Les débuts (1933) | Country Music : une histoire populaire des Etats-Unis (1/9) | ARTE
Summary
TLDRCette transcription raconte l'histoire d'un individu qui a déménagé à Nashville à 19 ans et a travaillé comme guide touristique au Country Music Hall of Fame. Cela lui a permis d'explorer profondément la musique country, en apprenant son histoire et en découvrant des influences diverses. Il décrit comment la musique country est un mélange d'éléments culturels variés, provenant de traditions africaines, européennes et américaines. L'histoire explore également les débuts de la musique country commerciale, mettant en lumière des figures emblématiques comme Fiddlin' John Carson et Jimmy Rogers, et l'impact de la radio et des enregistrements sur la popularité de ce genre musical.
Takeaways
- 🎸 Lors de son arrivée à Nashville à 19 ans, le narrateur a travaillé comme guide au Country Music Hall of Fame, ce qui lui a permis d'apprendre l'histoire de la musique country.
- 🎨 Le narrateur décrit une peinture de Thomas Hart Benton intitulée 'Sources de la musique country', représentant divers éléments de la culture américaine qui ont influencé la musique country.
- 🎶 La musique country est considérée comme la 'musique de l'âme' des blancs, racontant des histoires simples et honnêtes qui touchent profondément les gens.
- 🎤 Les thèmes récurrents de la musique country incluent l'amour, la trahison, la lutte, la boisson, les camionnettes et la famille, avec parfois des chansons traitant de la mort et de la violence.
- 📻 Le narrateur évoque l'impact de la radio et de la technologie sur la diffusion de la musique country, notamment les premières émissions de radio dans les années 1920.
- 🪕 La musique country est un mélange d'influences diverses, y compris les ballades irlandaises, les hymnes, les compositions de Tin Pan Alley, les spectacles de minstrels et le blues afro-américain.
- 🌄 Les sessions d'enregistrement de Bristol en 1927, dirigées par Ralph Peer, ont marqué un tournant décisif pour la musique country en découvrant des talents comme la famille Carter et Jimmie Rodgers.
- 🚂 Jimmie Rodgers, connu comme le 'chantant chef de train', a contribué de manière significative à la popularisation de la musique country avec son style unique mélangeant yodel et blues.
- 🌾 La famille Carter est reconnue pour avoir capturé et préservé les chansons traditionnelles des montagnes, formant la base de la musique country moderne.
- 🎼 La musique country continue d'évoluer et d'accueillir de nouveaux styles et artistes, tout en reflétant les expériences et les émotions des Américains ordinaires, en particulier pendant les périodes difficiles.
Q & A
Quelle a été la première occupation de la narratrice à Nashville?
-Elle a travaillé comme guide touristique au Country Music Hall of Fame.
Quel était le tableau préféré de la narratrice au musée?
-Son tableau préféré était 'The Sources of Country Music' de Thomas Hart Benton.
Pourquoi la narratrice considère-t-elle la musique country comme 'la musique de l'âme de l'homme blanc'?
-Parce qu'elle croit que la musique country vient du cœur et de l'âme, et qu'elle exprime des émotions profondes.
Quels sont quelques thèmes communs dans les chansons country selon la narratrice?
-L'amour, la trahison, la douleur, la lutte, la boisson, les camionnettes, et la famille.
Comment la musique country a-t-elle influencé la vie de John Carson?
-John Carson a commencé à gagner de l'argent en jouant du violon lors de danses et à la radio, ce qui lui a permis de devenir célèbre et de faire des performances rémunérées.
Qu'est-ce que Ralph Pier a fait pour populariser la musique country?
-Il a enregistré des artistes comme John Carson et a découvert de nouveaux talents, aidant ainsi à lancer la musique country sur le marché commercial.
Quel impact la radio WSB a-t-elle eu sur la carrière de John Carson?
-La radio WSB a permis à John Carson de toucher un public plus large, augmentant ainsi sa popularité et ses opportunités de performance.
Pourquoi le terme 'hillbilly music' était-il controversé?
-Parce que certains artistes le trouvaient péjoratif et offensant, même s'il aidait à vendre des disques.
Quels instruments sont mentionnés comme ayant des influences africaines dans la musique country?
-Le banjo, qui vient d'Afrique, et le fiddle, qui a des influences britanniques et européennes.
Comment la famille Carter a-t-elle contribué au développement de la musique country?
-La famille Carter a enregistré des chansons traditionnelles et a influencé de nombreux artistes futurs avec leurs enregistrements des années 1920.
Outlines
🎶 La bénédiction de Nashville
À 19 ans, en déménageant à Nashville, l'auteur trouve un emploi de guide touristique au Country Music Hall of Fame. Cette opportunité lui permet d'explorer profondément la musique country et d'étudier son histoire, notamment à travers la peinture 'Sources of Country Music' de Thomas Hart Benton. La musique country est décrite comme l'expression de l'âme blanche américaine, capable de s'adapter à toutes les émotions humaines.
