Country western singer Jimmie Rogers only performance on film was December 1929's "The Singing Brakeman." The short movie captures the 'Father of Country Music' delivering three of his personal and more popular songs. Set inside the Victor Talking Machine studios in Camden, New Jersey, on a simple sound stage, the film consists of two women waiting at a train station. Rogers walks in and one of the women hands him a guitar. He sits down and sings 'Waiting for the Train.' His next song is prompted by a woman asking him if he ever thinks of his father. That sets up his 'Daddy & Home' nostalgic tune. His finale is his famous yodeling country blues classic, 'T for Texas.'
The Mississippi/Alabama born and raised Rogers worked on the railroads since he was 13 as a water boy. He became a train brakeman as a replacement for his brother when, at 27, he came down with tuberculosis in 1924. He was forced to quit the railroad three years later, prompting him to pursue his hobby of playing guitar by appearing on an Asheville, North Carolina, radio station. Later, hiring musicians, he recorded the songs he had composed earlier. Rogers soon established himself as America's premier country singer. Three years after he appeared in "The Singing Brakeman," his only appearance in film, Rogers died in 1933 of tuberculous after battling the sickness for almost ten years.
The nine-minute film, the first time a country music artist was featured on celluloid, helped exposed his unique style to listeners unfamiliar with his singing. "The Singing Brakeman" is a rare glimpse of a singer who had a tremendous impact on the developing country music.
