T for Texas

Jimmie “The Singing Brakeman” Rodgers was born outside Meridian, MS, but he staked his claim to country music fame smack dab in the middle of Appalachia. In 1924 Rodgers started singing in traveling shows, vaudeville shows, medicine shows, and various other productions. Radio listeners in Asheville, NC heard his first performances in that medium in 1927, and he recorded his first songs in Bristol, VA.  Although he made records for only six years, between 1927 and his death at age 36 from tuberculosis in 1933, Rodgers recorded more than 100 songs. “T for Texas,” also known as “Blue Yodel No. 1,” became his signature tune and was the first of 13 tunes in his “Blue Yodel” series. Rodgers was the first inductee into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1961.