Elsie McWilliams

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. McWilliams was his most frequent collaborator. She was the first woman to make a career as a country music songwriter.

Biography McWilliams was born in Harperville, Mississippi into a musical and religious family.

Her sister, Carrie, married Jimmie Rogers and in 1920, she and Rogers formed a dance band. The first song she wrote for Rodgers was A Sailor's Plea. Sometimes when she received payment for her work, she would turn the royalties back over to Rodgers. In 1979, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2010, a marker on the Mississippi Country Music Trail was created to honor her work.

Works Blue Yodel No. 7 Cowhand's Last Ride, Daddy and Home Everybody Does It In My Hawaii, Hobo Bill's Last Ride, Home Call, Lonesome Blues, Lullaby Yodel, My Little Home in New Orleans My Little Lady, My Old Pal, My Rough and Rowdy Ways, The Never No Mo Blues, Nobody Knows But Me, A Sailor's Plea, That's Why I'm Blue Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues Waitin' For the Train, Yodeling Cowboy, You and My Old Guitar,