[78-L] $1,000 for a business card?

[Cary Ginell]

Why not? Rodgers was a self-promoter. He took any small amount of success and aggrandized it. He gets on a little local radio station and blows it up out of proportion to proclaim himself as a "National Radio Artist." He sold himself to Ralph Peer this way. And he continued using that phrase after the Bristol sessions, even though he still had no further radio experience. As for the variety of instruments, I'm not sure of your point. Rural string musicians often played multiple instruments. There is a well-distributed picture of this group that features Rodgers, wearing rimless glass, playing a banjo, yet he never recorded on any instrument other than guitar. The Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers was not "set up," it was just a group of friends that played together wherever they could. There was probably no formalized arrangement among the members. Rodgers split from the group literally on the eve of his first recording session. 
 
I think it was not only plausible that Rodgers would have cards printed up (they weren't expensive), but perfectly in line with his personality and habits to do so. When it was done was beside the point. They were local performers in the Asheville area in the spring of 1927, looking for other avenues. Makes perfect sense to me. 
 
Cary Ginell
 

> From: mbiel at mbiel.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:28:43 -0700
> Subject: Re: [78-L] $1,000 for a business card?
> 
> I doubt that this card comes from before the Bristol sessions because
> just appearing on a local Ashville NC station would not make them
> "National Radio Artists", and supposedly they were unknowns when that
> session occurred. Especially considering the variety of instruments
> listed, could he have set up a company which provided performers for
> events, not necessarily including JR himself?
> 
> Mike Biel mbiel at mbiel.com 
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> from: Bill McClung <bmcclung78 at gmail.com>
> >> It's the fonts that make it questionable. And was P.O. Box the usual term?
> 
> Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com> wrote:
> > This is the group that split up before the Bristol session of August 1927,
> > with Jimmie Rodgers going off to be a solo artist and the remaining members
> > becoming the Tenneva Ramblers. And somebody has even bid on it!
> > http://www.ebay.com/itm/JIMMY-RODGERS-ENTERTAINERS-BUSINESS-CARD-1927-Ashboro-NC-Teneva-RamblersOriginal-/330721725741?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item4d008d0d2d
> >
> > Cary Ginell
> 
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