[5] Early on, he exhibited remarkable musical talents and was able to play almost any instrument he picked up, learning completely by ear.
Jenkins, who also showed a proficiency for writing songs at a young age, saw his musical abilities as "a God gift.
[4] Not surprisingly, he became a licensed preacher around the age of 21 and moved into the city, supplementing whatever he could earn from preaching and street performing and also by running a newspaper stand.
[5] Performing folk, country and light classical material, the Jenkins Family was an immediate success and remained with the station for nearly a decade.
[8] Jenkins was soon asked to write songs for the label's other artists, and his first effort, "The Death of Floyd Collins", took just 45 minutes to complete.
"The Death of Floyd Collins" was based on one of the first great media events of the century, the story of a spelunker who became trapped in caverns near Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.
The songs told of train wrecks, natural disasters and outlaws, stories often lifted directly from the daily newspapers.
[9] Many of his topical compositions were recorded by other artists over the ensuing years, including "Billy the Kid", drawn from a popular 1926 biography of the cowboy killer; "The Wreck of the Royal Palm", about a two-train collision in Georgia in 1926; "The Tragedy on Daytona Beach", based on the 1929 death of race car driver Lee Bible in Florida; "The Fate of Frank Dupre", the story of an Atlanta robbery/murder; and "Ben Dewberry's Final Run", which recounted the death of an Atlantan who was the engineer in a 1908 train wreck.
[8] The hit "The Death of Floyd Collins", for example, brought him just $25, and under his agreement with the producer he was working with at Okeh, he also gave up all rights to the song.
In 1939, he lost his eyesight completely, yet continued to preach until the time of his death and also broadcast as an evangelist on Mexico's powerful, uncontrolled radio stations.