🎻 Fiddlin' John Carson et l'émergence de la musique country
Dans les années 1920, Fiddlin' John Carson passe de joueur de violon amateur dans des danses locales à vedette radio grâce à WSB, la première station de radio du Sud. Carson devient rapidement une célébrité régionale et enregistre des disques populaires, démontrant un marché florissant pour la musique old-time.
🎼 Les racines africaines de la musique country
La musique country est influencée par une riche diversité culturelle, y compris les racines africaines. Les interactions musicales entre les Noirs et les Blancs dans le Sud des États-Unis sont essentielles à la formation du genre. Bien que les contributions afro-américaines aient souvent été oubliées professionnellement, leur impact reste indéniable.
📻 Les spectacles radiophoniques et l'essor de la musique country
Les spectacles radiophoniques des années 1920, tels que WLS à Chicago et WSM à Nashville, jouent un rôle crucial dans la popularisation de la musique country. Émissions comme le 'Grand Ole Opry' permettent à la musique country de toucher un public large et diversifié, renforçant ainsi la vente de disques et d'assurances.
🎤 L'impact de Ralph Peer et la naissance de la musique country commerciale
Ralph Peer, producteur chez Victor Talking Machine Company, adopte une approche innovante en offrant aux artistes une part des droits d'auteur. Il découvre des talents majeurs comme Ernest Stoneman, la Carter Family, et Jimmy Rogers, contribuant à l'essor de la musique country commerciale.
👨👩👧👦 La famille Carter et l'enregistrement historique de Bristol
La Carter Family, composée de A.P. Carter, sa femme Sarah, et sa belle-sœur Maybelle, enregistre pour la première fois à Bristol en 1927. Leur musique, ancrée dans les ballades traditionnelles et les hymnes religieux, devient un pilier de la musique country.
🚂 Jimmy Rogers et le cheminement du chanteur vagabond
Jimmy Rogers, de Meridian, Mississippi, combine ses expériences de vie et influences musicales variées pour devenir une figure emblématique de la musique country. Ses chansons, souvent inspirées du blues afro-américain, captivent le public par leur authenticité et leur style unique de yodel.
🎤 Le succès et la carrière météorique de Jimmy Rogers
En enregistrant à Bristol avec Ralph Peer, Jimmy Rogers pose les bases de sa carrière florissante. Malgré la tuberculose, il continue de produire des hits et de se produire en public, marquant durablement l'industrie de la musique country.
💰 Les gains et les dépenses de Jimmy Rogers
Avec ses premiers succès, Jimmy Rogers commence à gagner des royalties importantes qu'il dépense rapidement en biens de luxe. Il devient une icône publique, incarnant l'esprit de la classe ouvrière tout en appréciant les fruits de sa célébrité.
🎬 Les derniers enregistrements et la fin tragique de Jimmy Rogers
En 1933, malgré une santé déclinante due à la tuberculose, Jimmy Rogers continue d'enregistrer et de se produire jusqu'à sa mort à l'âge de 35 ans. Son héritage perdure à travers ses nombreuses chansons réinterprétées par les générations suivantes.
🎙️ Le legs de Jimmy Rogers et l'évolution de la musique country
Après la mort de Jimmy Rogers, la musique country continue d'évoluer et de prospérer, influencée par les fondations posées par Rogers et la Carter Family. Leur impact se reflète dans les styles et les artistes qui suivent, assurant la pérennité de la musique country dans la culture américaine.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Nashville
💡Country Music Hall of Fame
💡Thomas Hart Benton
💡Sources of Country Music
💡Harlon Howard
💡WSB
💡Ralph Peer
💡Fiddlin' John Carson
💡Hillbilly Music
💡Grand Ole Opry
Highlights
Moving to Nashville at 19 and working as a tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame provided valuable exposure to country music history.
The painting 'Sources of Country Music' by Thomas Hart Benton vividly depicts the diverse origins of country music.
Country music's themes cover a wide range of emotions and experiences, including love, hardship, and everyday life.
Country music is described as 'three chords and the truth,' emphasizing its straightforward and honest storytelling.
John Carson, a Georgia factory worker, became a key figure in early country music through his performances on Atlanta's WSB radio station.
Ralph Pier's decision to record John Carson in 1923 marked a significant moment in the commercialization of country music.
The interplay between African-American and white musical traditions is a foundational element of country music.
The term 'hillbilly music' emerged in the 1920s as a marketing label for country music, despite its derogatory connotations.
Radio stations, like WLS in Chicago and WSM in Nashville, played crucial roles in popularizing country music through programs like the National Barn Dance and the Grand Ole Opry.
