There is no shortage of legendary figures in country music. Arguably, none has been more influential than Jimmie Rodgers.
In a career that spanned less than six years (1927-1933), Rodgers recorded 110 songs. 108 of those were subsequently recorded by other artists, a tradition that began in the late 1920s and continues to this day. That is a 'cover ratio' unmatched by any of country music's historic figures, including Hank Williams.
Rodgers' influence extended far beyond songwriting. The Singing Brakeman also provided a blues-infused approach to performance that became a stylistic template for the careers of countless country singers. Rodgers' recordings remind us that hybrid music began well before Elvis Presley and Sun Records.
On the 75th anniversary of Jimmie Rodgers' death, Bear Family Records documents the extent of his influence by gathering together in Let Me Be Your Side Track a remarkable collection of cover recordings by artists ranging from country icons like Gene Autry, Jimmie Davis, Hank Snow, Lefty Frizzell, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Bill Monroe, Merle Haggard and Ernest Tubb to pop and rock legends like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Rick Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis and Jerry Garcia.
Disc 1
1. Sweet Mama Hurry Home - Rex Griffin
2. Yodeling Ranger - Gene Autry
3. Hobo Bill's Last Ride - Cliff Carlisle
4. Wind Swept Desert (Desert Blues) - Buell Kazee
5. Any Old Time
6. T.B. Blues No. 2 (T.B. Blues) - Glenn Davis
7. In My Dear Old Southern Home (Dear Old Sunny South by the Sea) - Webb Pierce
8. Daddy and Home - Hank Snow
9. Blue Yodel No. 6 - Lefty Frizzell
10. Never No More Hard Times Blues (No Hard Times)
11. Blue Yodel No. 5 - Gene Autry
12. Yodeling Cowboy - The Sons of the Pioneers
13. Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel #8) - Roy Acuff & His Smokey Mountain Boys
14. Once I Had a Sweetheart (Soldier's Sweetheart) - Darby & Tarlton
15. Frankie and Johnny (You'll Miss Me in the Days to Come) - The Nite Owls
16. Polka Dot Blues (Gambling Polka Dot Blues)
17. She Was Happy Till She Met You - Harry Hillard
18. Nobody Knows But Me - Roy Bledsoe
19. Mississippi Delta Blues - Rice Brothers Gang
20. Mother the Queen of My Heart - The Tune Wranglers
21. One Rose (That's Left in My Heart) - Gene Autry
22. California Blues (Blue Yodel No. 4)
23. High Powered Mama
24. Travelin' Blues - The Light Crust Doughboys
25. I'm Looking for a Brand New Mama (Looking for a New Mama)
Disc 2
1. She's in the Jailhouse Now - The Monroe Brothers
2. My Carolina Sunshine Girl - Bill Cox
3. Pistol Packin' Papa - Clayton McMichen
4. Sweetest Girl in the World (My Blue Eyed Jane)
5. Waiting for the Railroad Train (Waiting for a Train) - Joe Steen
6. Blue Yodel No. 7 - Bill Boyd
7. Prairie Lullaby
8. Hadie Brown (My Little Lady) - Dwight Butcher
9. Old Man's Story (Why There's a Tear in My Eye) - Jimmie Davis,
10. My Rough and Rowdy Ways - Gene Autry
11. Prohibition Blues (Prohibition Has Done Me Wrong)
12. Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues - Harry Hillard
13. Memphis Yodel - Texas Ruby
14. Ben Dewberry's Final Run
15. Mean Mama Blues (Jimmie's Mean Mama Blues)
16. No Hard Times
17. Roll Along Kentucky Moon - Jess Hillard & His West Virginia Hillbillies
18. In the Jailhouse Now, No. 2
19. Mississippi River Blues
20. Blue Yodel No. 9
21. Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas) - Tal Henry
22. Away out on the Mountain
23. Gambling Blues (Those Gambler's Blues) - Memphis Sheiks
24. My Little Old Home Down in New Orleans - Gene Kardos
25. Blue Yodel No. 10 (Ground Hog Rootin' in My Back Yard)
26. Soldier's Sweetheart - The Callahan Brothers
Disc 3
1. Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)
2. Away out on the Mountain - Harry Belafonte
3. My Little Old Home Down in New Orleans - John Jackson
4. Everybody Does It in Hawaii - Harmonica Frank Floyd
5. In the Jailhouse Now - Brenda Boykin
6. In the Jailhouse Now - Roy Gonzalez
7. One Rose (That's Left in My Heart) - Rayne-Bo Ramblers
8. Never No Mo' Blues - Tex Morton
9. Let Me Be Your Business - Hawking Brothers
10. Muleskinner (Blue Yodel No. 8-Muleskinner Blues) - The Monroe Brothers
