Jimmie Rodgers' six-year career was sadly cut short by tuberculosis, but in that time, he earned many suitable nicknames: the Mississippi Blue Yodeler, the Singing Brakeman, and, perhaps most fittingly of all, the Father of Country Music. Rodgers' songs, whether melancholy ballads or upbeat ditties, told of gamblers, ramblers, hobos, and heartbreak, themes that described and defined American archetypes. And in making hit records out of them, he helped shape the course of popular music and influence countless musicians throughout the 20th Century.
This playlist of Jimmie Rodgers Songs gives an idea of just how far that influence reached. With performances by other country legends like Jerry Lee Lewis and Merle Haggard, folk and bluegrass originals like Doc Watson and Bill Monroe, Americana revivalists like Maria Muldaur and Steve Goodman, and harder rockers like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Prism, it's clear that Rodgers' music reached across genres and decades.