Andy Rodgers (March 14, 1922 – August 14, 2004) was an American

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

harmonicist The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica include ...

, guitarist, singer, and songwriter. A flamboyant character, commonly known as the Midnight Cowboy, Rodgers worked part-time as a musician for most of his lifetime. He recorded two albums in the 1990s. In his lengthy career, Rodgers variously performed with

Carey Bell Carey Bell Harrington (November 14, 1936 – May 6, 2007) was an American blues musician who played harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass guitar for other blues musicians from the late 1950s to the early 1970s be ...

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr.; December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...

Billy Boy Arnold William "Billy Boy" Arnold (born September 16, 1935) is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Arnold is a self-taught harmonica player and has worked with blues legends such as Bo Diddley, Johnny Shines, Otis Rush, Earl H ...

Raful Neal Raful Neal (June 6, 1936 – September 1, 2004)Biography ''AllMusic'' was an American Louisiana blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter from the United States. Neal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and reared by his aunt and uncle on a t ...

Kenny Neal Kenny Neal (born October 14, 1957), is an American blues guitar player, singing, singer, and band member. Neal was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Raful Neal, and he comes from a musical family. He has often performed with his broth ...

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

, Phillip Walker,

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his List of number-one R&B singles of 1965 (U.S.), number-one R&B single "We're Gonna Ma ...

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

, Charles Brown,

Boxcar Willie Lecil Travis Martin (September 1, 1931 – April 12, 1999), whose stage name was Boxcar Willie, was an American country music singer-songwriter, who sang in the "old-time hobo" music style, complete with overalls, and a floppy hat. "Boxcar Will ...

Rose Maddox Roselea Arbana "Rose" MaddoxMany sources give her birth name as Brogdon. This is an error. She was recorded, with her birth family, as Rose Maddox in the 1940 US Census, and other sources report her second husband's name as Brogdon. (August 1 ...

Mickey Gilley Mickey Leroy Gilley (March 9, 1936 – May 7, 2022) was an American country music singer, businessman, actor, and musician. Among his hits are " Room Full of Roses", " Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time", and “ Lonely Nights”. ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

Blind Lemon Jefferson Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular and successful blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Fat ...

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, and

David "Honeyboy" Edwards David "Honeyboy" Edwards (June 28, 1915 – August 29, 2011) was an American delta blues guitarist and singer from Mississippi. Biography Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi.

. Rodgers also appeared on television programs, including ''

the Gong Show ''The Gong Show'' is an American amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976, through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976 to ...

'', ''

You Bet Your Life ''You Bet Your Life'' is an American comedy quiz series that has aired on both radioGood Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

''.

Biography

Rodgers was born near to

Liberty, Mississippi Liberty is a town in Amite County, Mississippi. It is part of the McComb, Mississippi McComb micropolitan area, micropolitan statistical area. It is the county seat of Amite County. The town can be accessed via Interstate 55 in Mississippi, I-55 ...

, one of eighteen children in his family. His parents were

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

. He left home at the age of 12 and drifted from one job to another. His cousins,

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp s ...

and

Bo Diddley Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy ...

, inspired him to become a musician. He found full-time employment as a boxer, truck driver, cotton picker and ranch hand. In the latter capacity he acquired the nickname Midnight Cowboy from his boss in

Dorris, California Dorris is a city in Siskiyou County, California, United States. Its population was 860 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 939 in the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. The only attractions are the Dorris, Californ ...

, after Rodgers delivered a calf in the dead of the night. When times became particularly difficult, Rodgers resorted to stealing chickens, later recalled in the title of his album ''Chicken Thief Blues''. His vagrant life gave him a wealth of stories, which he retold both in his music and between songs at the impromptu concerts he gave. He recalled being a cotton picker alongside

, wrestling a bear, placing a defanged rattlesnake in his father's bed, and meeting

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

. Rodgers appeared on the television program ''

The Gong Show ''The Gong Show'' is an American amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976, through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976 to ...

'' in 1976 and 1977 (he won on both occasions), on

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy ...

's version of ''

''. In 1994, Rodgers was given the Humanitarian Award by the Southern California Motion Picture Awards in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. He also agreed to the use of his nickname in ''

Midnight Cowboy ''Midnight Cowboy'' is a 1969 American drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted by Waldo Salt from the 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy. The film stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with supporting roles played by Sylvia Miles, J ...

'', the 1969 film starring

Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for Dustin Hoffman filmography, his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable charac ...

, and his music was used in the film '' The Big Easy'' (1987). By the late 1980s, Rodgers was able to have a full-time career in music. He recorded released two albums, ''Freight Train Blues'' (1992) and ''Chicken Thief Blues'' (1995), released by Snowflake Records. In his time he performed with

, Phillip Walker,

, Charles Brown,

, and

. Known for his Piedmont blues style of finger-picking the guitar, Rodgers also played the harmonica in a

style. He was later known to musicians as the "Grand Daddy of the Blues". He was inducted into the Cowboy Blues Hall of Fame in

Nevada City, California Nevada City is the county seat of Nevada County, California, United States, northeast of Sacramento, California, Sacramento, southwest of Reno, Nevada, Reno and northeast of San Francisco. The population was 3,152 as of the 2020 United States ...

. He also played for President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

at the Hilton in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. His hay haulage business was primarily based in

Fresno County, California Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most popu ...

and, later, in Butte Valley and Gridley, where he lived for more than 50 years. A fire at his mobile home forced Rodgers and his longtime companion, Georgie Ann Wadell, to relocate to Fall River Mills, where they lived until his death. The fire destroyed much of his archived music, biography and genealogy research. Rodgers died of complications due to

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

in August 2004, at the age of 82, in Redding,

Shasta County Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from the 2010 census. The county seat is Redding. ...

, California.

Discography

*1992: ''Freight Train Blues'', Snowflake Records *1995: ''Chicken Thief Blues'', Snowflake Records

References

External links

YouTube : Chicken Thief Blues
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodgers, Andy 1922 births 2004 deaths American blues singers American blues guitarists American blues harmonica players Harmonica blues musicians Songwriters from Mississippi Singers from Mississippi Delta blues musicians 20th-century American singers Blues musicians from Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists People from Liberty, Mississippi Deaths from diabetes in California People from Gridley, California Guitarists from Mississippi Guitarists from California American male guitarists 20th-century American male singers American male songwriters 20th-century American songwriters

Biography

Discography

See also

References

External links