Chapter 9: Country Western Music
The second major discovery Ralph Peer made during his 1927 Bristol Sessions was Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933), an artist who would become the first true star of country music. While the Carter Family projected the image of a God-fearing rural household, Rodgers personified the itinerant working-class man of the early 20th century, a figure marked by hardship, wandering, and longing.
Born near Meridian, Mississippi, Rodgers grew up in poverty. His mother died when he was four, and he spent much of his youth moving from job to job with his father, who worked on the railroad.Rodgers developed a deep understanding of Southern working-class life, drawing inspiration from African American railroad workers around him whose 12-bar blues structures, rhythmic work songs, and instrumental techniques left a lasting imprint on his musical style and taught Rodgers chord progressions, rhythm patterns, and vocal styling. Rodgers began performing wherever he could such as on street corners, in vaudeville shows, and even in blackface minstrel acts, which were common at the time.
In 1923, Rodgers was diagnosed with tuberculosis, an illness that would shadow him for the rest of his life. With his health deteriorating and railroad work no longer sustainable, he turned his focus fully to music. In 1927, he auditioned for Ralph Peer in Bristol, Tennessee. Peer was so impressed with Rodgers that he invited him to New York City, where Rodgers recorded a string of hits for Victor Records. His first major release, “Blue Yodel #1,” also known as “T for Texas,” became a million-selling record, catapulting him to national fame.
Rodgers’s music blended traditional Southern folk with the blues-inflected lyrical themes he had absorbed during his time on the railroad. He sang about hard living, heartbreak, rambling, and drinking—themes that would become central to country music for decades to come. He was also one of the first artists to popularize yodeling in country music. Though yodeling had been used by hillbilly musicians before, Rodgers made it a defining element of his vocal style, as heard in “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” and across his series of twelve “Blue Yodel” recordings for Victor.
Rodgers’s early fame came not just from his recordings, but also from his appearances in vaudeville shows, radio programs, and modest regional tours. However, his poor health made it difficult for him to tour extensively or promote his work in person. Despite these limitations, he remained incredibly prolific in the studio. He continued recording until 1933, completing his final session in New York just days before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 35.
Rodgers’s influence on the development of country music cannot be overstated. He was a model for the “singing cowboy” image that would later be embodied by Gene Autry, and his blend of folk, blues, and popular song created a new, distinctly American musical identity. His recordings set a precedent for what country music could sound like and what it could talk about. When the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was established in 1961, Jimmie Rodgers was among the first three inductees, along with Fred Rose and Hank Williams.