Later in July of 1927 Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company went to Bristol, Tennessee to record local talent. Jimmie and the Tenneva Ramblers arrived in Bristol on August 3 and auditioned for Peer, who agreed to record them the next day.

That night, as the band prepared for the big day ahead of them, an argument developed over how the billing was to be done. Jimmie finally said, “Alright, I‘ll just sing one myself!”

Jimmie Rodgers recorded two songs that day, August 4, 1927, alone with his guitar. The songs were "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" and "The Soldier's Sweetheart." These songs were released in October to moderate success. In November of that year, Jimmie traveled to New York to arrange another session with Peer. The two later met in Philadelphia and traveled to Camden, New Jersey, where the next recording session was held at the Victor Studios.

Four songs came from this session, Ben Dewberry’s Final Run, Mother was a Lady, Away Out on the Mountain and T for Texas. T for Texas was later released as Blue Yodel and sold over half a million copies and catapulted Rodgers to fame. He sold out shows everywhere and from this time on, he determined the dates of the recording sessions.

He became a very busy man, even doing a movie short called The Singing Brakeman. He toured with humorist, Will Rogers as part of a Red Cross tour. In 1930, he recorded Blue Yodel #9. Among the musicians on that recording was a young man from New Orleans name Louis Armstrong; Armstrong’s wife, Lillian, played piano on that recording.

Following the success of T for Texas, he relocated to San Antonio, Texas, where he also had a weekly radio show. In August of 1932, he arrived in Camden, New Jersey again to do more recordings. By this time, he’d given up touring and the symptoms of tuberculosis were obvious; he finished the sessions and returned to Texas.

On May 14, 1933, he arrived in New York City for a series of recording sessions. On May 17th, in a very weakened condition, he started recording. Before the sessions were over, he would have to sit down and record, not having the energy to stand.

He took a day off in an effort to muster the strength to continue. The sound engineer hired more studio musicians to help him out. Mississippi Delta Blues was one of the songs recorded by Jimmie with the help of the musicians during that session.

On May 24, a cot was brought into the studio for Jimmie to rest on between songs. On this day, the final day of the last session, Jimmie chose to perform alone. It was just him and his flat top guitar, playing the ending of a dream that had started in similar fashion on August 4, 1927, in Bristol, Tennessee.

In spite of his condition, on May 25th, he attempted to see the sights of Coney Island. While there he began to cough up and vomit blood. He was hemorrhaging badly!

Late on the afternoon of May 26, 1933, in his room at the Hotel Taft in New York City, Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman, died of a lung hemorrhage at the age of thirty-five years.

His entire recording career had only spanned less than five years, but during that time, he set the pace and character of what was to become country music. He set patterns that would be emulated in Blues and later in Rock and Roll.