6 4 JIMMIE

WHY WE LOVE JIMMIE RODGERS
One man with a guitar changed our listening-
with his blue yodel he could engage every ear
With his original songs ,he shared traditions-
slave songs,train songs,blues ,hobo and cowboy-
from which "country"music sprang fresh and clear
as a voice of the people who sang to their hearts
of trains and love and bar rooms and jailhouses
he became our"singing brakeman" right to the TB end
He built a home in Kerrville and was a Blue Bonnet Mason
He was the first inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame
His records sold millions.He toured with Will Rogers
His signature tune"T for Texas!"still resonates
He has influenced a pantheon of poets and singer-songwriters
His songs are covered every day.127 recorded in his brief 35 years
He came from a time of trains and left us with carriages of memories
That is why we still love Jimmie-one voice lifts all others to sing-
T for Texas,T for Tennessee!"I'm in the jailhouse now..."

JIMMIE RODGERS IN BLACK&WHITE
One man with a guitar and one voice
that could yodel its way into your art.
He could play banjo and ukelele
but his songs were for voice and guitar
See him for nine minutes and three songs
His blues chords and vocalizing hold you
even though that was 80 years ago-and in black and white
His image-thin,pale,wan .As if his life was struggle
knowing his end was certain.Radio and recordings
remind us of his originality.He loved Texas
had a home in our Hill Country/a radio show in San Antone
Such love animates more than image
His songs still move hearts.Even over 80 years
Even in black and white

JIMMIE RODGERS 1933-2010
Now that he has gone,we value his songs
Voice and guitar,haunting and strong
words from the first Great Depression in our time
singing of hobos and homeless,bar rooms and jail times
He was the first to popularize yodeling
in records that sold in the millions
He made the first music film clip(3 songs,9 minutes)
He merged slave songs,blues,cowboy into country
before there was such a category!
He put all his passion into song and entertaining
filled his brief life with us now-his heritage lives on
from Doc Watson to Bob Dylan-simple and strong
He was the first to love America into song.

BLUES FOR JIMMIE
You went out in a rainstorm
Your tent got blown away
You caught TB/consumption came to stay
Nothing on this earth
could make you cease to play
You sang of TB(and the TB blues
You sang of TB with those TB blues
when your woman poured likker on your back
you licked it through and through
You would not let TB slow you down
You would not let TB knock you down
You sang even when you couldn't hold that guitar hand
You wanted to die singing-that was all you planned
Well,you sang and rambled,told your own life song
You sang till your body simply wound right down
Now we sing for you,buried in the ground.

JIMMIE LOVED TEXAS
Texas loved Jimmie back
Jimmie sang of Texas
Yodeling down the railroad track
He built a home in Kerrville
was on San Antone radio map
His songs of travel endeared him to us all
He was of the people,unique, individual
His influence can be heard at Kerrville Folk Festivals
Now it seems so simple-to sing lyrics of your life
strum a guitar ,yodel ,laugh and smile
If that were the case,there'd be Jimmies every single mile
His passion for sharing led him to the blues
He learned at the feet of those who taught him tunes
which he then turned into memorable melodies
still sung by folk artists both wide and deep
Here's a tune for Jimmie-one he never wrote
To remind us of his heritage (a yodeling throat)
To praise the Texas that we love-the only one we know
and to remember Jimmie as we go...

JIMMIE RODGERS BLUES
I ran away from home to sing my life away
I was brought back my father but i could not stay
i worked on the railroad until my health finally failed
My marriage broke up,so i married again
My daughter died,my banjo i pawned
to get to her funeral-yes,we were poor
My second daughter died within a year or three
i sang the blues because that was the truth of me
Blues pursued both me and my family
I recorded songs when my band broke up
i met the Carter Family (that was a stroke of luck)
to live as an singer took everything i got
Consumption caught me /could not stop my song
My life intense(although i did not live long)
Remember me a yodeling along!
What you call "country"was my own life song..