[78-L] Jimmie Rodgers

[Cary Ginell]

Autry was indeed the best. His guitar playing was actually a lot smoother than that of Rodgers, who often missed beats. Autry was consciously imitating Rodgers. Other labels tried taking advantage of Rodgers' success by asking their artists to sound like Rodgers. After JR's death, Victor tried finding substitutes, including Dwight Butcher, Ernest Tubb, and even Rodgers' cousin, Jesse, who didn't sound anything like him.

Cary Ginell

> Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 21:34:45 -0700
> From: burnhamd at rogers.com
> To: 78-L at 78online.com
> Subject: [78-L] Jimmie Rodgers
> 
> There are MANY American country singers who were inspired by Rodgers. In fact, MOST country singers who came along in the years following Rodgers' death were influenced by him. Many started out as Rodgers imitators, including Gene Autry, Cliff Carlisle, Ernest Tubb, Jimmie Davis, Lefty Frizzell. Others, like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Jerry Lee Lewis idolized him as well. I produced a box set on Bear Family that includes many of these artists and their renditions of Rodgers songs. Rodgers was probably the most influential country singer until Hank Williams came along. 
> 
> Cary Ginell
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Thanks, Cary, perhaps I didn't really express myself properly.  Of course, all of the singers you mention would acknowledge the inspiration of Jimmie Rodgers, but of those which I know, (which would exclude Cliff Carlisle and Jimmie Davis), I don't recall ever hearing recordings which are imitative of JR.  The Gene Autry and Lefty Frizzell recordings I'm familiar with don't have the JR sound.  But Wilf Carter particularly had a sound very much like Jimmie Rodgers.  His guitar intros are almost identical to JR's and his use of yodeling is pretty well the same.  Early Hank Snow also echos Jimmie Rodgers in the same ways, but later his style changed to a more unique sound, as in "I'm Movin' On".
> 
> But let me repeat - I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a country music specialist.  I enjoy country music and that's it.  All of the observations above are solely from my own experience.  I just listened to "Atlanta Bound" by Gene Autry on You Tube and it certainly does imitate JR's style and if I'd heard it blind folded, I never would have been able to identify it as Gene Autry
> 
> db
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