The Jimmie Rodgers Yodel in Pre War Blues Forum

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The Jimmie Rodgers Yodel

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Minnesota Dave

The Jimmie Rodgers Yodel

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Posts: 233

Dec 5 07 5:38 PM

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I could do without it most of the time.

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7846810

#1

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 375

Dec 5 07 6:36 PM

Not a fan? I don't mind a bit of yodelling myself

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Minnesota Dave

#2

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Posts: 233

Dec 5 07 7:10 PM

QUOTE (Ol' Scratch @ Dec 5 2007, 06:36 PM)

Not a fan? I don't mind a bit of yodelling myself

Yeah, I don't mind a bit, but damn, every song? Then there are his imitators...

I sold my JSP set of Jimmie Rodgers because I got sick of all the yodeling. I felt like I was listening to the same song 100 times, just like their Hillbilly Boogie set where I felt like I was listening to the same song 100 times...

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mississippijohnhurt1928

#3

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 3638

Dec 5 07 7:59 PM

I know I would never want entire box of Jimmie Rodgers records, and probably not even a single disc.

I love good yodeling.

But, like you, I don't want too much of it.

Calvin, The Hoy Hoy Boy

Currently The Proud Owner Of 230 Different Piano Red Recordings (Plus Over 1.5 Hours Of Unreleased Live Recordings Made In 1978).

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Minnesota Dave

#4

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Posts: 233

Dec 5 07 8:17 PM

QUOTE (mississippijohnhurt1928 @ Dec 5 2007, 07:59 PM)

I know I would never want entire box of Jimmie Rodgers records, and probably not even a single disc.

I love good yodeling.

But, like you, I don't want too much of it.

Maybe I should have ripped the "classic" tracks before I sold it, but really, do I want to hear anymore Jimmie Rodgers in this life? Maybe not.

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Robick

#5

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Posts: 138

Dec 5 07 8:54 PM

I think he has some really nice songs personally

QUOTE

All the songs, three minuites long,
�� And the grooves screech depression.
Is it wrong?, the musicians gone;
�� Dead with no last session.

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Minnesota Dave

#6

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Posts: 233

Dec 5 07 9:06 PM

QUOTE (Robick @ Dec 5 2007, 08:54 PM)

I think he has some really nice songs personally

Well, I think Calvin is right. I probably took in too much Jimmie at once and OD'ed.

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7846529

#7

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 1719

Dec 5 07 9:11 PM

Dave,

To understand the Jimmie Rodgers yodel you have to take into context the fact that there were no other band members...just Jimmie and his guitar (which he played very badly by the way). His voice was high pitched and seemed to break at just the right place. When he first began performing (prior to the Bristol Sessions), he inserted the yodel to break up the monotony of the singing...i.e. the first break.

If he had a lead guitar, guess we wouldn't have the yodeling.

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Minnesota Dave

#8

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Posts: 233

Dec 5 07 9:14 PM

QUOTE (tenn_jim @ Dec 5 2007, 09:11 PM)

Dave,

To understand the Jimmie Rodgers yodel you have to take into context the fact that there were no other band members...just Jimmie and his guitar (which he played very badly by the way). His voice was high pitched and seemed to break at just the right place. When he first began performing (prior to the Bristol Sessions), he inserted the yodel to break up the monotony of the singing...i.e. the first break.

If he had a lead guitar, guess we wouldn't have the yodeling.

Ha! That makes sense. I guess.

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Andrew Rose

#9

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Posts: 161

Dec 6 07 3:19 PM

Those who are interested in Jimmie Rodgers may be interested in a project I've worked on over the last few years - indeed may even know about it.

The recordings of Thomas Fraser, a rather unlikely character from the Shetland Islands, roughly midway between northern Scotland and Norway, evoke the spirit and style of Jimmie Rodgers perhaps better than any other. He also covers a number of other artists in a series of recordings made between the early fifties and mid-seventies. As with Rodgers, they're almost all simply Fraser and an acoustic guitar. The recordings were well-made but rather basic - onto a home open-reel recorder, usually at a relatively slow speed to save money on tape - and required a considerable amount of cleaning up.

The first CD of these was issued in 2002, and two more have followed. They've had a hugely positive critical response and considerable media coverage, much of which is detailed on the Thomas Fraser website:

http://www.thomasfraser.com/

Andrew Rose

www.pristineclassical.com/blues

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Southside Bucky

#10

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Posts: 103

Dec 10 07 10:36 PM

Here's the way to really enjoy JR.

Get hold of a Complete Works box set, then rip 'n burn all the tracks (about 26 in total), where he's accompanied by other musicians, which include:

Clifford Gibson, Louis Armstrong, Clifford Hayes' Louisville Jugband, and loads more lesser known but brilliant musicians.

Makes for a killer album!

