Adopted Budget FY 2012-2013 - Kerr County

Jimmie Rodgers “The Father of Country Music”
Jimmie Rodgers was born on September 8, 1897 in Meridian, Mississippi,
the youngest of three boys. His mother died when he was very young,
and for the next few years Rodgers lived with many different relatives;
eventually moving in with his father, Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers was a railroad man. When Jimmie was 14 he carried water in the
rail yards while learning the songs of the men who worked there. From
his mid-teens to mid twenties, he worked all over the south and west. His
various train jobs carried him to Memphis, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, Birmingham, and
Dallas.
Rodgers continued working on trains and eventually became a brakeman. One of his tasks as
brakeman was to throw hobos off the trains. “Get off, get off, you railroad bum…”, a line from
one of his songs, describes this part of his job. However, he always had compassion for
railroad bums and it is said that he often gave them money for a meal.
As happened with many railroad men, the coal smoke caused Rodgers to develop
tuberculosis. The disease that ended his career also allowed him to pursue his first love,
entertainment.
It was because of his good friend Gene Austin of “My Blue Heaven” that Rodgers decided to
move to Kerrville for his health. It was the high climate, low humidity, and sanitarium that
brought Jimmie Rodgers to Kerrville. Jimmie’s sickness made him seek a new way of earning
money and it was in his singing that he found his true avocation. With blues music as his
inspiration, he began his career in 1924.
He built his mansion on a hill in Kerrville and called it “Blue Yodelers Paradise.” His costly
illness, however forced him to sell his home in Kerrville and move first to San Antonio, then
finally to Tennessee. He died in 1933 at the age of 35.
His last recorded song was “Yodeling My Way Back Home.” In 1961, he was the first country
music star to be elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame and is named the official “Father
of Country Music”.
In Kerrville, over 100 musicians of all ages gather every year in September to honor the
birthday of Jimmie Rodgers. The house on the hill in Kerrville (617 West Main Street) is the
only visible sign that Jimmie Rodgers lived and entertained in this area. Through the spirit of
his songs and compassion for the less fortunate, Rodgers left his mark on the world.
FY 2012 - 2013 Budget
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