Ralph Pier's Bristol sessions in 1927, featuring acts like the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, were pivotal in shaping the future of country music.
The Carter Family's recordings are considered foundational, with their simple, timeless melodies and heartfelt lyrics.
Jimmie Rodgers' blend of blues and yodeling introduced a unique sound that greatly influenced future country music artists.
Jimmie Rodgers' life and career, marked by constant movement and personal struggles, resonate with themes of adventure and hardship in country music.
The impact of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family on country music is profound, inspiring countless artists across generations.
The evolving industry of country music continues to reflect the experiences and emotions of everyday Americans, maintaining its relevance and appeal.
Transcripts
[Music]
when I first moved to Nashville I was 19
I was too young to wait
tables so I got a job as a tour guide at
the Country Music Hall of
Fame and it turned out to be such a
blessing because I got I got to listen
to so much music all day every day I got
to I it was my job to learn the history
of country music we had this painting in
the museum called the sources of country
music the last painting of Thomas Hart
Benton I had to tell people about it I
hung out with this painting a lot
looking at his painting is like looking
at an old friend for me so it shows the
barn dances it shows the railroad river
boats the gospel
choirs the lap dlers
and the
fiddles and it shows the Cowboys and the
banjo coming from Africa and the slaves
and how all of this came
together it's just a beautiful thing to
look at because it's the it's the
closest thing visually really to what
country music sounds
like it's so colorful there's so much
energy in
[Music]
it well well to me it's Soul music it's
uh probably the white man's Soul
music and it comes from the
heart I believe that you can go look and
find a country song to fit any mood
you're
in any song uh that will help you feel
better sometime it might make you cry
but you'll feel better you can find that
song that's what I
believe love and chea and Hur and
fighting drink and pickup trucks and
mother you also have to hand in there a
few uh death murder Mayhem suicide you
know songs you know that are
real I think it's just simple ways of
telling stories experiencing and
expressing
feelings you can dance to it you can cry
to it you can make love to it you can
play it at a funeral you can it's just
really has something in it for everybody
and people relate to
it it's about those things that we
believe in but we can't see like dreams
and songs and
souls they're hanging around here and
different songwriters reach up and get
them country music comes from right in
here this heart and soul that we all
have it's great music that really hits
us because we're all
human country music the songwriter
harlon Howard said is three chords and
the
truth truth telling which country music
at its best is truth-telling even when
it's a big fat
lie it's what American folk music has
come to be called when it followed the
path of um of the fiddle and the
banjo all of American music comes from
the same place it's just sort of where
it ends up and country music is one of
the
[Music]
destinations
[Music]
oh
yeah
[Music]
country by the early 1920s a Georgia
factory worker named John Carson had
been playing the fiddle for nearly
nearly 40 years ever since his
grandfather first gave him one at age
10 although music was his passion he had
to support his growing family working in
one of Atlanta's textile mills making
$10 a week for 660 hours of
labor but on Saturday nights in the
crowded Factory neighborhoods Carson and
his friends started to make a little
extra money playing at Square dances for
families who had migrated from their
Farms to Atlanta now one of the South's
biggest cities now I got no money
no fidlin John Carson soon began
appearing wherever an audience could be
found store openings and farm auctions
Confederate Veterans reunions and
political events ranging from kluck's
Clan Gatherings to a rally in support of
a communist
organizer in 1922 Carson's audience
expanded again thanks to a new
technology the Atlanta Journal began
operating the South's first radio
station whose call letters
WSB stood for welcome South
brother anyone who could sing whistle
recite play any kind of instrument or
merely breathe heavily was pushed in
front of the WSB microphone
none of the talent was paid but that
made no difference they trooped to WSB
to
perform and a many stayed home to
listen the radio exposure brought Carson
invitations to play at paid performances
in Country School houses and Small Town
Theaters throughout the
region until I began to play over WSB
just a few people in and around Atlanta
to new me but now my wife thinks she's a
widow most of the time because I stay
away from home so much playing around
over this part of the
country radio made
me but an older technology would now
bring Carson and his kind of music to
even more
people by age 31 Ralph Pier had risen
through the ranks of the new general
phonograph company
in June of 1923 Pier brought ok's
Engineers to
Atlanta but after recording two female
blue singers and a quartet from
Morehouse College he was introduced to
radio station wsb's new celebrity fidlin
John
Carson Pier was reluctant to record
Carson at first uncertain a market even
existed for oldtime music a year earlier
Texas Fiddler e Robertson had recorded
two songs for the powerful Victor
Talking Machine Company but they had not
sold
will Ralph Pier decided to take a chance
on fiddlin John he recorded Carson
