JIMMIE RODGERS-BLUE YODEL # 9 (standing on the corner).wmv

Legacy

When the Country Music Hall of Fame was established in 1961, Rodgers was one of the first three (the others were Fred Rose 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.[2] 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.

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. 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.[3] Rodgers influenced many later blues artists, among them Muddy Waters, Big Bill Broonzy,[4] 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."[5]

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".[6] Elvis Presley has also been quoted as mentioning Jimmie Rodgers as an important influence and stating that he was a big fan[7]. 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 very loosely based on Rodgers' life.

In "Cleaning Windows," Van Morrison sings about listening to Jimmie Rodgers.

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.

• Category

  Music

[Dan F]

What a time in our great nation, rest in peace Jimmie Rodgers you are classic.

[oldtexasmusic]

It was the time of the hobo which was before the hippie.

[IGOR OZKARSKI]

You just about covered it all in the introduction, but there is one thing more

I´d like to mention. In 1971-72 AFRS in Keflavik, Iceland (AM 1484) began

broadcasting THE 50 YEAR HISTORY OF COUNTRY MUSIC narrated by

Hugh Cherry. I recorded most of the programs on a brand new cassette

tape recorder. A friend of my brother who played guitar, heard the cass.

& caught the Jimmie Rodgers bug. About the same time he aquired a dog

& he named him Jimmie Rodgers.

[oldtexasmusic]

Thank you for the interesting information.

[bartwreck]

The great JR is profiled in the new book YODEL IN HIFI: From Kitsch Folk to Contemporary Electronica: uwpress.wisc.edu/books/4594.ht­­m

[oldtexasmusic]

If it is about yodeling, he SHOULD be at least mentioned. LOL!!

[OW3NS93]

Jimmie Rodgers AND Louis Armstrong on the same record? I'm surprised the building didn't implode due the amount of sheer musical awesomeness in one room...

[oldtexasmusic]

Glad you like Louie's solo.

[RebobRob]

Recorded in Hollywood in 1930, with Louis Armstrong on trumpet and Lil Armstrong on piano. Armstromg was leading the band at The Cotton Club in Culver City.

[oldtexasmusic]

Thanks for the interesting historical information. When I was a kid in the late 40s and early 50s, I also had an old spring driven wind-up gramophone which I used to play a small stack of 78s of Jimmie Davis, Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Gene Autry and others. You were ingenious with the thorn needles!!!!! Hope your new year is filled with blessings.

[snakemansnakes Eaton]

Great posting. When I was a kid in Liverpool I had an antique wind up Gramaphone and I was using Rose thorns from the garden for needles.(couldn't get the real metal needles anywhere then. (late 50's) One day I found an old Jimmie Rodgers 78- Hobo Bills Last Ride and I was hooked!- Later ( early 60's) When RCA re -released most of Jimmies output on LP's I bought them all. Thanks for the post, great stuff.