“Muleskinner Blues” — first issued as “Blue Yodel No. 8” — is a song written and recorded by Jimmie Rodgers, the “Singing Brakeman” and a founding figure of country music. Rodgers cut it in 1930, drawing on earlier blues recordings, and wrapped its lyric of a hard-luck mule driver looking for work in his trademark blue yodel.
The song became a bluegrass cornerstone through Bill Monroe. When Monroe recorded it in 1940 — his first record for RCA Victor — he drove it hard and fast, and the result helped announce the new, high-powered sound that would become bluegrass. “Mule Skinner Blues” remained one of his signature numbers.
The song has since been recorded across country and bluegrass by countless artists.
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