But as the disease slowly took his breath - and his life - away, “The Singing Brakeman” got a recording contract and became famous throughout the land.

Here’s an old advertisement for Jimmie Rodgers Fan Club souvenirs.

As Rodgers’ tuberculosis worsened, he recorded a song about the disease before he died at the age of 32 in 1933. He called it “The T.B. Blues.”

Rodgers is still a hero in his hometown. In fact, there’s a Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian in a building designed to look like a railroad depot. Inside are some of his outfits, his sheet music and records, lots of photographs, and his old guitar.

Country music has become slick and enormously popular, of course. The economies of cities such as Nashville, Tennessee, are built around the country-music phenomenon. And many a night at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, the biggest country stars of the day take a moment to thank the man who started it all.

In 1961, Jimmie Rodgers - the “Singing Brakeman” - was the first person to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.