American singer and guitarist, one of the principal figures in the emergence of the country and western style of popular music. He was known throughout his musical career as the “Singing Brakeman.”

Rodgers left school at the age of 14 and became a water carrier on the Mississippi and Ohio Railroad. He held a number of jobs with the railroad, including that of brakeman. The life of the railroad worker provided Rodgers ample opportunity to develop and exercise his musical skills; it was there that he learned to play the guitar and banjo, that he absorbed the techniques of the blues (from the black railroad workers), and that he honed what became his characteristic sound—a blend of traditional country, work, blues, hobo, and cowboy songs. By about 1924/25 his tubercular condition had made it impossible for him to continue to work on the railroad, and he began instead to work as a performer. In 1927 Rodgers was discovered by the RCA Victor recording company in Tennessee, and he quickly became a best-selling recording artist. He toured mostly in the South and eventually settled in Texas.

Rodgers' more than 110 recordings (including “Blue Yodel No. 1,” “Brakeman's Blues,” “Mississippi River Blues,” and “My Time Ain't Long”) have had a profound influence on many popular singers, and they are considered to be a major contribution to the establishment of the country and western genre.