playing an old Minstrel song The Little
Old Log Cabin in the lane romanticizing
slave
Life fidlin John Carson comes up to the
microphone and grabs his fiddle and he
busts right into a tune that he's known
all his
life I'm getting old and and I can work
no more my rusty bladed hole I've laid
to
rest all master and mistress are lying
side by side and Spirits now are roing
in the
way about the now and the dark as they
have gone
in Atlanta the record sold like hot
[Music]
cakes here realized that there was
another segment of America predominantly
white workingclass Southerners eager to
buy recordings of Music they were
familiar
with Ralph Pier began looking for other
artists like fidlin on and soon
proclaimed in an advertisement that ok
had uncovered a brand new field for
record sales and offered oldtime pieces
that were setting off he said a craze
for this hill country
[Music]
music by the 1920s slavery had been
abolished for more than half a century
but segregation was still rigidly
enforced in every aspect of life except
kep in the music that kept crossing the
racial
divide Through the Ages blacks imitating
whites imitating blacks imitating
whites you have the banjo which comes
from Africa and you have the fiddle
which comes from the British aisles and
from
Europe and when they meet they meet in
the American South and that's the big
bang African-American style was embedded
in country music from the very beginning
of its commercial
history you can't conceive of this music
existing without this African-American
infusion but then but as the music
developed professionally too often
African-Americans were forgotten country
music wasn't called that yet but it was
music of the country it was a
combination of the Irish the recently
freed slaves bringing the banjo into the
world the Spanish effects of the V down
in
Texas the Germans bringing over the
Oompa of pocco music all
converging sprouting from so many roots
old ballads and hymns tin pen alley
compositions minstral shows and
African-American Blues the music Ralph
pier and his competitors had begun
recording in the
1920s was hard to categorize or
precisely
Define but for marketing reasons the
companies needed a name for it in 1925
Ralph Pier recorded a spirited String
Band fronted by Al Hopkins in New York
City as they were leaving he asked what
name he should use for them in his
advertising Hopkins answered call us
anything we're nothing but a a bunch of
hillbillies from North Carolina and
Virginia Pier had the name he
needed soon magazines and newspapers
were referring to the entire style as
hillbilly music not every artist
appreciated the term or the way they
were often portrayed as quaint and
quirky Backwoods ha seeds the editor of
variety magazine described Hillbillies
as illiterate and ignorant poor white
trash with the intelligence of
morons hillbilly was not a funny word
one musician said it was a fighting
word it doesn't offend us hbes it's our
music but if you're an outsider and
you're saying it's hillbilly music cuz
you don't know any better it's almost
like a racist
remark if we're Hillbillies we're proud
of that but you're not allowed to say it
if you don't really know what you're
talking about or mean it but as long as
it helped sell record records many
performers were fine with it including
fidlin John Carson who had already
adopted the Persona of a country bumpkin
from North Georgia rather than the
former Atlanta mill worker he really
[Music]
was radio was
exploding there were now hundreds of
stations in every corner of the country
and to attract more listeners they all
borrowed from one of the oldest
traditions of mixing music and commerce
the traveling Medicine
Show in a medicine show you come into
town you set up in the town square and
you hawk an
Elixir you've got this remedy and you
pass out hand bills and you take
personal testimonials from Paid dudes
out there in the audience and they tell
you about how how wonderful they feel
how their dropsy went away and and how
their their sores and festering wounds
have healed because of this corn whiskey
this snake oil so you've got your
product and music is only there to push
your product music is just like the Soap
Box you stand on it's all about the
message and radio Amplified that the
radio changed
everything shenendoa Iowa had two radio
stations owned by competing Seed
stores they staged fiddle contests and
live music from groups named the
cornfield canaries and the seed house
girls in between pitches for their
products sales skyrocketed and before
long Shan andoa population 5,000 was
flooded with visitors from all over the
Midwest who wanted to watch the
broadcast in in person prompting both
companies to build ornate auditoriums
arcade shops a miniature golf course and
tourist cabins to accommodate the
crowds but they were soon eclipsed by
Sears robuk in Chicago which launched
station WLS for the world's largest
store on Saturday night April 19th
1924 WLS premiered a new show The
National barn dance it was modeled after
a square dance program already popular
in Fort Worth but the Chicago show
quickly became the biggest of its kind
in the
nation meanwhile in Nashville Tennessee
the success of stations like Chicago's
WLS and Atlanta's WSB caught the
attention of Edwin Craig the son of the
founder of National Life and Accident
Insurance Company radio station he
believed might prove an effective way to
help the company's 2500 salesmen Who
Sold lowcost sickness and burial
policies door too to working class
families in more than 20
States Edwin Craig's father was against
it my grandfather thought it was a waste
of money and time we are in the
insurance business and that's what we
