Earnings from his recordings at the peak of his career enabled Rodgers to build his "dreamhouse" for his family in Kerrville, Texas, a location chosen partly for health reasons.

Rogers & Rodgers flew from town to town across Texas and up into Oklahoma, pulling in unprecedented amounts of cash for relief, with every dime going to the Red Cross for food and basics like vegetable seeds, so families could stay fed during the Great Depression.

The song's first two verses trace the exploits of Ramblin' Bob, who cheats at cards and gets caught, while the final verse tells about taking a girl named Susie out on the town and winding up in jail with her.

"I was happy, oh so happy
Down in Mississipi way
I was livin' with my pappy
Fifteen years ago today"

Rodgers recorded the song on July 16, 1930 in Los Angeles with an unbilled Louis Armstrong on trumpet and Armstrong's wife Lil on piano.

In "Blue Yodel No. 8", a down-on-his-luck mule skinner approaches "the Captain", looking for work ("Good Morning, Captain." / "Good morning, Shine." / "Do you need another muleskinner on your new mud line?"). He boasts of his skills: "I can pop my 'nitials on a mule's behind" and hopes for "a dollar and a half a day."

During his final recording session Rodgers was so weakened from years of fighting tuberculosis that he had a nurse accompanying him and needed to rest on a cot between songs.

At that time he accounted for fully 10% of RCA Victor's sales in a drastically depressed record market.