Jimmie Rodgers turned 86 on September 18th. Also turning 86, Robert Blake and Fred Willard! There was something odd going on back on September 18th, 1933.
It's a miracle that Rodgers survived into his 80's, considering the near-fatal beating he endured after moving from Roulette Records to A&M. Like Phil Ochs, Jimmie chose to switch to A&M in order to explore new and adventurous styles in music. Unfortunately for Jimmie, the label he left was a bit vindictive. Unlike Jac Holzman at Elektra, Morris Levy at Roulette had deep ties to organized crime, and was a thug of near Meyer Lansky proportions.
At the time, nobody was too sure why Jimmie was followed along the highway, pulled over by apparently bogus cops, and beaten. All kinds of lurid theories were offered. At this point, and thanks to Tommy James' autobiography which outed Levy as a dangerous man, it's apparent that a "hit" was ordered. Roulette was known to not pay royalties and to even issue bootleg-type records that the artists never authorized for release, including tapes of live comedy shows and even audio from TV variety shows. Threats were routine over there.
Jimmie had moved away from light hits such as "Honeycomb" to more profound material reflecting the late 60's, including "Child of Clay." He was covering middle of the road hipness ("Windmills of Your Mind") as well as the new wave of singer songwriters. He sang Leonard's "Suzanne," and Joni's "Both Sides Now."
But after the attack, the handsome singer lost vital months to rehab, and the affects of his near-fatal beating haunted him and hindered him. "Troubled Times" was the appropriate name of the "lost" album A&M released after "Child of Clay." Other cuts include "Woman Crying" and "The Good Times Are Gone." Rodgers, still suffering relapses and health issues, emerged with his own Honeycomb Family Theater in Branson, did the oldies circuit now and then, turned up at some memorabilia shows, and when his voice was just too shaky, he would do lip sync for his devoted fans, and sign copies of his book and his albums after the show.
He showed a lot of determination to get through the years. Never lose optimism, even if the reality is that there were troubled times and violence in the 60's, and even more of it now. PS, also below, you can hear Jimmie's nostalgic and somewhat grim "When I Was The Leader of the Band," performed live for some of his friends.
TROUBLED TIMES by Jimmie Rodgers - no ego password, no link-within-link hoops, no malware
LEADER OF THE BAND - no password, no link to a dodgy porn-gif website, no Dutch lunacy
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