Over the greater than 60 years that Kenny Rogers wrote songs, his trajectory defied any easy narrative. Sure, he’s a Nation Music Corridor of Famer; sure, certainly one of his best-known and most enduring songs is a trippy ode to LSD. He began his profession taking part in bass in jazz and R&B bands in his native Houston; his first single, 1958’s “That Crazy Feeling,” was a convincing sufficient doo-wop efficiency to earn younger Kenneth an look on American Bandstand. A half-century later, he was finest often called both The Gambler, or a crowd-pleasing pop singer-turned-fried hen magnate.
His journey by means of industrial jazz with the New Christy Minstrels and quasi-hippiedom with the folks/rock/pop of the First Version is wild within the context of his later hits, till you consider how numerous these hits are. “The Gambler” and “Lady” have been launched inside two years of one another, however Rogers by no means noticed his aesthetic omnivorousness as a legal responsibility. “I’ve always been country, but not strictly,” Rogers mentioned in 1978. “When I look at a song, I look at it as a hit, and not as a particular kind of music.” As soon as you realize that, the wide-ranging glut of very profitable songs Rogers produced, and the thousands and thousands of copies they offered, makes much more sense. Rogers perpetually performed down his skills as a singer, insisting that he wasn’t a technician however a stylist. Nevertheless he most popular to explain it, his means to promote nearly any form of pop tune – to make you not identical to it, however really feel it – was practically unmatched. Listed below are 20 of his finest.
20: If You Need To Discover Love, Again Dwelling Once more (1991)
Probably the most straight-forwardly nation songs on this record, “If You Want To Find Love” proves Kenny Rogers’ Nashville mettle: a nostalgic, mandolin-adorned story tune that really counsels towards dishonest. It’s heat and acquainted with out sounding in any respect redundant, and has polished manufacturing that’s confirmed remarkably trend-resistant. Rogers’ smoky voice sounds totally folksy right here, not cabaret – a rebuke of those that may query his nation bona fides.
19: Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer, Gideon (1980)
An idea album a few Texas cowboy ought to have been a career-crystallizing second for The Gambler – although it wasn’t fairly that, Gideon did produce this, Kenny Rogers’ fifth top-five single on the Scorching 100. It’s a convincing, comparatively unadorned ballad that options Rogers’ reunion with Kim Carnes, who co-wrote all of the songs on Gideon. The 2 had labored collectively again within the early 60s after they have been simply beginning out, and their vocal chemistry allowed Rogers to stretch out and showcase his abilities for anybody who might need doubted his skills as a powerhouse singer.
18: I Desire The Moonlight, I Desire The Moonlight (1987)
A lot of Kenny Rogers’ post-Bee Gees output was constructed solely for achievement at grownup modern radio. That’s not inherently a nasty factor, nevertheless it does make a lot of his songs from the mid-’80s to early 90s sound, retrospectively, very, very comparable, with strings, mild synths, and balladry that includes prominently. That made “Moonlight,” with its folk-rock-tinged eclecticism and prolonged, unfastened format all of the extra refreshing. The monitor, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard nation charts, is sultry and enjoyable, showcasing virtuoso Mark O’Connor on mandolin and fiddle in addition to Rogers’ frequent collaborator Kim Carnes on background vocals. It’s nation pop at its most expansive and inventive, and in consequence, at its richest.
17: Tennessee Bottle, The Gambler (1978)
Kenny Rogers’ most evident reaches exterior of his personal down-the-middle pop and nation consolation zones – apart from just a few dalliances with the interval’s lite reggae – got here along with his varied disco experiments. They’re usually maligned, however Rogers, as evidenced by “Bottle,” married his nation background with the loosest trace of a disco groove in a approach that felt natural and truly much less saccharine than a lot of his straight-ahead pop tunes. Not simply on “Bottle,” however on “So In Love With You,” “The Fool In Me,” “You Turn The Light On,” and extra, Rogers pushes towards the dancefloor in his personal distinct approach.
16: Love Or One thing Like It, Love Or One thing Like It (1978)
It’s under no circumstances laborious to think about Kenny Rogers, who was married 5 instances, penning the road “Show me a bar with a good-lookin’ woman/Then just get out of the way.” It’s extra stunning that, alongside his longtime bandmate Steve Glassmeyer and the producer who introduced him his earliest solo success, Larry Butler, Rogers managed to make this memoir of a barroom lothario so charming. With its calypso lilt and earthy bassline, the tune feels completely different than most of Rogers’ hits. (It grew to become his third No. 1 on the nation charts.) The refrain’ centerpiece, “It’s cheap but it ain’t free,” provides an ideal bitter, actual notice to the in any other case upbeat ode to free love.