should do but Edwin said oh dead let me
show you that this can sell
insurance the whole idea was to sell
insurance with his father's reluctant
permission Craig set up a studio on the
fifth floor of the company's downtown
office building with thick carpets and
pleated drapes hung from the ceiling to
improve the Acoustics they began
broadcasting on October 5th
1925 with the call letters
WSM we Shield
millions and that became the logo of the
station and it was built around a
shield we Shield
Millions Craig recruited the personable
George D hay from WLS and made him wsm's
program director though only 30 years
old hay called himself the solemn old
judge and often punctuated his
broadcasts by blowing on a wooden
Riverboat
whistle on November 28th
1925 George Haye invited an elderly
musician named Uncle Jimmy Thompson a
fiddler since before the Civil War to
perform on the
air he called his instrument old Betsy
which he said had been passed down from
his ancestors in Scotland and that night
played for a solid
hour the response persuaded hay to
schedule a regular Saturday night barn
dance on WSM using local talent willing
to work for
free within a few weeks the barn dance
had a new name the grand o
opri it would eventually become the
longest running show on American radio
and it was doing exactly what Edwin
Craig had intended reaching a far-flung
audience to help National Life sales
force hello Miss Jones I'm from the
grand old opera can I come in a few
minutes and talk to you about some
insurance your Saturday night shindig
has got my floors down to the second
Plank and I'm afraid someone will drop
through on my barrel of
preserves would you please send one of
your agents down here to ensure my
carpets floors shoes and everything
thing in connection with the
household George
[Music]
bring to Pier hillbilly music and the
blues shared common Roots but as a
businessman he was less interested in
music history and Theory than in
profits and by July of
1927 he was enjoying plenty of
them he had left his job with okay and
joined the biggest record in label in
the nation the Victor Talking Machine
Company after making them an
unprecedented offer he would work for no
salary if he could control the
copyrights of the songs and collect the
publishing
royalties then he offered his artists
something equally
unprecedented rather than buying the
copyrights outright for a nominal fee
and keeping all the royalties as most
Publishers did he would share a portion
of future royalties with them if they
had written the
song he called it a square deal one that
had been denied artists in the past and
many of his musicians were lured by the
incentive to follow him to
Victor among them was Ernest pop
Stoneman a carpenter from the Blue Ridge
section of Southwest Virginia near the
town of
GX when Stoneman had heard some of the
early hillbilly recordings in
1924 he told his wife he could sing
better than that and went to New York to
prove it on Monday
morning
[Music]
1:00 his recording for pier of the
sinking of the Titanic became one of the
biggest hits of the
day soon he was Victor's top hillbilly
artist and making enough money to buy
some land and build a new home for his
wife and growing family which would
eventually number 23
children Pier wanted to make more
recordings of Stoneman Stoneman
suggested that Pier come to him and
bring his equipment to nearby Bristol a
city which satisi the Virginia Tennessee
Border he promised that the region was
home to plenty of other
that would make the trip
worthwhile Ralph Pier had been
corresponding with pop Stoneman who said
you need to come to Bristol so that we
can capture some of this lightning in a
bottle this sound that was coming out of
the hills around GX
[Music]
Virginia pier and two Engineers arrived
in Bristol in Late July
1927 and set up up their temporary
Studio on the second floor of a vacant
building a former hat company on the
Tennessee side of Bristol's Main
Street they were using new equipment now
which greatly improved the Fidelity of
the sound an electric carbon microphone
instead of a horn that permitted
performers to sing with greater intimacy
rather than shouting to be
heard all of the equipment except the
microphone would be hidden from the
artist Stoneman and his group laid down
10 tracks but much more important to
Ralph pier and to the future of country
music would be the two acts that showed
up in Bristol the next week three
members of a family from nearby Macy
Springs Virginia named the
Carters and a former railroad Breakman
from Meridian Mississippi Jimmy Rogers
success Pier once said is the art of
Being where lightning is going to
strike it was about to strike for him
twice and in the same
location the only thing missing in the
newspaper add to me was bring your songs
bring bring your talent to the
microphones to audition whatever and
they should have added we're going to
start an industry now because that's
what
happened
The Carter family were
Elemental
coming EO the
wood it's like you know it was the atam
it was it was the beginning of the
building blocks for the rest of us and
um those first recordings uh and those
songs they were captured rather than
written
you know they they were in the
Hills like rock
formations so in 1927 those first
Bristol recordings these songs that were
part of the collective unconscious were
gathered together documented
forever with these plaintive voices and
these Elemental
guitars the Bedrock was formed for the
rest of us
Alvin Pleasant Carter was 35 years old
that summer of
1927 trying to make ends meet in the
southwest corner of Virginia in one of
the state's most impoverished counties
