人们把吉米·罗杰斯称为“乡村音乐之父”，因为在他作为歌手、作曲家和吉他手在1927年登上歌坛之前，乡村音乐主要是指一些管弦乐队，演出的影响力相对较小。而由于罗杰斯的出现，乡村音乐红火的发展起来，并且从此继续下去。 罗杰斯的声音和演唱风格不但吸引了听众，也改变了乡村音乐的实质，他的唱片融合了乡村曲调和布鲁斯音乐，使他在逝世53年后被选入“摇滚音乐名人堂”。罗杰斯的唱片由各种乐器伴奏，从夏威夷吉他到爵士乐队，到墨西哥乐队，形成了一种“大杂烩”的音乐风格，然而最终为乡村音乐所接受。他的舒情曲调从感伤的到淫猥的，从完全个人的到南方农村社会生活，罗杰斯为几代音乐家的艺术典范。罗杰斯原名为詹姆斯·查尔斯·罗杰斯，1897年9月8日出生于密西西比州的梅里迪恩，父亲是一名铁路工人。年轻的罗杰斯爱好音乐，常听布鲁斯、灵歌和民间歌谣，并且学会了唱和弹吉他和班卓琴，12岁时赢得了本地的一次“天才儿童比赛。”3年以后，他从家出走，开始了一段长时期的巡回演唱，并且做些铁路上的零活补充生活费用。1924年他患上了肺病，在当时这无疑是宣判了死刑，幸好过了几年病慢慢减轻了。罗杰斯不得不停止干体力活，决心完全从事音乐。1927年罗杰斯在北卡罗连那州的阿希维尔参加了一支乐队，后来他又听说维克多唱片公司要在田纳西州的布里斯托尔录制唱片，于是他和乐队在当年8月份赶到布里斯托尔。可是在布里斯托尔，乐队和他分手了，但他仍在那儿录制了他的首张唱片，结果一炮打响。歌曲《战士的心上人》登上了当时的排行榜，名列第9。罗杰斯后来又被邀请在11月份到维克多公司在新泽西州的录音棚录制他的第一张唱片《约德尔布鲁斯》，唱片推出后销量很好,并在排行榜上名列第2。他充分地利用随后的这几年来推销自己，在公众中树立了一个“唱歌的制动手”的形象，并用在铁路上的经历所写的歌曲来打动当时被经济大萧条所困扰的美国公众。他在轻松歌剧中演出，并在帐篷中、电台上演唱，并在1927年拍了一部电影短片，影片名字就是《唱歌的制动手》，在影片中他演唱了好几支歌。从1929年到1933年罗杰斯录制了一百一十首歌，他拥有了财富，修建了“约德尔布鲁斯宫殿”作为他的住宅，购置了豪华的汽车，这一切和他不久前的狼狈生活形成了鲜明的对比。罗杰斯后来因疾病而衰弱，但仍录制新的歌曲。在1933年5 月26日罗杰斯在纽约塔夫饭店去世。1961年吉米。罗杰斯被选入“乡村音乐名人堂” 。by David VinopalHis brass plaque in the Country Music Hall of Fame reads, Jimmie Rodgers name stands foremost in the country music field as the man who started it all. This is a fair assessment. The Singing Brakeman and the Mississippi Blue Yodeler, whose six-year career was cut short by tuberculosis, became the first nationally known star of country music and the direct influence of many later performers, from Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, and Hank Williams to Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard. Rodgers sang about rounders and gamblers, bounders and ramblers — and he knew what he sang about. At age 14 he went to work as a railroad brakeman, and on the rails he stayed until a pulmonary hemorrhage sidetracked him to the medicine show circuit in 1925. The years with the trains harmed his health but helped his music. In an era when Rodgers contemporaries were singing only mountain and mountain/folk music, he fused hillbilly country, gospel, jazz, blues, pop, cowboy, and folk; and many of his best songs were his compositions, including TB Blues, Waiting for a Train, Travelin Blues, Train Whistle Blues, and his 13 blue yodels. Although Rodgers wasnt the first to yodel on records, his style was distinct from all the others. His yodel wasnt merely sugar-coating on the song, it was as important as the lyric, mournful and plaintive or happy and carefree, depending on a songs emotional content. His instrumental accompaniment consisted sometimes of his guitar only, while at other times a full jazz band (horns and all) backed him up. Country fans could have asked for no better hero/star — someone who thought what they thought, felt what they felt, and sang about the common person honestly and beautifully. In his last recording session, Rodgers was so racked and ravaged by tuberculosis that a cot had to be set up in the studio, so he could rest before attempting that one song more. No wonder Rodgers is to this day loved by country music fans.The youngest son of a railroad man, Rodgers was born and raised in Meridian, MS. Following his mothers death in 1904, he and his older brother went to live with their mothers sister, where he first became interested in music. Rodgers aunt was a former teacher who held degrees in music and English, and she exposed him to a number of different styles of music, including vaudeville, pop, and dancehall. Though he was attracted to music, he was a mischievous boy and often got into trouble. When he returned to his fathers care in 1911, Rodgers ran wild, hanging out in pool halls and dives, yet he never got into any serious trouble. When he was 12, he experienced his first taste of fame when he sang Steamboat Bill at a local talent contest. Rodgers won the concert and, inspired by his success, decided to head out on the road in his own traveling tent show. His father immediately tracked him down and brought him back home, yet he ran away again, this time joining a medicine show. The romance of performing with the show wore off by the time his father hunted him down. Given the choice of school or the railroad, Rodgers chose to join his father on the tracks.For the next ten years, Rodgers worked on the railroad, performing a variety of jobs along the South and West Coasts. In May of 1917, he married Sandra Kelly after knowing her for only a handful of weeks; by the fall, they had separated, even though she was pregnant (their daughter died in 1938). Two years later they officially divorced, and around the same time, he met Carrie Williamson, a preachers daughter. Rodgers married Carrie in April of 1920 while she was still in high school. Shortly after their marriage, Rodgers was laid off by the New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad, and he began performing various blue-collar jobs, looking for opportunities to sing. Over the next three years, the couple was plagued with problems, ranging from financial to health — the second of their two daughters died of diphtheria six months after her birth in 1923. By that time, Rodgers had begun to regularly play in traveling shows, and he was on the road at the time of her death. Though these years were difficult, they were important in the development of Rodgers musical style as he began to develop his distinctive blue yodel and worked on his guitar skills.In 1924, Rodgers was diagnosed with tuberculosis, but instead of heeding the doctors warning about the seriousness of the disease, he discharged himself from the hospital to form a trio with fiddler Slim Rozell and his sister-in-law Elsie McWilliams. Rodgers continued to work on the railroad and perform blackface comedy with medicine shows