Jimmy Rogers? (Jimmie Rodgers)

Subject: Jimmy Rogers?
From: GUEST,PJ Curtis
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 12:14 PM

Hi there,
Can anybody answer the following... is Jimmy Rogers (the 50;s pop singer) the son of hank Snow? Surely he and the Jimmy Rogers Snow, the right-wing, anti-rock n roll Preacher , are one and the same?.
Take this posting from a 'On THis Day...' site for example.
Quote
Jimmie Rodgers, the son of country music star Hank Snow, is found in his car with a fractured skull after a serious accident. He had three big hits in 1958 "Kisses Sweeter than Wine," "Oh Oh, I'm Falling in Love Again" and the Number One hit "Honeycomb." He recovers from the auto accident, but his career is over. (1967)
pjc

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Cluin
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 12:35 PM

Yep. Hank was influenced so much by the old country blues singer Jimmie Rodgers, that he named his son after him.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Mark Ross
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 02:17 PM

Hank Snow's son and Jimmy Rodgers the '50's country singer are two different people!

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 04:46 PM

That is completely true.

They are not the same. However, the Jimmy Rogers of the three hits mentioned was more of a pop singer than a country singer.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: GUEST,Honeycomb
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 06:30 PM

YES

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Steve-o
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 06:57 PM

Yes, what MG said. I might add, that "pop/folkie" did junk like "Honeycomb", and basically pretended to play guitar. Go get yourself some REAL Jimmie Rodgers.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 12:31 PM

Actually Steve-O

Jimmie Rogers stuff is listenable to a degree. Much of what he recorded sounds very similiar and how many versions of Blue Yodel can you get away with? Also, he had no concept of what an upstroke on guitar was, and played just about every song in the key of "C'

Pop/folkie Jimmy Roger's "hits" are overall pretty catchy and fun after all of these years.

I actually have an old '45 of Honeycomb on my own vintage Rockola jukebox. It sounds pretty good. I also actually have an old '78 of Jimmie Rogers Blue Yodel #9 (T for Texas, T for Tennessee). It stands uniquely on display on an RCA Nipper stand made to display '78s. It's unique, but sounds pretty dated.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 12:39 PM

I prefer Jimmy Reed myself...

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 05:42 PM

I prefer Jimmy Martin, bad voabulary and bad attitude.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 07:22 PM

so who was the Jimmy Rogers who sang English Country Garden, was he the religious one?

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: GUEST,PJ Curtis
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 03:23 PM

Thanks for all that info everybody.
lets also not forget about the blues Jimmy Rogers...a great artist who played and recorded in the 50's with the Muddy Waters band (Chess) and also recorded solo sides...such the amazing 'Walking BY Myself' whiss features a killer harp solo courtacy of Big Walter Horton.
I digress...
pjc

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 03:46 PM

so many Jimmy Rogers's - so little time!

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 04:12 PM

Pedantic note: The Singing Brakeman spelled his first name "Jimmie" and his last name "Rodgers"; since Hank Snow named his son after the master, the singer of "Honeycomb," etc., *probably* used both the same spellings. If anyone knows for sure that he did not, please post.

Might the blues player be the only true "Jimmy Rogers"?

Of course, both names will always be confused and used interchangeably by casual observers, but published credits, discographies, etc., should use the correct spellings, so when researching materials like that, there should be a meaningful distinction between "Jimmy" and "Jimmie," "Rogers" and "Rodgers."

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: pdq
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 07:49 PM

Jimmy Rogers - blues guitarist: born James A. Lane in Ruleville, MS, Jun 3, 1924; died Dec 19, 1997; Worked with Muddy Waters.

Jimmie Rodgers - "The Singing Brakeman": born James Charles Rodgers in Merridian, MS, Sep 8, 1897; died May 26, 1933; some call him the first Country Music star.

Jimmie Rodgers - singer of "Honeycomb" and" "English Country Garden" is
James Frederick Rodgers: born Sep 18, 1933 in Camas, Washington (a suburb of Portland, Oregon); he now lives in Burmuda Dunes is southern California and likes to play golf.

Jimmie Rodgers Snow - son of Hank Snow, is named after "The Singing Brakeman".

