music.wikisort.org - Poet

Elsie McWilliams (nee Williamson, June 1, 1896 - December 30, 1985) was a songwriter who wrote for Jimmie Rodgers. McWilliams, even though she is only officially credited with writing twenty songs, actually wrote or co-wrote 39 songs for Rodgers.[1][2] McWilliams was his most frequent collaborator.[3] She was the first woman to make a career as a country music songwriter.[4]

Elsie McWilliams
Born	Elsie Williamson (1896-06-01)June 1, 1896 Harperville, Mississippi
Died	December 30, 1985(1985-12-30) (aged 89)
Nationality	American
Occupation	songwriter
Known for	Jimmie Rodgers
Notable work	Blue Yodel

Biography

McWilliams was born in Harperville, Mississippi into a musical and religious family.[1] She graduated from high school in 1917 in Meridian and afterwards, taught school until she married.[5]

Her sister, Carrie, married Jimmie Rogers and in 1920, she and Rogers formed a dance band.[1] McWilliams played piano and sang in the band.[4]

Rodgers asked McWilliams to help him with songwriting after he secured a recording contract and McWilliams agreed, traveling to recording sessions and collaborating.[1] Rodgers could not read music, so McWilliams would play the songs and he would learn them by ear.[6] The first song she wrote for Rodgers was A Sailor's Plea.[6] Many of her songs became top hits.[6] McWilliams's ideas for her songs often "came from conversation" and she said that "When an idea hit me, I would have to write it down that minute or it would get away."[6]

Part of the reason he needed help was because his health was poor.[5] Even though McWilliams helped him write songs, she only took credit for some, stating that she wanted the full amount of the money to go to Rodgers and his family.[7] Sometimes when she received payment for her work, she would turn the royalties back over to Rodgers.[6]

After Rodger's death in 1933, McWilliams focused more on her family and her church.[6] In 1938, she and her sister made recordings in memory of Rodgers.[8] In 1979, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.[9] In 2010, a marker on the Mississippi Country Music Trail was created to honor her work.[10]

Works

• Blue Yodel
• Cowhand's Last Ride,[11]
• Daddy and Home
• Everybody Does It In My Hawaii,[11]
• Hobo Bill's Last Ride,[6]
• Home Call,[11]
• Lonesome Blues,[11]
• Lullaby Yodel,[11]
• My Little Home in New Orleans
• My Little Lady,[11]
• My Old Pal,[11]
• My Rough and Rowdy Ways,[11]
• The Never No Mo Blues,[11]
• Nobody Knows But Me,[11]
• A Sailor's Plea,[6]
• That's Why I'm Blue
• Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues
• Waitin' For the Train,[6]
• Yodeling Cowboy,[11]
• You and My Old Guitar,[11]

References

External links

• Mississippi River Blues (video)
• Never No Mo' Blues (video)

---