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| Died at 36. Nuts. |
By the time he turned 13, Jimmie Rodgers had twice tried to organize musical road shows, only to get retrieved by his father both times; he even got stranded with at least one of those. It’s not surprising, in other words, that Rodgers eventually worked as an entertainer. The real shock is how long he lasted working as a railroad brakeman.
Born in 1897, in either Meridian, Mississippi or Geiger, Alabama, Rodgers grew up in a large family that alternately fractured and diminished after his mother died when he was between six and seven years old. After some shuffling around, Rodgers moved back to Meridian to live with that same father, Aaron Rodgers (different Aaron Rodgers), who finished raising him and set him up with work on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. The younger Rodgers started as a water boy, but later rose to the occupation of brakeman. Hence, his nom du career: The Singing Brakeman.
His Wikipedia entry talks about how Rodgers continued his musical education with help from railworkers and “hobos.” It also speculates that he picked up “work chants” by listening to the black employees of the rail-lines who maintained the railroads before machines took over - and he was certainly open-minded enough to do that. For a man with stars in his eyes, Rodgers stuck with his career on the railroad for a surprisingly long time. Famous people, even the eventually famous, get that final “nudge” from all kinds of places: in Jimmie Rodgers’ case, that nudge came with a tuberculosis diagnosis at age 27 (in 1924).
It wasn’t a clean break. He attempted another traveling show, only to see his tent destroyed by a cyclone; Rodgers returned to the railroad after that, relocating as far West as Arizona (on the theory that drier climes would help with the TB; he really did try) - but, by 1927, he returned once more to Meridian and finally and fully committed to a career in music.
It started with a free radio show with Charlotte, North Carolina’s WWNC. He recruited a band from Tennessee called the Tenneva Ramblers and, by the second half of 1927, he/they performed a weekly slot on the station - an unpaid gig, according to his Country Music Hall of Fame biography notes. The band performed as the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers (hold that thought) and, per the bio posted on the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation, they didn’t sound like anything else on the local radio. It buzzed loudly enough for one area columnist to write: “Whoever that fellow is, he either is a winner or he is going to be.” Because the radio show didn’t pay, Rodgers and the Tenneva Ramblers played resorts to make some scratch.
Born in 1897, in either Meridian, Mississippi or Geiger, Alabama, Rodgers grew up in a large family that alternately fractured and diminished after his mother died when he was between six and seven years old. After some shuffling around, Rodgers moved back to Meridian to live with that same father, Aaron Rodgers (different Aaron Rodgers), who finished raising him and set him up with work on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. The younger Rodgers started as a water boy, but later rose to the occupation of brakeman. Hence, his nom du career: The Singing Brakeman.
His Wikipedia entry talks about how Rodgers continued his musical education with help from railworkers and “hobos.” It also speculates that he picked up “work chants” by listening to the black employees of the rail-lines who maintained the railroads before machines took over - and he was certainly open-minded enough to do that. For a man with stars in his eyes, Rodgers stuck with his career on the railroad for a surprisingly long time. Famous people, even the eventually famous, get that final “nudge” from all kinds of places: in Jimmie Rodgers’ case, that nudge came with a tuberculosis diagnosis at age 27 (in 1924).
It wasn’t a clean break. He attempted another traveling show, only to see his tent destroyed by a cyclone; Rodgers returned to the railroad after that, relocating as far West as Arizona (on the theory that drier climes would help with the TB; he really did try) - but, by 1927, he returned once more to Meridian and finally and fully committed to a career in music.
It started with a free radio show with Charlotte, North Carolina’s WWNC. He recruited a band from Tennessee called the Tenneva Ramblers and, by the second half of 1927, he/they performed a weekly slot on the station - an unpaid gig, according to his Country Music Hall of Fame biography notes. The band performed as the Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers (hold that thought) and, per the bio posted on the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation, they didn’t sound like anything else on the local radio. It buzzed loudly enough for one area columnist to write: “Whoever that fellow is, he either is a winner or he is going to be.” Because the radio show didn’t pay, Rodgers and the Tenneva Ramblers played resorts to make some scratch.