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Genie
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 11:08 PM

The pop-folk singer also omitted the "d" in his name. More on Jimmy Rogers the blues man here:
http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=%22Jimmy+Rogers%22%2FHoneycomb&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Df5a594c871adcecb%26clickedItemRank%3D3%26userQuery%3D%2522Jimmy%2BRogers%2522%252FHoneycomb%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.jazzhouse.org%252Fgone%252Flastpost2.php3%253Fedit%253D920563999%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DAppleTop%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jazzhouse.org%2Fgone%2Flastpost2.php3%253Fedit%253D920563999


My link thingy didn't work. You'll have to cut and paste. :-)

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Genie
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 11:14 PM

LOL! Now I'm confuzzled!

Here's the first page of results of my browser search for "Jimmy Rogers" .

Note that just about all the entries spell the singing brakeman's name 'Jimmie Rodgers" and spell the blues guitarist's name "Jimmy Rogers," but the '60s folk-pop singer's name is spelled several ways, including "Jimmy Rogers" and "Jimmie Rodgers!"

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Dec 04 - 09:16 AM

so who was the religious one?

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 05 Dec 04 - 01:36 PM

That was Jesus Rogers.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Dec 04 - 04:03 PM

No MG, Jesus was the one who espoused radical doctrines in Judea. Roy was the religious one.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 05 Dec 04 - 05:29 PM

No, Roy rode Trigger and had sex with Dale. Or was it the other way around?

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 06:01 AM

You're thinking of the "deviant sex behavior" Rogers and that was Fred. Things never went right in his neighborhood after he was found doing the 3-way with Henrietta Pussycat and X the Owl while Betty Aberlin, in her best dominatrix wear, applied the cat of nine tails to them all with King Friday taking pictures.

As I remember it they all did some jail time except for King Friday who said, "It's good to be the King." He didn't think so later when he arrived home and Queen Sara beat the livin' shit out of his ass and made him abdicate the throne to Prince Tuesday with whom she'd been having an incestious relationship since he had been 12.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Steve-o
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 02:13 PM

Actually, MG- "Honeycomb" Jimmy was one of the first to jump into the "Folk Boom" and turn good stuff into pop pap. Listen to Ronnie Gilbert and the Weavers do "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine", then listen to Jimmy. He played everything in an open tuning and "barred" with his thumb- one of the methods recommended in the "Become a Rock Star Overnight" book. And don't give me any crap about Richie Havens- I think his guitar style sucks too.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 02:30 PM

i don't give a damn about Richie Havens.

Jimmie's version is fine with me and was obviously more accepted than the Weaver's version which many at the time thought were a bunch of pinkos. There version was OK though not up to pop speed.

I like pop music. Expecially pop music that has withstood the test of time. I will always take The Tokens version of Wimoweh over the Weavers, also. Jimmie's version is well produced, has some fine singing and upright bass in it, and will always be the version most people will want to hear.

Nothing wrong with getting on the folk music bandwagon. Trini Lopez also did pretty good by it.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Ferrara
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 03:18 PM

Bill just helped me locate the "Honeycomb" LP in our (vinyl) album collection. Don't get me wrong -- it was my record, Bill wouldn't have touched it with a ten foot pole.

The album is titled "Jimmie Rodgers" so that's how he spelled his name in about 1957. Here are the titles:

Woman from Liberia
Better Loved You'll Never Be
The Girl in the Wood
Water Boy
Scarlet Ribbons
The Ballad of Black Gold
Hey Little Baby
The Mating Call
Kisses Sweeter than Wine
The Preacher
I'm Just a Country Boy
Honeycomb

I still sing many of the songs when I'm by myself and have sung at least a couple at open sings. (I bought the record by mail order at a time when I was bedridden with rheumatic fever for about 6 months which is rough on a 15 year old. So I listened to it a whole lot of times.)

Interestingly enough, I was singing "Woman from Liberia" in the car yesterday, and thinking that although this guy would be considered really callow now, his music has stayed with me, and I know at least one other folkie, very knowledgeable, who still can sing many songs from this album.

Anyway that's how he spelled his name on his album. It all had me confused for years because my Italian dad was a fan of the Singing Brakeman and I knew the style and voice on this 33rpm album were NOT the same as those on our Jimmie Rodgers 78's.....