11. T.B. Blues - Rick & Thel Carey
12. Blue Yodel No. 6 - Buddy Williams
13. Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas) - Slim Dusty
14. Anuiant et Blue [Lonely and Blue] - Reg Lindsay
15. Dor, Baby, Dor [Sleep Baby Sleep] - Peter Alexander,
16. Dreaming with Tears in My Eyes
17. Let Me Be Your Sidetrack
18. Ol Pal of My Heart
19. She Was Happy Till She Met You - Hank Snow
20. Dear Old Sunny South by the Sea
21. Any Old Time - Ernest Tubb
22. Jimmie the Kid - Lefty Frizzell
23. Missouri Cowboy (Blue Yodel No. 8-Muleskinner Blues)
24. Land Meines Kindheitstraums [Land of My Boyhood Dreams] - Jack Guthrie
25. Ich Such Mir eine Neue Frau [I'm Looking for a New Mama]
26. Jetzt Ist Er im Knast [in the Jailhouse Now - Jimmie Skinner
Disc 4
1. In the Jailhouse Now - Johnny Cash
2. I've Ranged, I've Roamed, I've Travelled
3. I'm Free (From the Chain Gang Now) - Lefty Frizzell
4. Sleep, Baby, Sleep - Cliff Carlisle
5. For the Sake of Days Gone By - Wilf Carter
6. Blue Yodel No. 3 (Evening Sun Yodel) - Patsy Montana
7. Hobo's Meditation - Merle Travis
8. Jimmie Rodgers' Last Blue Yodel
9. Mystery of Number Five
10. Sailor's Plea - Tommy Duncan
11. My Good Gal's Gone Blues - Red Foley
12. Blue Yodel No. 2 (My Lovin' Gal Lucille) - Hank Snow
13. Cowhand's Last Ride - Jimmie Skinner
14. Treasures Untold
15. Blue Yodel # 1 (T for Texas)
16. Jimmie's Texas Blues
17. Waiting for a Train
18. Never No Mo' Blues
19. I'm Sorry We Met
20. Ninety Nine Year Blues
21. Why Should I Be Lonely
22. Miss the Mississippi and You
23. Old Love Letters (Bring Memories of You) - Dwight Butcher
24. Rock All the Babies to Sleep - Jimmy Hinchee
25. Gambling Bar Room Blues
26. Wonderful City - Ernest Tubb
27. Mississippi Moon - Cowboy Slim Rinehart
28. Blue Yodel #8 (Mule Skinner Blues) - Lonnie Donegan
29. Whippin' That Old T.B. - Jack Elliott
30. Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas) - Pete Seeger
Disc 5
1. Down the Old Road to Home - Merle Haggard
2. Land of My Boyhood Dreams - Hank Snow
3. Lullaby Yodel - Grandpa Jones
4. Waiting for a Train - Jerry Lee Lewis
5. Blue Yodel #8 (Mule Skinner Blues) - The Fendermen
6. Everybody Does It in Hawwaii - Hank Snow
7. Long Tall Mama - Jessie Clifton
8. (When It's) Peach Pickin' Time in Georgia - Elton Britt
9. You and My Old Guitar
10. Fifteen Years Ago - Molly O'Day
11. Home Call - Hank Snow
12. When the Cactus Is in Bloom - Jack Guthrie
13. My Mother Was a Lady - Marty Robbins
14. Moonlight and Skies - Jimmie Skinner
15. Drunkard's Child - Ernest Tubb
16. Southern Cannon Ball - Hank Snow
17. In the Hills of Tennessee
18. I'm Lonely and Blue - Lefty Frizzell
19. Train Whistle Blues - Merle Haggard
20. Blue Yodel #8 (Mule Skinner Blues) - Dolly Parton
21. Whisper Your Mother's Name - Wilf Carter
22. Big Chief Buffalo Nickel (The Desert Blues)
23. My Time Ain't Long
24. Pistol Packing Papa - Claude King
25. Waiting for a Train - Dick Curless
26. Somehwere Down Below the Mason Dixon Line
27. Blue Yodel #12 (Daybreak Blues) - Hank Snow
28. Why Did You Give Me Your Love? - Ernest Tubb
29. My Old Pal - Eddie Noack
30. Brakeman's Blues (Yodeling the Blues Away) - Grandpa Jones
31. Blue Yodel #8 (Mule Skinner Blues) - Connie Francis, , Hank Williams, Jr.
Disc 6
1. Blue Yodel #11 - Dean Mitchell
2. I'm Lonesome, Too - Dean Mitchell
3. I've Only Loved Three Women - Dean Mitchell
4. Take Me Back Again - Dean Mitchell
5. That's Why I'm Blue - Dean Mitchell
6. What Is It? - Dean Mitchell
7. Yodeling My Way Back Home - Dean Mitchell
8. Dreaming with Tears in My Eyes - Bono
9. Any Old Time
10. Waiting for a Train - Dickey Betts
11. Somewhere Down Below the Mason Dixon Line - Mary Chapin Carpenter
12. Miss the Mississippi and You - David Ball
13. My Blue Eyed Jane - Bob Dylan
14. Peach Pickin' Time Down in Georgia - Willie Nelson
15. In the Jailhouse Now - Steve Earle and the V-Roys
16. Blue Yodel #9 (Standin' on the Corner) - Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, John Kahn
17. Hobo Bill's Last Ride - Iris DeMent
18. Gambling Bar Room Blues - John Mellencamp
19. Mule Skinner Blues - Van Morrison
20. Why Should I Be Lonely - Aaron Neville
21. T for Texas - Dwight Yoakam
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