in an area called poor
Valley AP had been born with a paly a
slight shaking in his hands and
sometimes in his voice that his mother
blamed on a lightning bolt that had
struck the ground next to her just
before his birth although his schooling
ended when he was 10 he had learned to
play the fiddle and read the shape note
song books used in the local Methodist
Church impressing people with his Rich
Bas
voice he took a job selling fruit tree
saplings rambling for miles on foot from
Farm to
farm in
1914 after Crossing clinch Mountain to
find customers on the more erous side
called Rich Valley he heard a young
woman's clear and deep voice singing
nearby it caught his interest so did the
singer
herself Sarah Dar was barely 16 at the
time and steeped in Old Mountain ballads
and gospel
hymns a year later they
married AP brought her by wagon to a two
room cabin in poor Valley later building
a more proper home in the foothills of
clinch Mountain not far from Macy's
spring as Restless as he was ambitious
AP would be gone for weeks at a time
over the next 10 years selling his trees
while leaving Sarah to care for their
children tend the crops chop firewood
and handle all the responsibility ities
of a mountain home without his
help when he was home they sang at
church
Gatherings after one man gave Sarah $10
because he said she had the prettiest
voice I ever heard AP got the notion
they might make a little money with
their
music in 1926 a scout for the Brunswick
label appeared in the region he was
looking for a singing Fiddler and
suggested putting Sarah in the
background because he said a woman in
the lead could never be popular AP
wouldn't
agree instead he added another woman to
the group a younger cousin of Sarah's
named mayel Addington a shy teenager who
had learned to play the banjo from her
mother as well as the auto harp then she
took up the guitar and mastered
it when Maybel married ap's brother eard
the couple moved to a two-story house
less than a mile from AP and Sarah's
home in Late July of
1927 AP heard about Ralph Pier's Bristol
sessions and announced they were going
the women were reluctant at first Sarah
was still nursing her third child and
mayel now 18 was
pregnant e was against it too since his
wife was so far along but AP was
insistent persuading e to lend him his
car by promising to weed his brother's
cornfield in
exchange it took them all day to make
the 26 miles to
Bristol the next morning August 1st
1927 they auditioned for
pier as soon as I heard Sarah's voice he
recalled that was it
I knew it was going to be
[Music]
wonderful that evening the Carters
returned to record four songs beginning
with Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow an
old tune Sarah and mayel had known all
their
lives although AP hadn't written the
original Pier considered his arrangement
of it and the others they played
different enough for Carter to claim a
composer's credit
and permitting Pier to be the
[Music]
publisher I'm in
sorrow for the only one I
love when shall he see me oh no never
till we Meet in Heaven
[Music]
above and so simple right it means it's
like you've heard the melody a million
times that's one of the songs it feels
like it's always
existed if Taylor Swift or Carrie
Underwood or whoever the hottest girl of
the moment is wants to know where they
come from they need to go all the way
back to the voice of Sarah
Carter cuz she was the first one it's
Sarah then there's been everybody else
it's that
simple far as guitar playing goes
there's May Bel then there's everybody
else that's the Genesis of it
all we made it home Sarah remembered and
never thought no more about it we never
dreamed about the record business
turning out the way it did AP started
work hoing his brother's cornfield just
as he'
promised meanwhile back in Bristol Pier
was about to record someone else who
would also change hillbilly music
forever around the water tanks waiting
for a
somebody told me a story one time about
Red Foley and Bob Wills and Ernest tub
they got together one time and they were
all big Jimmy Rogers fan they said could
we could we agree on our favorite
10 top 10 Jimmy Rogers songs and they
said well said after a lot of debate and
talk said they couldn't get it down less
than
50 James Charles Rogers from Meridian
Mississippi was still a month shy of his
30th birthday in August of
1927 but he had already packed several
lifetimes into those years most of them
spent in constant
motion his mother had died by the time
he was six and his father who quickly
remarried was often absent working as a
foreman for the New Orleans and
Northeastern
railroad little Jimmy ended up in the
care of a spinster Aunt who was Charmed
by his irrepressible good humor and
indulged his adventurous Spirit he
started skipping Sunday school then
School itself preferring instead to
shoot dice with the Sho shine boys at a
local barber shop listen to traveling
salesman swap stories or haunt
meridian's theaters that offered silent
movies between Vaudeville
acts he picked up the mandal ly then the
banjo then the guitar won an amateur
contest singing Bill Bailey won't you
please come home and at age 13 ran away
for a while with a traveling Medicine
Show before his father retrieved him in
Alabama and put him to work as a water
boy for the railroads mostly black Crews
who laid and maintained the
tracks just look at the train yards
north or
southbound you can almost see and hear
Rogers and those characters that he
worked with in those
[Music]
yards and you can hear the music of
Mississippi you can hear the music of
the Old South being sung to
him almost like those field chants or
you know the labor camps or when they
