Customer Reviews

Essential Jimmie Rodgers

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I bought this about a year ago. Although I was 56, and had been a country music fan for 50 years, I had never owned any Jimmie Rodgers' records, and neither had my parents. In fact, I don't think I had heard a full song by Jimmie in my life. Boy, was I missing something! The man would have been a country superstar in any era, he just happened to be first, in the 1920's. This is consistently interesting material, wonderfully recorded and preserved. "Waitin'for a Train" has not been done better by any of the scores of artists who have covered it in the 70+years since Jimmie sang it. If you like country, western, folk, singer-songwriter stuff, blues or historically important sessions, buy this CD.

"The Essential Jimmie Rodgers" is highly recommended for any serious country music fan. If anyone is the genuine article, it is Jimmie. Listeners will recognize some old favorites among the tracks including "Frankie and Johnny", "Mule Skinner Blues" and "T for Texas". There are also fine versions of "Waitin' for A Train" and "In the Jailhouse Now" though some may prefer Jerry Lee Lewis' version of the former and the Webb Pierce recording of the latter. The most interesting tracks are less well known. These include "My Old Pal", "My Old Sunny South by the Sea" and one devoted not to a mother but a father (!)-"Daddy and Home". For this reviewer, the album hit its high point on the final track, a mournful "TB Blues", a reference to the disease that took Jimmie's life at 35. While Jimmie's yodeling style may not be for everyone, this reviewer considers this album a safe bet. Keep in mind that JR was elected to both the Country and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Further, the "Essential" series of albums rarely disappoints. These almost always sponsor well- produced compilations of our past heroes best efforts. "The Essential Jimmie Rodgers" certainly falls into that category.

Nicely done CD. It's really hard to boil down what tracks are essential by Jimmie, but BMG didn't do a half bad job with this. I would have opted for some material like "Jimmie The Kid", "Travellin' Blues" or "The Wonderful City" in addition to the selections on here, but maybe we can get a volume II? Classic country at it's best.

Jimmie Rodgers, AKA the Mississippi Blue Yodeler, is a favorite of mine and this is an excellent collection of his work. There are plenty of songs devoted to mothers, but how many do you know of for fathers? There's one on this album -- "Daddy and Home." As an emigrant to California from the frigid climes of Minnesota, I appreciate "California Blues" with the line "I'm going to California where they sleep out every night." That's a bit of an exaggeration, but I like the sentiment. Rodgers' songs are often poignant; among the examples here are "I'm Lonely and Blue" and "My Old Pal." "My Old Pal" always brings back memories of friends from long ago. My all-time favorite Jimmie Rodger song is the plaintive "Waiting for a Train." All in all, this is an excellent collection.

Jimmie is "The Father of Country Music" and this collection of his best songs proves that. This collection covers all of the different kinds of music he has recorded, lots of the "Blue Yodel" recordings are included as well as many of other classics like "Away Out On That Mountain,""Waiting For a Train,""In The Jailhouse Now," (which was later a huge hit for Webb Pierce),"Daddy & Home," plus lots more. 20 tracks in all. I recommend this music to all of the fans out there as it is very adequate for most people (the people who don't want to invest in Rounder's series of complete Jimmie Rodgers recordings who want just an excellent summary of his great work), as the title of the collection and the title of this review says it all.

I know three Jimmie Rodgers collections well, the five-CD collection RECORDINGS 1927-1933, the Bear box set THE SINGING BRAKEMAN, and the single disc THE ESSENTIAL JIMMIE RODGERS. Each of these collections is flawed in its own way. RECORDINGS 1927-1933 is on the surface of things a great bargain, in that you get very nearly all of Rodgers's recordings in a single inexpensive set. Unfortunately, the sound quality isn't nearly as good as the other two compilations. THE SINGING BRAKEMAN is hands down the finest collection, with all of the extant recordings, a very nice booklet, and great sound, but it is prohibitively expensive, at the moment that I write this review nearly $190. If money is no object, then by all means get this one. The third collection that I know well is this one, THE ESSENTIAL JIMMIE RODGERS. It is very good sonically and features 20 of his best known songs. Its problem is not that it isn't good; but that he has vastly more than 20 very good songs. There are far, far more "essential" recordings than that.

What is not at issue is the quality of the music. Even on the two large collections there is surprisingly little dross in Jimmie Rodgers's recordings. I find that every disc stands up marvelously to relistenings. Even Rodgers's very first cuts were decent. The majority are excellent, and more than a handful were superb. And there is a remarkable diversity. Although a large number of the cuts are solo performances with Rodgers playing only guitar, a large number feature a wide variety of accompaniments. The most famous is, of course, "Standing on the Corner," recorded in Hollywood with Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet as only he could. Many of the other cuts feature weak or average players, but there are the occasional cuts with exceptionally fine players. But in everyone Rodgers dominates.

