Songs of Jimmie Rodgers: A Tribute

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The song that rings most true on this salute to the Mississippian generally considered the father of country music is also the most fatigued tune on the collection--Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's "Blue Yodel #9 (Standin' on the Corner)." Garcia died two weeks after rush-recording the track before entering a substance recovery clinic. You get the sense the fading Garcia understood what drove Rodgers to make music till nearly his dying breath. A few other Rodgers proselytizers make creditable connections with the pioneering recording star, including Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, and Iris DeMent. For an undistilled sense of the great man, check out Rounder Records' eight volume Complete Recordings, 1927-1933. There could be no finer tribute. --Steven Stolder

Tracks:

Dreaming With Tears In My Eyes - Bono
Any Old Time - Alison Krauss And Union Station
Waiting For A Train - Dickey Betts
Somewhere Down Below The Mason Dixon Line - Mary Chapin Carpenter
Miss The Mississippi And You - David Ball
My Blue Eyed Jane - Bob Dylan
Peach Pickin' Time Down In Georgia - Willie Nelson
In The Jailhouse Now - Steve Earle & The V-Roys
Blue Yodel #9 - Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, & Jophn Kahn
Hobo Bill's Last Ride - Iris DeMent
Gambling Bar Room Blues - John Mellencamp
Mule Skinner Blues - Van Morrison
Why Should I Be Lonely - Aaron Neville
T For Texas - Dwight Yoakam

Amazon.com

The song that rings most true on this salute to the Mississippian generally considered the father of country music is also the most fatigued tune on the collection--Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's "Blue Yodel #9 (Standin' on the Corner)." Garcia died two weeks after rush-recording the track before entering a substance recovery clinic. You get the sense the fading Garcia understood what drove Rodgers to make music till nearly his dying breath. A few other Rodgers proselytizers make creditable connections with the pioneering recording star, including Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, and Iris DeMent. For an undistilled sense of the great man, check out Rounder Records' eight volume Complete Recordings, 1927-1933. There could be no finer tribute. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews:

Hope To The Vanquished,Humility To The Mighty.......2006-10-29

"Jimmie Rodgers cast a huge shadow. Taking what was then called "hillbilly music" and making it accessible to the general public, Rodgers created an influential new style that merged folk and blues in a precursor to today's popular country music. Troubled times. Rodgers championed the common man against a backdrop of rapid economic and technological change: he focused with humanity on colorful characters who lived with bravado and self-reliance."
Robert Christgau

Jimmie Rodgers was born in Mississippi and grew up loving the railroad, his father's profession. He became a brakeman, one of the more dangerous jobs that required great skill. His job required that he run on the top of each car setting the brakes by hand. At a young age he had to leave the railroad because he acquired tuberculosis. He had several jobs and finally landed a job recording for Victrola records. His short career of six years writing and singing songs, made more of a dent in the soul of American music than any other musician of the time. He died at the age of 36 after singing and writing 113 songs. He forever influenced country music. He was one of four to be inducted into the first Country Music Hall of Fame.

Bob Dylan garnered his influence and brought together 13 other musicians to pay homage to Jimmie Rodgers. Dylan said, "Jimmie Rodgers, of course, is one of the guiding lights of the Twentieth Century, whose way with song has always been an inspiration to those of us who have followed the path....He was a performer of force without precedent with a sound as lonesome and mystical as it was dynamic. He gives hope to the vanquished and humility to the mighty."

"Dreaming With Tears In My Eyes"- Bono, guileless and without his usual backdrop sings a simply lovely tune.

"Waiting For A Train" Dickey Betts has an earthy swing to a Rodgers favorite song; The Allman Bandsman comes with the yodels intact.

"Somewhere Down Below The Mason Dixon Line" Mary Chapin Carpenter floats and echoes the rural 20th century times

"Miss The Mississippi And You" David Ball does credence to this sad song- bringing the old tempo to life. Wonderful yodeling.

"My Blue Eyed Jane" Bob Dylan's effortless rawness is a labor of love to a man who he reveres.

"Peach Pickin' Time Down In Georgia" Willie Nelson gives us the loose rambling song with simplicity and love.

"In The Jailhouse Now" Steve Earle has a raw and lively sense of timing. He is always the true picker and singer.

