Author Description

In Meeting Jimmie Rodgers, 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.