[78-L] Jimmie Rodgers Museum

[DAVID BURNHAM]

Question -- would it jhave been worth the 8 bucks admission each?

Mike Biel 

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That's a good question.  The $8 didn't deter me at all, but a crowd of people ahead of me left because of the price.  They would probably make a lot more money if they lowered the price and included the admission cost in the price of any artifact purchased.

I felt that I got my money's worth, (in fact I left almost $100 there as I purchased a book and a box of CDs containing all of JR's recordings; no credit given for mastering but whoever did it, (in the UK), did a fine job).  As most on this list know, I'm more into classical music than country but I enjoyed being surrounded by these momentos of a legendary career.  Jimmie Rodgers inspired the careers of at least two Canadian country singers, (Hank Snow and Wilf Carter), although I don't know of any other American singers so inspired.  And I loved the infectious enthusiasm of the lady who was looking after the place.  She loved what she was doing and seemed unfazed by the fact that there were only three people in her audience.  There is an engine and caboose beside the museum which, from what I could gather by asking people, either was or wasn't the train which brought his body back from New York after his death.

On my way back from NOLA, I returned to Meridian and visited Jimmie Rodgers' grave plot, surrounded by his wife and children.  I remember comments on this site recently about there being no reason to visit a grave because there's nothing there, but, ironically, I find that visiting the grave of a famous person brings them to life, making them more than just a name on a scratchy old record.

db