The Jimmie Rodgers Museum is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the quirky, yodeling musician known by many as “The Singing Brakeman” and even “The Father of Country Music.”
Jimmie was born James Charles Rodgers to Eliza Bozeman and Aaron Rodgers, a railroad foreman, in 1897 in Meridian, Mississippi. Growing up, Jimmie would skip school to watch vaudeville performances, which introduced him to the excitement of showbiz.
After winning a talent contest at the local theater, Jimmie ran away to tour with a medicine show, a traveling entertainment act that would sell “miracle cures.” Eventually, Jimmie’s father brought him back and got him a job as a railroad waterboy.
Jimmie nonetheless found opportunities to perform, picking up railway work songs and banjo playing from African-American laborers, all while slowly rising the ranks and becoming a brakeman.
A tuberculosis diagnosis forced Rodgers to reevaluate what direction he wanted his life to go, and he decided to pursue music full-time.
Rodgers would record two songs during the legendary 1927 Bristol sessions in Bristol, Tennessee, but his big break was recording his original “Blue Yodel” in Camden, New Jersey.
Rodgers went on to tour the country and recorded and performed with acts as diverse as Louis Armstrong, the Carter Family, and Will Rogers.
Rodgers’s health continued to deteriorate and in 1933, he fell into a coma and passed away.
The Jimmie Rodgers Museum has kept the legacy of the Singing Brakeman alive, showcasing some of Jimmie’s costumes, letters, and guitar, along with memorabilia of his music and performances.
