The Singing Brakeman, the Blue Yodeler, the Father of Country Music. Jimmie Rodgers was all of these things, and more. Born in 1897, he was always drawn to both the rails and music. He worked the railroad as a brakeman (hence his nickname) until 1924, when, at the age of 27, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease that was then always fatal. He quit his railroad job and tried for a while to work in music with a traveling show, but kept coming back to the railroad, working as a brakeman in Florida and then as a switchman in Arizona (in the hopes the dry climate would help with the TB). Finally, he moved his family back to the southeast and eventually began recording in 1927, putting his heartfelt "songs of the people" down for posterity. He became one of the first great recording superstars, beginning with "T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1)." Unfortunately for music, Rodgers' meteoric rise was cut short in 1933, when he finally succumbed to the disease after a final recording session that turned out "Mississippi Delta Blues" and the gentle acoustic "Years Ago." Despite a short six years, Jimmie Rodgers' career was phenomenal, and his legacy and music live on.
