You’re just as likely to spot Randy Rogers in the crowd as you are to see him on stage. He’s an all around fan of music having learned very early what it can do for the soul. His natural ability for “song” brought him solid respect for the art of music producing a passionate believer in honest, straightforward storytelling. Lyrics aside, don’t let yourself be fooled into notions of sleepy folk persuasion because the Randy Rogers Band “ain’t no acoustic show.”
RollerCoaster, the band’s third independent release on Smith Music reveals a Texas-grown band that’s flipped the lid off the independent music vat spewing forth a rich sonic brew. Rogers penned nine of the eleven southern gritty tracks, three of which were co-written with the record’s producer, Radney Foster. Right out of the gate the record was deemed worthy of national kudos when USA Today rated it with three stars saying, “This Texas band’s guitars rock with an authority their Nashville counterparts rarely manage, but the songs on this Radney Foster-produced disc are pure country.”
Very much the successors of the autonomous music legion, the Randy Rogers Band comes up closely in line with grass-roots icon like Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robert Earl Keen and Jerry Jeff Walker. Circa 2005, RRB’s reputation arrives weeks before the actual live concert date harvesting fans by the thousands. The band’s tour schedule has been intensive since the new release taking them across the country and into major radio airplay. The first single “Tonight’s Not the Night” has settled well into mass rotation on country radio placing them on the big daddy of charts, Billboard that is, as well as R&R, Americana and Texas Music charts. The Gruene with Envy Awards have become something of a big daddy event for the Texas music folk. The awards ceremony draws all the top musicians in the area where they are honored to receive awards that are based solely on fan votes. In January, RRB swept up the majority of the honors including “Band of the Year,” “Album of the Year,” “Song of the Year” and “Songwriter of the Year.”
It was lucky for Rogers that his initial plans for post adolescence led him in pursuit of a public relations degree at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. It was there that he met and ultimately banded with the RRB counterparts. Musically all band members add their own personal music taste. Guitarist Geoffrey Hill grew up on a rock diet pretty much exempt of any country music nourishment. Bassist Jon Richardson digested huge helpings of Waylon and Willie. Fiddle player Brady Black came from the bluegrass lineage, and drummer Les Lawless’s influences are still to be determined. Randy Rogers identifies himself just fine on his own. “As for me, my songwriting is as country as country gets. Add in the different flavors of the others and it comes out country rock with a fiddle.”
Their track record adds up to an admirable amount of units sold starting with the release of Live at Cheatham Street Warehouse in 2000 followed by Like It Used to Be in 2002. Nearly three years since its release, Like It Used to Be still remains on the top sellers list on LoneStarMusic.com. Now on board with the William Morris Agency for national booking, the Randy Rogers Band will undoubtedly ride their RollerCoaster to the top.
