Mint JIMMIE RODGERS STAMP: Singing Brakeman, Blue Yodel, Meridian, MS Lauderdale

Description

[Effective August 20, 2020, requests to cancel an order
after
payment incur a 30¢ non-refundable fee, per the new ebay managed payments.]
This Listing is for ONE NEW Single
Jimmie Rodgers
13¢ Stamp from 1978.
Mint. MNH. No flaws. Original undisturbed gum. From a Smoke-free and Pet-free Environment.
On May 24, 1978, the U.S. Postal Service issued this
Jimmie Rodgers
gummed
13¢
stamp in Meridian, MS.
Artist, Jim Sharpe of Westport, CT, based this portrait on a 1930 publicity photo of Jimmie Rodgers from the Michael Ochs Archive.
James Charles Rodgers (born September 8, 1897 in Meridian, MS) discovered his love for entertaining at an early age. By the time he was 13, he had organized two traveling shows but was forced to return home by his father, a foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, who found him a job as a railroad water boy. This experience gave him an even greater love for music, as he learned to play guitar from rail workers and hobos. Within a few years, Rodgers was made a brakeman on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, but in 1924 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was forced to abandon his railroad career.
Rodgers organized his own traveling roadshow across the Southeastern US, then in April 1927, went to Asheville, NC and performed on the radio for the first time. Within a few months, he put together a band, “The Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers”, and performed on the radio every week. That August, a representative from a record company came to town to audition local musicians. Rodgers and his band performed for him and he agreed to record them. A disagreement between Rodgers and the band ensued, and Rodgers ended up at the recording session alone. He was paid 0 to sing two songs that were released in October and achieved some success, which encouraged him to ask his sister-in-law to help him write songs for another recording session. He went to New York and recorded four songs, including “Blue Yodel” - the song that sold half a million copies in the next two years and helped Rodgers gain national fame. Soon he was selling out shows across the country. He also toured the Midwest with Will Rogers in support of the Red Cross, and went on to star in his own movie short,
The Singing Brakeman
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZJtzFN7iPk
By 1932, Rogers’ health was failing. He was no longer able to tour, but he did have a weekly radio show. Despite his poor health, he traveled to New York for another recording session and died there on May 26, 1933, at just 35 years old. At the time, his recordings made up 10% of his record company’s sales. Decades later, Rodgers was one of the first three people inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961. He was also later inducted into the Songwriters and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.
Scott # 1755
Free Shipping in the U.S. by USPS First Class