were dragged
TI you can absolutely see how Jimmy
Rogers took it all
in Ho Hey
hey hey hey ho
hey off and on for the next decade he
held a series of railroad jobs flagman
baggage man and then a Breakman On The
Run between Mississippi and New
Orleans but it was never steady
work he married at age 19 was separated
in less than a year hobo around the
country then came back to Meridian and
in 1920 after his divorce came through
married Carrie Williamson the
17-year-old daughter of a Methodist
preacher 9 months later she gave birth
to
Anita when he wasn't working Jimmy
loafed around pool rooms and Rail Yards
when he was working his paychecks
quickly disappeared on tickets to shows
on every photograph record he could buy
and on a men's perfume he had discovered
in New Orleans orans black narcissus
whose scent he thought masked the harsh
smell of railroad
fumes his pockets all had holes in them
any money that went into them went right
on out
again he always declared that money was
no good until after you'd spent it then
it was good for it had furnished you and
those around you with the good things of
Life hey
it was chicken one day feathers the next
Carrie remembered but it seemed that our
chickens were mostly all
feathers Rogers joined another Traveling
Show in
1923 performing some blues numbers he'd
picked up but it was cut short when he
got called home after his and car's
six-month-old second daughter
[Music]
died a year later came more bad news
working once more for the railroad
Rogers developed a hacking cough carry
noticed Flex of blood in his
handkerchief a doctor diagnosed the
problem it was
tuberculosis at the time the leading
cause of death in the United States
there was no known
cure
sleep on the afternoon of August 4th
1927 Jimmy Rogers entered Ralph Pier
makeshift
Studio I liked him the first time I saw
him Pier
recalled Rogers sang only two tunes that
day the soldier sweetheart and Sleep
Baby
Sleep he assured Pier that with a little
more time he could come up with a lot
more then he left
town while Angels watch
during his two weeks in Bristol Pier
recorded more than two dozen performing
acts a few of them would go on to have
long careers in the music
business most would soon be
forgotten but by discovering the Carter
family and Jimmy Rogers Ralph Pier had
set the future of Country Music in
Motion I think Jimmy Rogers represent Ed
the rambling side of country
music the desire to hit the road leave
responsibilities behind to go and
experience the
world the Carter family on the other
hand embodied the sanctity of the home
and of the family particularly mother
who kept the home
together and those have been two
important impulses in country music ever
since sort of the reverse size of of the
same
coin
that November shortly after his first
recording had been released Rogers
showed up unannounced in New York City
with only $10 in his pocket he checked
into an expensive hotel showed the desk
clerk a copy of his new record and
brashley told him to charge everything
to the Victor
Company then he called Ralph Pier to say
he was ready for another
session among the four sides Rogers
recorded a few days later was one he had
strung together from a mixture of songs
he had heard over the years a standard
12 Bar Blues Melody with snatches of
borrowed lyrics that introduced Thelma
that gal that made a wreck out of me but
bragged I can get more women than a
passenger train can
haul then warned I'm going to buy me a
pistol just as long as I'm tall
and I'm going to shoot poor Thelma just
to see her jump and
fall to it he added what he called a
blue yodel something he had been
developing that also Drew from Deep
Roots the Alpine yodel that became
popular in America in the
1840s then were adapted by black and
blackface minstral singers at the turn
of the
century Jimmy Rogers was conflating the
blue
with the rural white experience and
sound and I think this went on a
lot we just don't see it until he showed
up and of course he had that little
[Music]
yodel and uh people hadn't really heard
that
before he was tacking yles onto just
about everything Carrie remembered even
his share of conversation around the
house was largely
yodel Pier released the new song Under
the title blue yodel in the spring of
1928 it was an immediate
[Music]
hit we had songs that spoken the
language they understood about subject
matter they
understood he had this wonderful ear and
this wonderful
voice and his delivery was
totally totally unheard
of I think it came out of the the black
blues and mixed him with with his yodel
and they called him the blue
[Music]
Yoder Rogers had even greater success
with a song recorded in a third session
also derived from africanamerican blues
and Jug Band musicians he's in the jail
house
now we get to go to the other side of
the tracks when we buy Jimmy Rogers
records we're able to go to those Juke
joints that we're not invited
to whether we know it or not that's
where the appeal
is in the
now in
the by Midsummer of 1928 with the
release of more songs Breakman blues and
the number peer entitled blue total
number two royalties started pouring in
$1,000 a month which Rogers spent as
quickly as they
arrived he paid $1,500 for the Jimmy
Rogers special a personalized Martin
guitar with gold inlay his name spelled
out in mother of pearl on the neck and
the word thanks in blazed on the
back he began a tour of major theaters
and auditoriums in the South making $500
a week sometimes appearing in his
railroad outfit and billing himself as
the singing
Breakman in Miami appearing before a
huge International men's bible class he
admitted he didn't know any church songs
so he sang in the jail housee now and