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Graham Henderson

#11

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Posts: 1447

Dec 11 07 12:16 AM

I read, or hearomwhere Jimmy used the yodel to hide his not so wonderful guitar work, and can believe that.
I liked him way back then and still do Mule Skinner ZBlues, but a pumped up a bit version and it is one of the crowd favourites.
I do a few bits of yodel in it, but mostly use that space for harmonica.
Graham

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=7032

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Pan

#12

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 677

Dec 11 07 12:25 AM

QUOTE (Minnesota Dave @ Dec 5 2007, 07:10 PM)

QUOTE (Ol' Scratch @ Dec 5 2007, 06:36 PM)

Not a fan? I don't mind a bit of yodelling myself

Yeah, I don't mind a bit, but damn, every song? Then there are his imitators...

I sold my JSP set of Jimmie Rodgers because I got sick of all the yodeling. I felt like I was listening to the same song 100 times, just like their Hillbilly Boogie set where I felt like I was listening to the same song 100 times...

Let's not forget, that neither Jimmie Rodgers or his record company, at the time, never did any "box sets" with dozens of similar sounding songs. These box sets are not to be listened as "LP's" or "albums" in a modern artistic way. The same goes with any pre-war compilations of one artists' complete output.

Pan

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Minnesota Dave

#13

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Posts: 233

Dec 11 07 12:37 AM

QUOTE (Pan @ Dec 11 2007, 12:25 AM)

QUOTE (Minnesota Dave @ Dec 5 2007, 07:10 PM)

QUOTE (Ol' Scratch @ Dec 5 2007, 06:36 PM)

Not a fan? I don't mind a bit of yodelling myself

Yeah, I don't mind a bit, but damn, every song? Then there are his imitators...

I sold my JSP set of Jimmie Rodgers because I got sick of all the yodeling. I felt like I was listening to the same song 100 times, just like their Hillbilly Boogie set where I felt like I was listening to the same song 100 times...

Let's not forget, that neither Jimmie Rodgers or his record company, at the time, never did any "box sets" with dozens of similar sounding songs. These box sets are not to be listened as "LP's" or "albums" in a modern artistic way. The same goes with any pre-war compilations of one artists' complete output.

Pan

That's very true. Back then you had a record with two songs on it. And you probably had quite a wait until the next disc came out, by which time you wore out the old one. A box set back then would have been mighty large.

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cheapfeet

#14

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 56

Dec 11 07 3:10 AM

hmmm, Jimmie Rodgers' yodel was annoying & his guitar playing was bad? Can't say as I agree.

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parchman

#15

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 1337

Dec 11 07 3:41 AM

I like Jimmie Rodgers.

Was he a great player? No.
Was he a geat vocalist? No.

His singing was natural and believable, his playing adequate to provide a background for his singing.

I guess what I like about his songs are the subjects; the everyday normal things that were a part of southern rural life during Rodger's lifetime. Jimmie Rodgers could take a mundane occurrence-looking for a job (Muleskinner) and turn it into an enduring piece of music.

The yodel? It fits the song. Remember, when Jimmie Rodgers did it, it was new and different. It apparently was pleasing enough to his audience to spawn a whole host of imitators.

Out from Cottonville, Mississippi

"There are no disasters, only opportunities. And indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters."

Boris Johnson

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7847337

#16

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Posts: 137

Dec 11 07 4:11 AM

I love Jimmy Rogers visits the Carter family. Waiting For a Train? How can ya not like Waiting for a Train? And if your a fan of Okie-schmaltz as I am, check out Merle Haggard's double album tribute to J.R.

www.myspace.com/mromuck

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LoneWolf

#17

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Posts: 2407

Dec 11 07 10:17 AM

Jimmie Rodgers is one of my true musical heroes. As a big fan of early country music I listen to him perhaps on a weekly basis and never get tired. I'm addicted to his yodeling and to his quiet, sensitive way of making music. "Waiting for a Train" - one of the best old timey recordings IMO. A classic.

If you're a fan like me, get this NOW:

http://www.amazon.com/Singing-Brakeman-Jim...7367802&sr=8-11

Hours of unbelievably fantastic music.

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7846529

#18

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 1719

Dec 11 07 10:38 AM

No doubt, Jimmie Rodgers along with the Carter Family was responsible for the birth of what has become country music. If you like your country music raw, I recommend anything that came out of the Bristol Sessions recorded in 1927. Ralph Peer recognized the potential that the music of Appalachia had and brought his recording machine to Bristol and out of these sessions which included Jimmie Rodgers, The Carter Family (A. P., Sara, and Maybelle), Ernest Stoneman, Claude and Jack Grant and Jack Pierce.

If you listen to the original recordings you can hear the almost amateurish quality in these artists. The same songs recorded later in their careers are much more polished.

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7846529

#19

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 1719

Dec 11 07 10:57 AM

Another artist recording at those Bristol Sessions was a banjo player by the name of B. F. Shelton.

You will find his song "Pretty Polly" on what I consider the greatest blues records in history...at least in my humble opinion these are what the blues are all about...including country!

"Before the Blues - Vol. 1.