Search - Various Artists :: Songs of Jimmie Rodgers - Tribute

Hope To The Vanquished,Humility To The Mighty

prisrob | New EnglandUSA | 10/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""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

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Learning Experience

Wanda Carvell | Tennessee | 03/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."