This ArtCraft official first day cover honors Jimmie Rodgers with the 13¢ Performing Arts Series stamp issued May 24, 1978, in Meridian, Mississippi. The cachet features a classic portrait of the singer alongside a steam locomotive, celebrating his nickname “The Singing Brakeman.”
Rodgers is widely recognized as the “Father of Country Music,” whose 1920s–1930s recordings blended blues, folk, and yodeling that laid the foundation for the entire genre. The Meridian postmark is especially appropriate, as the Mississippi city was his adopted hometown and the site of his annual memorial festival.
A notable detail is the prominent railroad imagery on the cachet, directly referencing Rodgers’ early career as a brakeman on the New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad. The cover is addressed to Dr. Charles R. Martin in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
A fine addition for collectors of country-music topicals, ArtCraft cachets, or the Performing Arts Series, this well-preserved FDC displays strong graphics and a historically meaningful postmark.
