![]() ![]() This was at the height of the Vietnam War, a fact that made the song painfully relevant. Rogers said producer Jimmy Bowen, who signed the First Edition to Reprise Records, didn’t think radio would play “Ruby” but that he - Rogers - insisted on recording the Mel Tillis song about a wounded war veteran and his straying young wife. Next came his membership in the First Edition, with which he recorded the hits “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) (1968) and “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” (1969). Rogers spoke of his tenure with the New Christy Minstrels in the late 1960s, noting the folk group initially didn’t want him because they thought at the age of 30 he was “too old.” Seating himself on a stool, Rogers sang two of those standards - “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” and “When I Fall in Love.” It was with Doyle’s band, Rogers continued, that he learned to play classic pop songs from the 1940s and ’50s. “I told him I played guitar,” Rogers said, “and he said there’s more demand for bad bass players than bad guitar players.” 16.)ĭoling out bits of his colorful history as the evening unfolded, he recalled that at the age of 19, he met a “blind piano player” (Bobby Doyle) who asked him to join his jazz band as a bass player. ![]() (Amazon lists the book’s release date as Oct. He told the audience he’s completed his autobiography, which will be called Luck or Something Like It. “It’s such a compliment and such a thrill for me ,” he said, after breezing through “Daytime Friends” (1977). Wearing a black, open-collar shirt and narrow-legged jeans and standing arrow straight, Rogers was the picture of a man completely at ease with his art. Nodding to his seven-piece band, he opened with “Coward of the County,” his getting-even hit from 1979. The 73-year-old superstar ambled on stage at 7:11, and the crowd rose up cheering to welcome him. Besides being the supreme song stylist, he also proved himself a master storyteller with a comedian’s instinct for timing. The Hall of Fame’s 213-seat Ford Theater was packed to capacity for both shows, and for a man who’s accustomed to playing arenas, Rogers seemed to blossom in this infinitely more intimate setting. His Wednesday show featured guest appearances by Billy Currington and Billy Dean, while the Thursday edition spotlighted singer-songwriters Don Schlitz and Kim Carnes. Kenny Rogers concluded his two-night artist-in-residence run at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Thursday (May 10) with a show that was substantially different from his opening performance, at which he announced he has signed a new contract with Warner Bros. ![]()
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