Rodríguez Marín finished his high school in Osuna, and later spent three years at the "Viña de Pago Dulce" estate.

He studied law at the University of Seville and became interested in Spanish popular songs through the Sociedad del Folk-Lore Andaluz, which he co-founded in 1881.

In 1895 he met Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo in Seville, and was appointed full professorship at the "Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras".

During the Civil War he took refuge for twenty-six months in the La Mancha town of Piedrabuena (Ciudad Real), where his daughter Carlota lived.

He was also a biobibliographer of Pedro Espinosa, and printed the poetry of Baltasar del Alcázar and El diablo cojuelo by Luis Vélez de Guevara.