Rita F

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 03:57 PM

Christy Moore rates Richie havens - thats good enough for me.

And I think it would be nice to have a pop record like Jimmy Rodgers. english Country Garden gave me a lot of pleasure. we can't all get excited about 'ethnic' and world music figures.

We could do with afew more popularisers then the record charts would be more interesting, and not left to the Yahoos.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Steve-o
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 06:17 PM

Big fan of Trini Lopez, huh Martin? Nuff said.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 09:11 PM

Never said I was a big fan of Trini Lopez, Steve O. Did say he made good on the folk boom, though. That's pretty obvious to anyone who knows something about music. Lemon tree, If I had a Hammer, etc. Even had a Gibson model guitar named after him, I believe an ES335 model.

Watch it, Steve O. your elitist folk arrogance is showing. ENOUGH said.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Steve-o
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 12:14 PM

Whew! You get the last word on this, MG. I'm just not in your league.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Nerd
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 02:50 PM

MG,

"how many versions of Blue Yodel can you get away with?"

George Lucas got away with several versions of Green Yoda, including the muppet version and the kickass digital version.

The Weavers WERE, of course, a bunch of pinkos, especially Pete.    But they didn't deserve to be blacklisted.

And, I am now sitting within sight of the old plant where your blue yodel #9 was pressed, and probably where your Nipper stand was also made: the old RCA Victor plant in Camden, NJ. I've been working on some historical research about the plant recently, and it's fascinating!

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 03:21 PM

Yeah Nerd, there is an ass kicking pedal steel break in Green Yoda #6.

RCA has always kind of facinated me, also. Not only the coolest label in the vinyl biz, but a great roster of artists in many areas.

How coincidental. A woman near me who has on this radio staion playing all XMAS music is currently playing one of RCA Victor's most distinguished and distinctive voices, Vaughn Monroe.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Nerd
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 04:28 PM

Ha! Weird Al Yankovic should record "Green Yoda #6," but not many people would get it.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 07:07 PM

Nerd -- how are things in Camden NJ? Last time I was there -- a long time ago, admittedly -- it had become a hellhole, probably the worst example of an abandoned inner city in the US, with the possible exception of East St. Louis, IL.

There's a lot of history there, especially industrial American history: Decca as well as RCA Victor records, and also (I think) the iconic Campbell's Soup. RCA Victor's budget label at one time was "Camden Records."

In the last few decades, I don't know of anything notable to come out of Camden except for a handful of excellent basketball players.

I'd like to think they've finally experienced some urban renewal there; any good news?

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 08 Dec 04 - 11:54 AM

Cool label indeed. One of my very first records was I Got Stung/One Night on 78.

That black and silver label was a thing of beauty, I used to just gaze at it sometimes. Did you have the black and silver labels in America?

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 08 Dec 04 - 01:00 PM

Labels I remember are generally black & white with subtle colors with Nipper in white.

Many singles in my collection used an orange label in the late "60-70s.

There was also RCA Red Seal, a beautiful label used in their classical line.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Nerd
Date: 08 Dec 04 - 01:44 PM

Yes, Victor also did "Bluebird," which had some of the early blues and cajun sides, and Monarch, and several other labels.

Camden is on the brink of some renewal, but there are periodic setbacks. We were recently ranked the most dangerous city in America by someone or other, and there were a couple of murder cases recently too, which makes people reluctant to come here. But there is a new luxury condo homestead right in one of the buildings that used to be Victor...in fact, it's called "The Victor."

Campbell soup is still here, but only the corporate HQ, not the actual manufacturing. L3, the successor company to Victor, is here, too. They do the government and military contracting, so they're pretty high security. But in the past, as Poppagator suggests, there was so much here: Esterbrooke pens, Van Sciver furniture (the largest furniture factory/retail store in the world at the time), New York Shipbuilding Company, Scull's coffee, Campbell's, Victor and then RCA, etc.

Another thing amazing about RCA Victor was the corporate culture. I have spoken to a lot of old folks who retired from there, and they all remembered it as being a big extended family. The building where I work was a public library funded and established by Eldridge Johnson, founder of Victor, and the RCA staff used to decorate it as a giant Christmas display every year; I have photos from throughout the 40s. That's just the kind of thing they did. Camden lost a lot when they scaled back operations in the 1970s and 80s.

