmierodgers.com
• https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/jimmie-rodgers-country-music-ken-burns-884631/
• The Singing Breakman
  
• Blue Yodel No 1
  
• See copy of daughter Katherine's death notice referencing her father here - Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
  Find A Grave: Memorial #38144127 (accessed 13 February 2024)
  Memorial page for Kathryn Rodgers Rhyne (16 Feb 1918-15 Oct 1938), citing Fairview Cemetery, Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, USA; Maintained by Angie (contributor 47061052).
• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 25 September 2019, 00:33), entry for James Charles Rodgers(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:KLZY-PPL); contributed by various users.