Jimmie Rodgers was, as his plaque at the Country Music Hall of Fame states, "the man who started it all," and his role as the father of country music is made all the more amazing by the fact that his recording and singing career only lasted a scant six years in the 1920s and '30s. His deceptively simple songs, often punctuated by his distinctive yodeling, merged hillbilly and cowboy folk with gospel, jazz, blues, and pop, and he bridged the gap between the vernacular artists of the recording industry's first years with the country stars who emerged in country's modern era. This double-disc set (a second bonus disc includes a sampler of the artists included in the Rough Guide to Country series, of which this set is a part) provides a quick introduction to the Singing Brakeman, the man who started it all. ~ Steve Leggett