Song Of The Day #100

For our 100th song Ranch Radio has selected some tunes by Jimmie Rodgers, The Father Of Country Music.

My mother, Wanda DuBois, got to see him perform in person. I asked her to send me her memories of Rodgers and of that performance, and here's what she wrote:

In 1931 I lived with my family in a small Texas town called Douglass. The school was right across from the largest store and I made friends with the older couple who ran it - mostly groceries, but you could get a sandwich. Everyone who knew me also knew I loved Jimmie Rodgers, so this couple invited me to bring my lunch, eat in their livingroom and listen to their Jimmie Rodgers records. So, at age 11, I had it made!!! Spent many hours in that place and loved every minute. Finally, when I was 12, somehow we found out that Jimmie was to appear in Alto, Texas. This was 1932 in the Spring - we went and I am not sure who was the most thrilled! The only theater in Alto showed movies on weekends only so that's where Jimmie appeared - the theater manager came out and introduced Jimmie - the curtains parted and there was nothing on the stage but a straight chair. Then Jimmie walked out with his guitar, wearing a beautiful white Stetson hat, walked over to that chair, propped his foot up and started playing "T for Texas." He played a few more songs and then asked the audience, "Do you folks like my hat?" Everyone clapped, whistled and yelled, "Yes!" Jimmie said, "It's a good thing, 'cause I have lost all my hair and I am not taking this hat off!" Then he continued singing for two hours - songs like "Waiting for a Train," one of my favorites. He finally said, "This is it," and closed the show with "TB Blues." Seeing and hearing Jimmie was the highlight of my childhood, and we all cried when he died.

Mom's memory is pretty good, as the book Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Times of America's Blue Yodeler confirms he was touring in that part of Texas in April and May of 1932. Within a year he was dead from TB.

All of Rodger's recordings are available on the 6 disk box set The Singing Brakeman.

I have chosen two songs for your listening pleasure, and those would be the ones he opened and closed his show with the night my Mom saw him in person: T for Texas (originally titled "Blue Yodel") from 1928 and T.B. Blues from 1931.