Jimmie Rodgers Born 115 years ago, Today

James Charles “Jimmie” Rodgers, widely considered the father of country music, was born on September 8th, 1897. His singing is immediately recognizable for its punctuation by rhythmic yodeling. Characteristically American, his lyrics turn effortlessly between sweet nostalgia and brutal violence with iconic lines like, “I’m gonna buy me a pistol just as long as I’m tall…I’m gonna shoot poor Thelma just to see her jump and fall.” (From “T for Texas.”)

By the age of 13, Jimmy had already run away from home and organized two traveling shows–each time brought home by his father. He worked in various railroad jobs until he contracted tuberculosis at the age of 27. He sang of his suffering in a song, “The TB Blues.”

One of Jimmie’s biggest crowd pleasers was his ability to sing and whistle at the same time in imitation of a steam engine’s whistle. Here you can hear three songs in a short film, Waiting for a Train, Daddy and Home and T for Texas.

He was a performer of force without precedent with a sound as lonesome and mystical as it was dynamic. He gives hope to the vanquished and humility to the mighty.

– Bob Dylan