A FEW MOMENTS WITH… KENNY ROGERS
A FEW MOMENTS WITH… KENNY ROGERS
The Beatles may have sold more albums in the ‘60s, Elton John may have sold more in the ‘70s, Michael Jackson may have sold more in the ‘80s, but Kenny Rogers has sold over 120 million albums worldwide! He’s had Top 10 records from the ‘60s through the 2010’s. That’s six decades in the charts, including a local hit in Houston that entered the Cashbox charts in 1958!
Kenny has been on our inaugural Country Cruise before, and he’ll be joining us again in 2016. As always, he’s dedicated to giving his audiences what they want – a generous selection of his hits from the past six decades –- delivered with all the warmth and humanity we’ve come to admire.
Q: Writing off Kenny Rogers has always been a bad idea. When you’ve struggled to get back on top, were you trying to prove something to yourself or to people who’d written you off?
A: When my career hit the depths one time, my mom said, “Son, you’re still playing music, that’s all you ever wanted to do. Relax, enjoy where you are.” She had a third grade education, but she was full of wisdom. I find being successful easier to live with, of course, but every time I was down I was confident that I’d be back up again. Part of the fun of getting to the top of the mountain is the climb. If you don’t enjoy the climb, you can’t appreciate the peak. My life has been a series of peaks. I think the key to success is slow, steady progress. Obviously, it’s hurt some of my personal relationships. Look, I’ve been married five times. I wrote in my book that there’s a fine line between being driven and being selfish, and I think I crossed it a few times.
Q: Do you ever look at someone doing their job and think, “You know, I might have enjoyed doing that if things hadn’t turned out the way they did”?
A: All I ever wanted to be was a musician. When I was twelve, I saw Ray Charles on a show in Houston. Everyone was loving the music. Everyone was laughing at his jokes. I knew that was what I wanted to do. That was a key turning point. I read somewhere that many men decide what they want to do between the ages of twelve and fifteen, and I certainly did.
Q: Beards have gone in style and out of style. You’ve worn one as long as most of us can remember. What got you started? Any plans to shave it off?
A: I shaved off my beard a while back and just had a goatee for a while. But quick answer, No!
Q: You famously played tennis with many Wimbledon champions. People may not know that you were once a competitive tennis player.
A: I played with forty-five Wimbledon champions. I can’t play tennis anymore since I’ve got no original body parts that work! I wish I could. I developed a national ranking while I was on the road playing with Wimbledon champions. Just recently, I was in London when Wimbledon was on and I think Andy Murray is a great player who has come such a long way. I follow tennis all the time and there are very few players I don't know about or whose names I can't pronounce properly. I didn't start playing until I was about thirty-five and used to play for eight hours a day. It was always doubles, and in 1979 I had a ranking on the ATP tour and played two pro tournaments. One was a match against Wimbledon finalist Chris Lewis and US Open finalist Van Winitsky. Believe it or not I was actually ranked ahead of Björn Borg in doubles when he was number one in the world in the world singles rankings. It’s true he had played only one doubles tournament, but even so! But, like I said, I can't play anymore because of my back, knees and shoulders.
Q: Is the satisfaction that comes from seeing a really good photographic image you’ve taken the same as listening to the playback of what you know is a really great recording?
A: The same. Once I’ve decided I’m going to do something, whether it’s music or tennis or photography, I want to see how good I can be at it. In fact, just a few months after I was named to the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Professional Photographers’ Association gave me an Honorary Master’s Degree in Photography.
Q: In 2012 you played the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee and in 2013, you played the Glastonbury Festival in England. Did it feel like the hippie era all over again seeing all those young people camped out in the mud?
A: I heard all about the mud and I lost count of the number of people who told me that Glastonbury would be the wettest place I have ever encountered, but it was great. It was such an exciting gathering of music and I was really looking forward to hearing the Rolling Stones perform and hanging around with them. I’d never heard them play live. I'm very fond of the UK and I was so pleased when the England Rugby World Cup team used my song “The Gambler” as inspiration a few years ago.
I call songs like “The Gambler” my artillery. Sometimes, audiences have to work harder with songs they don't know but with ones like “Lucille” and “Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town,” it's such a thrill to hear people enjoying joining in, especially at festivals. In fact, a funny thing happened at the Stagecoach Festival in California. Ryan King, the son of William King from the Commodores, came backstage and was telling me that some of his best childhood memories were at my farm near Athens, Georgia, riding go-karts with my son, Chris. The very next day, I was in New York with Don Schlitz, who’d written “The Gambler.” Don was getting inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, and I told him what Ryan had said about how you can’t make old friends—you either have ‘em or you don’t. Don said, “Give me a chance to write a song about that.” A very short time after, he sent it to me. He told me that he heard me singing it with Dolly, and we recorded it — “You Can’t Make Old Friends.” It was nominated for a GRAMMY at the 2014 GRAMMY Awards.
I did another festival with 100,000 people in Agadir, Morocco, not long ago. It's so satisfying to have fans around the world. I met a Korean girl recently who said she had learned to speak English listening to my records. I think my fans fall into two separate bunches. There are those born after the Eighties whose parents played them my music as some form of child abuse — and there are those who have been around since the Sixties and can't remember any of it!
Q: Tell us something we don’t know about Dolly Parton.
A: She doesn’t phone or text or email. She sends faxes. Everyone thinks Dolly and I had an affair, but we just flirted with each other for thirty years … in front of the nation. I’ve been in love with Dolly in a really safe place. It’s hard to really know her and not love her. She’s so unpretentious. She has no filter. She can say things to people no one else can say.
Q: You’ve always looked forward rather than back. How did it feel writing your autobiography, having to remember everything and put it in sequence?
A: Every era, every decade was great for its own reasons. The ’60's were fun because it was the ’60's. So much happened in the ’70’s — my career broke wide open. In the ’80’s, there were so many things taking off — I recorded a lot of music and continued a good run on the charts…there were The Gambler movies, the Christmas record with Dolly, and of course, the “We Are The World” experience in the ’80’s. I called the book Luck or Something Like It because I felt lucky to be at Point A so I could get to Point B and on to Point C. It’s that simple, and it’s that complicated.
Q: Any plans to resurrect The Gambler?
A: You never count out The Gambler. We did five movies of the week. It captured such an image. Everyone loves the philosophy, though, ironically, Don Schlitz isn’t a gambler and neither am I. I can’t win enough to excite me but I can lose enough to depress me. But “The Gambler” is hands-down my most requested song. Will there be another movie, another song? Wait and see!
Q: You famously know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. Have you given any thought to folding … and just kicking back?
A: Success is no reason to quit! People ask me if I get tired of doing my hits on-stage. Well, doesn’t that beat going out there without them? I’ll keep doing it as long as people pay to hear me, and as long as it’s fun. Both of those are still very much true.
Q: Did you enjoy playing to our 2014 Country Cruise?
A: Sure! I love playing big venues and festivals, but I love the more intimate settings, too, especially ones in lush, tropical, romantic settings. So, yes, I’m really looking forward to rejoining the Country Cruise in 2016. See you there!