the racy Frankie and Johnny
instead they gave him a standing
ovation
then he made a triumphant return to
Meridian arriving in a shiny new car
wearing expensive clothes and diamond
rings and making a public point of
paying off his old
debts he talked about us he was our
representative as country people he was
our
[Music]
ambassador he was a rogue just like the
rest of
us he had hard times just like the rest
of
us but we appreciated him dressing up in
his cool clothes and driving his fancy
car and talking about us country
people he represented as
well Rogers added a string of personal
appearances and autograph sessions at
local music stores and caroused with old
friends despite his increasing
exhaustion
each performance left him weaker
dripping in sweat and gasping for breath
one night he blacked out
backstage a doctor told him that without
proper rest he wouldn't live more than
another year or
two instead Rogers booked himself on
another tour and another recording
session Ralph Pier now began
experimenting with new orchestrations
and styles for his star Jazz ensembles
small orchestras africanamerican jug
bands ukuleles Champion whistlers or
simply musicians Jimmy Rogers happen to
have met the day before a recording
session Pier said he could record
anything it didn't matter to him where
the music came from it didn't matter to
him what the style was that he that he
played I I think he he was willing to do
whatever was uh commercial whatever
would would would uh catch the attention
of of listeners to help him come up with
more songs that could be copyrighted
Rogers had enlisted car's sister Elsie
McWilliams a Sunday School music teacher
with a gift for turning an overheard
phrase or random incident into a Melody
with
lyrics Jimmy couldn't read musical
notations crazy little fly specs with
funny Tales he called them so she often
came to teach her new compositions to
him in person in all Elsie McWilliams
would write or contribute to more than a
third of Rogers recorded
songs Rogers had relocated to Texas
whose dry climate had attracted several
sanitariums for treating
tuberculosis in his new surroundings he
became the yodeling
Cowboy inspiring a generation of
followers to believe that all Cowboys
not only sang but
yodel sure I'll give her that old guitar
out of there in the fall of
1929 Pier brought Rogers to a studio in
Camden New Jersey to make a short
talking
picture many music Executives saw the
talkies as a threat to live performances
Pier saw them as another opportunity for
his star to become better
known
around tanks Wai a
train a th miles away from home sleeping
in the
rain oh my pocket book is empty my heart
is full of pain I'm a th miles away from
home waiting for a train
[Music]
the on May 14th
1933 Rogers arrived in New York City and
checked into the same hotel near Time
Square where he had stayed back in
1927 when he was a complete
unknown as always he was worried about
money and wanted to go back into the
studio Ralph Pier was shocked at at his
appearance and insisted he rest a few
days before starting his recording
session on May 17th in the Victor Studio
he began the way he had started his
recording career just himself and his
guitar I've been away just a year to day
but soon I will cease to wrong in two
long difficult days he laid down six
songs
home the tuberculosis was shredding his
lungs and he was heavily sedated for the
pain sipping whiskey to clear his throat
between
takes the engineers had to carry him to
his cab after the second afternoon and
he rested for two days before returning
to record two more songs propped up by
pillows in an easy chair in front of the
microphone on May 24th
he felt strong enough to stand at the
microphone and performed four songs
resting on a c in the rehearsal room
between each take soon I'll be
[Music]
back for
old with the session over Rogers felt
reinvigorated he took in Coney Island
the next day had hot dogs for lunch
drank a glass of newly legalized 3.2
beer and napped in the
Sun but that night back at his hotel
fits of coughing swept through him and
he began hemorrhaging bright red spots
onto his
pillows early in the morning of May 26th
1933 Jimmy Rogers died drowning in his
own
blood he was only 35 years
old his career had lasted less than 6
years but in that time Jimmy Rogers had
recorded more than a hundred songs many
of which would be re-recorded for
Generations by other artists as proof
that they were staying true to the
music's
Roots Jimmy Rogers started it
all without Jimmy Rogers there would be
no Bob Wills without Jimmy Rogers there
would be no Hank Williams Jimmy Rogers
there would who knows um he was it his
songs never go away generation after
generation Bob Dillan recorded them whan
recorded them Johnny Cash recorded him
Dolly
paron everybody that is anybody has
recorded a Jimmy Roger
song the songs keep coming at
you he set the pace for people like
Ernest tub people like Hank Williams
people like
me and uh just a
whole big section of country music
wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for
Jimmy
Rogers in the years that followed the
music that Jimmy Rogers The Carter
family and others had made would
continue to evolve continue to welcome
new musicians and styles
continue to grow as an industry and
continue to reflect the experiences of
everyday
Americans especially during the hard
times
ahead
Mississippi
and
[Music]
you well good
morning
and
[Music]
Captain good morning to you sir hey
hey do you need another
[Music]
mun hey
[Music]
[Applause]
hey
[Music]
I'm
[Music]
lady
heyy
[Music]
good my hey hey I'm think of it I want
to be amus
[Music]
skin
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