While there are very few weak musical cuts, this collection does happily leave off the intensely horrifying "The Pullman Porters," a skit that is included on the Bear THE SINGING BRAKEMAN box set, in which two white men, one of them unfortunately Jimmie Rodgers, parody black Pullman Porters. Even when factoring in that it was humor that was typical of the age, it hardly excuses Rodgers for engaging in painfully racist humor. And "racist" is absolutely the correct word. Most accusations of racism these days involve incidents that can usually be debated. But this comedic skit is vastly more offensive than Michael Richards's celebrated tirade. It isn't just Rodgers mimicking African-Americans or the loose use of the N-word, but the way that the porters, especially the porter that Rodgers is talking to, are presented as complete and abject idiots. The skit is also extremely embarrassing to whites. It pains me that whites might have found this funny. This skit reflects very, very badly on the whites of the period.

Speaking of whites of the period, one thing that I often thing about in listening to Rodgers is my grandfather. After being mustered out of the Army in 1918 at the end of the Great War, my grandfather (who was a photographer for the army) began working for the U.S. Post Office. Specifically, he worked on mail trains. As far as I can tell, he mainly worked runs into Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana from 1919 through the late 1920s. Rodgers finished working on the railroads around 1923 or 1924. There is absolutely no way of telling for sure, but it doesn't seem unlikely that Rodgers and my grandfather might have been on a run together at some point. They certainly inhabited the same worlds. What is more, my grandfather was a fiddle player. It would have been so sweet if my grandfather and Rodgers had had a talk about music. I don't know if they ever met or were even on the same trains, but it certainly isn't impossible.

Of the three Jimmie Rodgers's collections with which I am familiar, I am not sure which I would most recommend. RECORDINGS 1927-33 is nearly as complete as THE SINGING BRAKEMAN and can be had for a sixth of the cost, but it definitely is not of the same quality. On the other hand, THE SINGING BRAKEMAN is so absurdly expensive! There is a significant difference in sound quality, but even more of a difference in price. THE ESSENTIAL JIMMIE RODGERS has exceptionally fine sound quality, but it leaves off way, way too many of Rodgers's most important recordings. It lacks such important gems as "Standing on the Corner" (the collaboration with Louis Armstrong), "Home Call," "Peach Picking Time in Georgia," "Long Tall Mama Blues," and "Jimmie's Mean Mama Blues," along with many others. In short, there is no easy recommendation about which direction to go in getting the right Jimmie Rodgers collection. THE ESSENTIAL is too small, 1927-33 is too inferior, and THE SINGING BRAKEMAN is too expensive. But right now, those are our choices.

My dad had a scratched, old 45 single with "Jailhouse Now" and "Muleskinner Blues" which we used to listen to in the early '60s. Jimmie's music evokes the smell of Camel cigarettes, bacon frying, the warmth of standing in front of a fireplace, and lively games of checkers played as a child.

Listen, and times long past will live again.

"The Essential Jimmie Rodgers" is highly recommended for any serious country music fan. If anyone is the genuine article, it is Jimmie. Listeners will recognize some old favorites among the tracks including "Frankie and Johnny", "Mule Skinner Blues" and "T for Texas". There are also fine versions of "Waitin' for A Train" and "In the Jailhouse Now" though some may prefer Jerry Lee Lewis' version of the former and the Webb Pierce recording of the latter. The most interesting tracks are less well known. These include "My Old Pal", "My Old Sunny South by the Sea" and one devoted not to a mother but a father (!)-"Daddy and Home". For this reviewer, the album hit its high point on the final track, a mournful "TB Blues", a reference to the disease that took Jimmie's life at 35. While Jimmie's yodeling style may not be for everyone, this reviewer considers this album a safe bet. Keep in mind that JR was elected to both the Country and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Further, the "Essential" series of albums rarely disappoints. These almost always sponsor well- produced compilations of our past heroes best efforts. "The Essential Jimmie Rodgers" certainly falls into that category.

I remember listening to Jimmie with my dad when I was a little kid. The times weren't easy back than. So it wasn't hard for people to relate to his kind of Blues music, it touched there hearts, gave them comfort. Hearing his music today reminds me of those times. How simple they were and how Essential his music was even back than.

Wonderful stuff. Jimmie Rodgers singing comes through crystal clear. The sound is excellent considering these songs were recorded in the 20's.