Toshio Hirano, the Japanese Jimmie Rodgers

In the early 2010s, business travel sometimes took me to northern California, midway between San Francisco and Sacramento. That region has a deep connection to western swing and other traditional American music genres. During the late 1940s, Bob Wills and Texas Playboys recorded their famed Tiffany Transcriptions in San Francisco, broadcast from KGO in Oakland, then moved to Sacramento, broadcasting on KFBK with home base at Wills Point, a dance hall, swimming pool, and recreation center on the east side of the city.

There is still a lot of that kind of music around the region: San Francisco's Golden Gate Park hosts the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in October. HicksWithSticks.com covers bluegrass, folk, rockabilly, western swing, honky tonk, and related genres, listing bands and gigs around the Bay Area.

It was through that website, that I learned about Toshio Hirano, "the Japanese Jimmie Rodgers," and on a couple of occasions went to hear him perform at Amnesia Bar (now closed) in San Francisco's Mission District. It was a simple show, one man with his guitar, singing songs made famous by Rodgers, Hank Williams, and Bob Wills, backed by a standup bass and sometimes a fiddle player. He typically played once a month at Amnesia and once a month at the Rite Spot. He also performed with mandolinist Dave Berry as Mountain Dojo.

Toshio was born in Tokyo in 1951. As a teen in the 1960s, while his peers were wowed by rock'n'roll, Toshio obsessed over American folk music, which led him to old-time country music and one of its earliest stars, Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman. Toshio came to America as a young adult, riding his bicycle through Appalachia, living for a while in Minnesota and Texas before settling in San Francisco.

Toshio retired from his regular gigs in 2015, feeling the effects of arthritis in his hands. He's made a few appearances since then. He gave fans an update on his 73rd birthday in February.

In 2009, filmmaker Oscar Bucher captured Toshio Hirano's journey and music in the multiple-award-winning documentary, Waiting for a Train: The Toshio Hirano Story.