Meeting Jimmie Rodgers

<p>In <em>Meeting Jimmie Rodgers</em> the first book to explore the deep legacy of "The Singing Brakeman" from a twenty-first century perspective Barry Mazor offers a lively look at Rodgers' career tracing his rise from working-class obscurity to the pinnacle of renown that came with such hits as "Blue Yodel" and "In the Jailhouse Now." As Mazor shows Rodgers brought emotional clarity and a unique sense of narrative drama to every song he performed whether tough or sentimental comic or sad. His wistful singing falsetto yodels bold flat-picking guitar style and sometimes censorable themes--sex crime and other edgy topics--set him apart from most of his contemporaries. But more than anything else Mazor suggests it was Rodgers' shape-shifting ability to assume many public personas--working stiff decked-out cowboy suave ladies' man--that connected him to such a broad public and set the stage for the stars who followed him. In reconstructing this far-flung legacy Mazor enables readers to meet Rodgers and his music anew-not as an historical figure but as a vibrant immediate force.</p>