Life of Jimmie Rodgers Jimmie The Kid By Mike Paris & Chris Comber Da Capo Press, Inc. 1977 211 Pages ISBN:  0-306-80133-7

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Jimmie Rodgers is the father of country music. He was the first to fuse blues, folk, pop, Western, hillbilly, and jazz music in to a new style, uniquely his own—the music we call country and wesetern. His story is the stuff of legends; the tubercular young man who fails at his first love— working on the railroad—only to become a singing sensation who between 1927 and 1933 sold some 20 million records. He was the dedicated family man who also was a hell-raiser, the music idol of millions who yet reamined close to his Meridian, Mississippi roots. His simple plaintive tunes, sentimental ballds, "blue yodels", railroad songs and pop hits offered everyone a gift of cheer, sympathy and humor to help "lighten the load" of the Depression years. His legacy is so rich that even today the love songs and ballads sung by Elvis Presley, Hohnny Cash, Willie Nelson and countless others can be traced directly to his influence, Paris and Comber chronicle the life and time of "The Singing Brakeman" using all the remaining first-hjand evidence to separate fact from legend in this authoritative biography of the first star of country music. Includes a complete discography and bibliography. Mike Paris teaches history in London and is the author of various articles in Old Time Music, Country Music People and other publications. Chris Comber has written widely on country music. Together they perform actively as the Southern Eagle String Band. Their essay on Jimmie Rodgers is included in Stars of Country Music (University of Illinois Press).