I was once talking to a man in his 70s who had retired from RCA and had lived in Camden from his childhood until the great exodus to the burbs in the 1980s. I was doing an oral history of the library and park where I work. He started crying in the interview, and said "if they could make Camden like it was in the 50s, we'd all come back!"

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 08 Dec 04 - 02:30 PM

The RCA Camden lable was Victor's budget line. Most times, when an RCA Victor album was "cut out" of the standard catalog it would resurface at a later date repackaged as a Camden release for a lower price.

RCA Camden albums were also comprised of out takes and other songs that did not make it to an album on the mother label.

I have an old late 1960s Waylon Jennings album on RCA Camden that was this way. It was very low production from what I have read and is priced now fairly higher than other standard cataloged albums from that era. Of course, if an artist got famous and big like he did, this is bound to happen.

I remember other major record labels had their budget labels such as Capitol with Pickwick33 and Columbia with Harmony.

Jogging any memories out there?

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Steve-o
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 11:49 AM

Yeah, it reminds me of "Again, nothing about American folk music".

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 12:52 PM

why? Please clarify.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: kendall
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 07:20 AM

So, which Rogers was the guy on tv who wore the same sweater for 20 years and wondered why he couldn't get a neighbor?

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Steve-o
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 12:38 PM

Aaah, nothing, I guess it's just my elitist folk arrogance surfacing again. I'm sure you can (and certainly will) explain how prominent RCA Camden, Capitol Pickwick33 and Columbia Harmony were in American folk music. You've already taught me how much more important Honeycomb Rodgers was than Jimmie, Trini Lopez and the Tokens were than (those rotten pinkos) the Weavers, and how significant it is to have an electric guitar named after you. I should be grateful, stop arguing, and go listen to some Vaughn Monroe.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 02:39 PM

Aw c'mon Steve-O. We all know MG can be obnoxious when he tries, but I think he's been pretty straightforward in this context, and you're introducing most of the belligerence this time around.

I, for one -- despite being a bit of a pinko myself -- vote for the Tokens' performance of that Westernized adaptation of an African folksong as superior to the Weavers'. On the other hand, I wholeheartedly endorse the Singing Brakeman as infinitely more important and more pleasurable to listen to than his younger namesake(s). Just one man's opinions, of course.

Also, I have no doubt that important folk/traditional music was released on the various "budget" labels, and I would be proud to have my name on any mass-produced guitar, electric or acoustic.

And, oh yeah, Nerd: thanks for the Camden update. I didn't realize it was your hometown. I'm originally from Plainfield, a smaller NJ city that once was home to Mack Truck and three major manufacturers of newspaper-size printing presses, all long gone (since the early 60s). The town soon became "plywood city," with boarded-up factories all along the railroad tracks and boarded-up houses on the surrounding streets. There's been some recovery since the worst of times, but not enough. Nearly everyone but the poorest of the poor has long since moved away.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 02:51 PM

PoopaGator, thanks for addressing this with this arrogant guy. I appreciate it. He seems to have a lot to learn about music.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: GUEST,found this hope it helps
Date: 30 Dec 04 - 10:08 PM

"KISSES SWEETER THAN WINE"

Singer Jimmie Rodgers is back! ...
Thirty years after a savage beating in L.A.
He thanks God for his miraculous recovery
By Dan Wooding

BRANSON, MO (December 2, 2000) -- Singer Jimmie Rodgers had the world at his
feet when a terrible beating changed his life -- and brought him back to God.

Now 67 years old, Rodgers is delighting audiences at the Remember When
Theater in Branson, MO, singing many of his 38 top 40 hits, including "Kisses
Sweeter Than Wine," "Honeycomb," and "Secretly."

Rodgers was one of the biggest stars in early rock and roll history,
especially when he played the Brooklyn Paramount with Buddy Holly, The
Diamonds and the Del Vikings. It was the fifties, and rock and roll was
sweeping the world.

"I roomed with Buddy Holly and we also shared a dressing room at the
Paramount," he said in an interview. "Buddy was very much the gentleman and
I had the feeling that he was not a four-letter word guy and pretty much kept
to himself. In fact, both of us did. We were both really shy kids."

