This week marks 109 years since Jimmie Rodgers, later dubbed the "Father of Country Music", recorded his first solo songs on 4 August 1927 in Bristol, Tennessee, at a session held above a furniture and hat company building. The recordings, made for Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company, are regarded as a foundational moment in the development of country music as a commercial genre, influencing artists from Johnny Cash to Dolly Parton.

Rodgers arrived in Bristol as part of Peer's efforts to scout "hillbilly" music talent in the American South, but his backing band abandoned him shortly beforehand in a dispute over billing. He recorded two songs, "The Soldier's Sweetheart" and "Sleep Baby Sleep", solo with just his guitar; Peer was unenthusiastic about the material at the time. Undeterred, Rodgers travelled to New York and secured a follow-up session that November, where he recorded "Blue Yodel", which went on to sell more than a million copies.