while he sang. Two years after being diagnosed with TB, he moved his family out to Tucson, AZ, believing the change in location would improve his health. In Tucson, he continued to sing at local clubs and events. The railroad believed these extracurricular activities interfered with his work and fired him. Moving back to Meridian, Rodgers and Carrie lived with her parents before he moved away to Asheville, NC, in 1927. Rodgers was going to work on the railroad, but his health was so poor he couldnt handle the labor; he would never work the rails again. Instead, he began working as a janitor and a cab driver, singing on a local radio station and events as well. Soon, he moved to Johnson City, TN, where he began singing with the string band the Tenneva Ramblers. Prior to Rodgers, the group had existed as a trio, but he persuaded the members to become his backing band because he had a regular show in Asheville. The Ramblers relented, and the groups name took second billing to Rodgers, and the group began playing various concerts in addition to the radio show. Eventually, Rodgers heard that Ralph Peer, an RCA talent scout, was recording hillbilly and string bands in Bristol, TN. Rodgers convinced the band to travel to Bristol, but on the eve of the audition, they had a huge argument about the proper way they should be billed, resulting in the Tenneva Ramblers breaking away from Rodgers. He went to the audition as a solo artist, and Peer recorded two songs — the old standards The Soldiers Sweetheart and Sleep, Baby, Sleep — after rejecting Rodgers signature song, T for Texas.Released in October of 1927, the record was not a hit, but Victor did agree to record Rodgers again, this time as a solo artist. In November of 1927, he cut four songs, including T for Texas. Retitled Blue Yodel upon its release, the song became a huge hit and one of only a handful of early country records to sell a million copies. Shortly after its release, Rodgers and Carrie moved to Washington, where he began appearing on a weekly local radio show billed as the Singing Brakeman. Though Blue Yodel was a success, its sales grew steadily throughout early 1928, which meant that the couple wasnt able to reap the financial benefits until the end of the year. By that time, Rodgers had recorded several more singles, including the hits Way Out on the Mountain, Blue Yodel No. 4, Waiting for a Train, and In the Jailhouse Now. On various sessions, Peer experimented with Rodgers backing band, occasionally recording him with two other string instrumentalists and recording his solo as well. Over the next two years, Peer and Rodgers tried out a number of different backing bands, including a jazz group featuring Louis Armstrong, orchestras, and a Hawaiian combo.By 1929, Rodgers had become an official star, as his concerts became major attractions and his records consistently sold well. During 1929, he made a small film called The Singing Brakeman, recorded many songs, and toured throughout the country. Though his activity kept his star shining and the money rolling in, his health began to decline under all the stress. Nevertheless, he continued to plow forward, recording numerous songs and building a large home in Kerrville, TX, as well as working with Will Rogers on several fundraising tours for the Red Cross that were designed to help those suffering from the Depression. By the middle of 1931, the Depression was beginning to affect Rodgers as well, as his concert bookings decreased dramatically and his records stopped selling. Despite the financial hardships, Rodgers continued to record.Not only did the Great Depression cut into Rodgers career, but so did his poor health. He had to decrease the number of concerts he performed in both 1931 and 1932, and by 1933, his health affected his recording and forced him to cancel plans for several films. Despite his condition, he refused to stop performing, telling his wife that I want to die with my shoes on. By early 1933, the family was running short on money, and he had to perform anywhere he could — including vaudeville shows and nickelodeons — to make ends meet. For a while he performed on a radio show in San Antonio, but in February he collapsed and was sent to the hospital. Realizing that he was close to death, he convinced Peer to schedule a recording session in May. Rodgers used that session to provide needed financial support for his family. At that session, Rodgers was accompanied by a nurse and rested on a cot in between songs. Two days after the sessions were completed, he died of a lung hemorrhage on May 26, 1933. Following his death, his body was taken to Meridian by train, riding in a converted baggage car. Hundreds of country fans awaited the bodys arrival in Meridian, and the train blew its whistle consistently throughout its journey. For several days after the body arrived in Rodgers hometown, it lay in state as hundreds, if not thousands, of people paid tribute to the departed musician.The massive display of affection at Rodgers funeral services indicated what a popular and beloved star he was during his time. His influence wasnt limited to the 30s, however. Throughout country musics history, echoes of Rodgers can be heard, from Hank Williams to Merle Haggard. In 1961, Rodgers became the first artist inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame; 25 years later, he was inducted as a founding father at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though both honors are impressive, they only give a small indication of what Rodgers accomplished — and how he affected the history of country music by making it a viable, commercially popular medium — during his lifetime.