The Singing Brakeman

I have no idea why, but this short film was made twice....both very similar. In fact, on YouTube, Geno's House of Rare Films posted BOTH versions side by side. If you are curious, watch both...though they are very similar....in fact they are practically the same!

As for the 1929 original version, not surprisingly, the sound quality is not great...and in fact it's worse than you'd expect even for 1929. This is a real shame, as the film is the only Jimmie Rogers film appearance, and since he was a legendary country singer, it's sad to watch because of this.

The film consists of Jimmie supposedly sitting down with family and singing three tunes....while dressed in his Singing Brakeman outfit. There really isn't much more to it than this...and because of this, it's very hard to rate. However, I assume Rogers' yodeling country sound isn't something that would play very well today.

Overall, while not a great film, it's extremely important to our history. Well worth seeing to see where country music started back in the day.

This is not actually masterpiece,but still a rare short movie. only movie where we see Jimmie Rodgers alive.Jimmie was railroad man himself and movie is filmed in "Railroad Eating House". Jimmie Rodgers - the father of country music,Americans blue yodeler, the singing brakeman.He sang three songs and he got one cup of coffee for this.first song "Waiting For A Train"Jimmie actually worked a short brakeman,In 1911, he went to work as a brakeman but had to cut his railroading career short because of contracting consumption in 1924.Second song is "Daddy And Home"One old lady ask for Jimmie do you miss your old dad?Jimmie:yes of course.His Fathers Name was Aaron and the last song is Blue Yodel - his landmark.Lucky old ladies,they saw Jimmie alive and live what a treasure day. Jimmie wears in this movie his work shirt,a bandanna,and a railroad hat.This is movie is old yes,but we should never who was Jimmie Rodgers,without him there would be no Hank Williams, Johnny Cash,Chuck Berry,Beatles,Elvis Presley.he was a true king of music.he died 26 May 1933 - he was 35 years old only.a arrant fan of Jimmie.Lembit.

Jimmy Rodgers, the father of Country Music and arguably the first Caucasian American to make the Blues acceptable, sings "Waiting for A Train", "Daddy and Home" and his landmark "Blue Yodel" in this one-reel short for Columbia. He comes onto an obvious stage dressed as a railroad lineman -- except for his white dress socks -- and serenades the two woman who look to be running a railroad restaurant.

The short is poorly staged and the print I saw on Youtube is in awful shape, including poor sound recording, but this is a terribly important movie. Rodgers died four years later of tuberculosis and his work went underground for fifteen years, until it reappeared in the early 1950s as Rockabilly and Country/Western Music. Any fan of either branch of music should make an effort to see this.

I was in Tennessee recently and took the time to visit Nashville for a few days. It is a very cool city for eating, drinking, watching sports and listening to music but to be honest there are not a huge amount of great things to do outside of these and so it was I decided to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, despite not really being a great fan of the genre. What that visit taught me was that actually I do like country in a historical sense but that the modern country-pop rubbish and the excessive bad-taste of other recent eras all put me off and made me lump all of that in together. Part of realizing how much I enjoy really old, scratchy country is seeing this film at the Museum.

It is poorly staged as a short film and even as a performance really, since it is stiff and basic in terms of direction, but it is Rodgers music that makes it worth the watch. Others more knowledge than me told me this guy died very shortly after this period and that this film is the only film of him performing. The importance of this is more relevant when you think about where his music fits in – his blues style seems fresher than the 1920's, OK not modern but still he sounded a little ahead of his time perhaps. Not a great short film by any means but worth seeing if you are a fan of country music – or even if you think you are not based on modern pop acts.

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.