Jimmie Rodgers

JIMMIE RODGERS
 
 
Jimmie Rodgers  (born September 18, 1933 in Camas, Washington, United States) is an American popular music singer.  Rodgers had a brief run of mainstream popularity in the late 1950s with a string of crossover singles that ranked highly on the Billboard Pop Singles, Hot Country and Western Sides, and Hot Rhythm and Blues Sides charts; in the 1960s, Rodgers had more modest successes with adult contemporary music.  He is not related to the earlier country singer Jimmie C. Rodgers, who coincidentally died the same year the younger Rodgers was born.  Among country audiences, the younger Rodgers is often known as Jimmie F. Rodgers to differentiate the two.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

An amped-up version of a song by the country & western foundational musician Jimmie Rodgers (“The Singing Brakeman”, not the Jimmie Rodgers who recorded “Honeycomb”) was the most popular song by the Fendermen.  The song is called “Mule Skinner Blues” (originally named “Blue Yodel #8”), and they were convinced to record the song with just the two of them, with no bass guitarist or drummer.  The vocals are little more than a grumble; what really comes through are the gleeful laughs.  Though the song was all rock and roll to me, I used to hear this version of Mule Skinner Blues occasionally on country music radio stations also.  Unaccountably, the performance became a hit and made the Top Ten

 

(December 2014)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021