A CRASHING HALT

But it all came to a crashing halt in December of 1967. "I had been at the
Twentieth Century Fox studios in L.A. all day," Rodgers explained. "I was
getting ready to do a film with them and I was working on a motion picture
script and musical story for stage called 'The World Through the Eyes of
Children,' which is a complete two-hour musical.

"We had been to a Christmas party and I had been with my conductor all
evening. He was staying at my place and he was following me home. I was
driving at about 2:00 AM and someone pulled up behind me and blinked his
lights. I thought it was my conductor, so I pulled over and stopped in a
little side street in the San Fernando Valley. Some guy came up to the
window and, thinking it was my conductor, I rolled the window down and that
is last thing I can remember."

Jimmy was beaten so badly that doctors had to reconstruct his skull and use
a 20-inch square plate.

He continued the story: "My conductor had gone on to my home and waited for
me there. When I did not show up, he came back and found my car and there
was a car parked behind my automobile with a police car behind it. The car
behind my automobile took off and then the police car left. We eventually found
out that the guy who stopped me was an off-duty policeman. He later called the
police to come out to the scene where I had been beaten. Everybody suspected
that it was the off-duty policeman who attacked me, but nobody can prove
it."

THREE BRAIN SURGERIES

Jimmie Rodgers was so seriously injured that he had three brain surgeries
following the beating. "This ended my career at that time and it took just
about thirty years for me to get back to being able to work," he said. "I
had to learn to do everything all over again. That's when God came back
into my life.

Jimmie had been raised in a Christian home in the town of Camas in
Washington. He had had committed his life to Jesus Christ "My mother was a
strong Christian with a lot of faith and us kids were raised that way; but
when I grew up I went sideways."

But a healing miracle brought him back to a full commitment to God. "After
the beating, I couldn't walk very well and I couldn't speak or pick things
up," Rodgers recalled. "I could ambulate a little bit, but I had a lot of
difficulty with my motor senses and the nerves. I suffered from seizures
because of the extensive surgery. I was fortunate to be alive."

The miracle took place at a prayer meeting at his Southern California home.
"Some of the members of my church came over one evening," he said. "I was
bedridden at that time. After the prayer meeting where I was prayed for,
everybody left and this was at Christmas time and I told my wife, 'I'm
starting to feel very strange.' It was like air going out of my body. We
had prayed about this. The next day I got out of bed, got off all the
medication and ended up never really going back, except to sleep. It was a
sudden healing.

"God just reached out and put his arms around me. There is no doubt about it
whatsoever. I went from walking with a walker to running 23-mile marathons!
I was running 10 miles every other day."

He went on to say, "Unfortunately, it sometimes takes something dramatic to
bring you back to God. I now have a sign on my word processor that says,
'What God doesn't protect you from He provides you through." I believe
that.   I don't think that the Lord is meant to protect us from everything. We
have choices and we make those choices and sometimes those choices get us into
trouble. That's the freedom of being a Christian. We all have a choice."

When asked what it was like to back singing his old hits, Rodgers said,
"It's exciting. It's a revelation for me to have been out of the business for so
long," he said. "I was always able to write and create things and my
background is one of being artistic, so I've always worked; but to be able
to sing again and entertain audiences in terrific. My Branson show began in
April of 1999. My show goes April, May and June and then September,
October, November and December."

Jimmie's first wife, Colleen, died from a clot on the brain shortly after
the beating. He is now married to Mary, and they have a little girl who is
eleven years old, and they have now been married for 23 years.

For those who are in Branson, Jimmie Rodgers can be found singing his heart
out in the Remember When Theater in the IMAX complex. The phone number is
417.335.3533.

For Jimmie Rodgers, he has discovered that God's embrace is really sweeter
than wine.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Once Famous
Date: 30 Dec 04 - 10:42 PM

Thanks for posting this.

I am glad this guy is still out there.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: number 6
Date: 30 Dec 04 - 11:26 PM

Great info posted here!

"I went home and listened to jimmie rodgers in my lunch-break"
.. van morrison

Subject: RE: Jimmy Rogers?
From: Auggie
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 12:11 AM

Nice story, but there are no 23 mile marathons, anywhere.