"Hobo Bill's Last Ride" Iris Dement's vocie is true country, and she sings a riveting old fashioned account of the hoboes' life.

"Gambling Bar Room Blues" John Mellencamp brings to life his rough and tumble persona in a guitar and drumbeat tempo. "Hey, Hey, hey, hey"

"Why Should I Be Lonely" Aaron Neville brings his high-pitched, dramatic sweetness with his rendition. "Best Pal I've Ever Had".

This CD was released in 1997 to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of Jimmie Rodgers birth. "Songs of Jimmie Rodgers" is an understated collection that moves from Dixieland to country and lets the songs take center stage.

Highly Recommended. The Birth of Country Remembered. prisrob 10-28-06

Learning Experience.......2006-03-24

What a great learning experience to those who are just discovering Jimmie Rodgers. This is a good way to bring the blues-country knowledge to younger listeners who are just learning to enjoy this genre of music. With the latest artists givnig their spin on the traditional music, this is a "don't miss" collection.

All Star Cast Does Jimmie Justice.......2006-01-09

Like the Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly Tribute this album has well selected artists who do an excellent job of performing Jimmie Rodgers' tunes.

I grew up listening to Jimmie Rodgers and these all are great intrepretations of his music. Not a bad cut among the CD, I listen beginning to end often and never tire of the tunes.

bono makes me cry.......2004-06-27

i was working at tower records when this came out, and it was in the rotation in the store for a while...and songs started to grab me. mostly bono...but john mellencamp as well. bono's version of "dreaming with tears in my eyes" is one of the saddest, most beautiful songs i've ever heard; i looked on amazon for it because my old copy is long lost and my heart has been broken again, and when i'm sad i think of this song, because it is as sad as a broken heart but as beautiful as true love. i don't know who wouldn't love this song and this album.
ps-i'm available

The original "country singer.".......2004-06-06

Singers featured:

David Ball
Dickie Betts
Bono
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Iris Dement
Bob Dylan
Steve Earle
Jerry Garcia
Alison Krauss
John Mellencamp
Van Morrison
Willie Nelson
Aaron Neville
Dwight Yoakam

I first heard Jummie Rodgers sing as a teenager, when I found an old shellac and celluloid 78 RPM record in a house we had just moved into, in the late 'thirties (before the second world war.) It had Jimmie Rodgers Blue Yodel, Opus no 3, on one side and Opus no. 5 on the other. The record has since been lost of course, but I learned the songs well enough to play them on the guitar, and sing the lyrics. Great stuff!

This is a tribute collection of a few of Jimmy Rodgers' songs, sung by other singers pretty much in his style. I've often said that many singers sing better than he did, play the guitar better, and yodel better, so--what was it he had that makes him so revered (by those who know of him.) He was the first!

Jimmie was a railroad man. He reached some prominence as a singer, and died of tuberculosis in the earely 'thirties. Until you've heard him him sing...

Cain't you heah that train,
comin' down the railroad track...
Heah that tra-a-a-in, comin' down the railroad track,
How I long to he-ah the bark of that old smo-o-o-ke stack...

Woncha tell me Mama
Whe-ah you stayed las' nigh,
Tell me Mama, whe-ah you stayed las' night
'Cause your hair's all tangled,
An yo clothes don' fit you right
Ah hates to see
That evenin' sun go down,
Oh ah hates to see
That evening sun go down
Cause it makes me think
I'm on my las' go 'round

...you don't know the sound of real, down home country blues like I grew up on.
He was great.

Thanks, Peter Harris, for directing me to this marvelous record!

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

Yodeling Tribute
Average customer rating:
Yodeling Tribute
Joanna Allen
Manufacturer: Joanna Allen
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Country | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CA8KTQ
Release Date: 2005-07-19

Tracks:

Yodeling Tribute
Yodeler's Dream
You're in Tennessee
Yodelin' Blues
Cowboy Yodel
Cattle Call
Muleskinner Blues
He Taught Me to Yodel
Yodeling Mad
Where the Yodel Began
I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart
I Want to Be a Cowboy's Dreamgirl
Daddy Was a Yodeling Cowboy

Music Album:

Music Album