Jimmie Rodgers, widely regarded as the "Father of Country Music", was born in Meridian, Mississippi, on 8 September 1897. A former railway worker turned performer, he rose to national fame after Ralph Peer of RCA Victor recorded him in 1927, with his song "Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)" topping Victor's sales chart for 14 consecutive weeks and going on to sell more than a million copies. His brief but influential career established a template later studied by artists such as Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Ernest Tubb, and his influence has been traced through to acts including Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Dylan.

Rodgers learned railroad songs and banjo technique from Black railway workers as a teenager, later joining a North Carolina string band before securing his breakthrough recording session. Diagnosed with tuberculosis at 27, he continued performing and recording despite his declining health, producing more than 120 songs for Victor over six years and collaborating with artists including the Carter Family and Louis Armstrong. He died of tuberculosis in New York City in May 1933, aged 35.