15: Coward Of The County, Kenny (1979)
Most prime ten hits, fortunately, don’t have a gang-rape scene, however the momentum Kenny Rogers had after the success of “The Gambler” the 12 months prior made making an attempt to recreate this tune nearly line for line a no brainer. Unsurprisingly, it labored. “Coward” was a fair larger success than “The Gambler,” reaching No. 3 on the Scorching 100 and changing into certainly one of Rogers’ signature songs, in addition to offering much more ammunition towards anybody who might need questioned his nation credibility. If it’s not the strangest tune to change into one of many greatest within the nation, it’s actually probably the most grotesque.
14: Each Time Two Fools Collide, Each Time Two Fools Collide (1978)
Allegedly the product of a happenstance assembly at a Nashville studio, this duet with Dottie West sparked two collaborative albums and have become the primary of 4 top-five Billboard nation hits for the pair. A basic pop vocal showcase with pedal metal punctuation and an epic scale, the monitor has change into probably the most beloved duets in nation historical past. Maybe as a result of neither artist was originally of their profession after they recorded the tune, they have been capable of give its theme – a relationship that simply isn’t working – an ever extra convincing, world-weary portrayal.
13: Whereas The Feeling’s Good, Love Lifted Me (1976)
From a industrial perspective, this single – which predated Kenny Rogers’ large break on the nation charts – was a flop. Aesthetically, although, it proved how successfully Rogers might match into the Nashville Sound, combining its gloss and pathos with a contemporary, mild groove. It’s a peek at nation’s horny facet, one which Rogers didn’t usually faucet into. As an alternative, he tended to suit his boudoir-ready tracks right into a pop or R&B mould. “While The Feeling’s Good,” although, is a style of the street not taken, and the way nice Rogers sounds crooning alongside a pedal metal.
12: Love Will Flip You Round, Love Will Flip You Round (1982)
Launched across the zenith of Kenny Rogers’ success, “Love Will Turn You Around” was however an train in understatement. A simple acoustic riff drives the tune whereas Rogers spins a well-recognized yarn concerning the transformative energy of affection. He’s a real grasp of conversational singing, making a reasonably customary melody and tune construction irresistible with seemingly little effort. The folksy vibe of the tune was a welcome throwback to Rogers’ earlier work, and it reached No. 1 on each the Billboard nation and grownup modern charts – the fourth time a Rogers tune had reached each peaks.
11: You Can’t Make Previous Associates, You Can’t Make Previous Associates (2013)
It’s laborious to take heed to this tune, a duet with Dolly Parton, within the wake of Kenny Rogers’ passing. Sure, it’s crammed with the form of sentimentality that might most likely be cringeworthy if it weren’t coming from two outdated, legendary artists who’re, in reality, outdated buddies. However the stripped-down preparations and earnest supply make it gutting, a honest reflection on mortality from two individuals who have seen extra collectively than most of us will most likely ever perceive. Parton’s tearful memorial to Rogers appeared to present this tune much more that means – an opportunity to not simply say however sing those self same sentiments to (and with) Rogers whereas he was nonetheless dwelling.
10: Share Your Love With Me, Share Your Love (1981)
To sing a tune after Aretha Franklin not simply sang it, however gained a Grammy for her efficiency, takes bravery. However when Kenny Rogers had the most important single of his profession singing the Lionel Richie composition “Lady,” he elected, unsurprisingly, to proceed making his personal model of pop R&B. He gave Richie the reins for his subsequent album, the underrated Share Your Love, which nonetheless serves as efficient proof of how nation and R&B are solely as far aside as document labels – and racism – make them. Rogers is joined by Gladys Knight and the Pips in addition to Richie himself on the title monitor, which climbed the charts simply. It stays a premier instance of genre-agnostic pop gloss.
9: She Believes In Me, The Gambler (1978)
“She Believes In Me” has the form of refrain that sticks in your head even in the event you don’t suppose you’ve ever heard it earlier than, which helps account for a way this single grew to become Kenny Rogers’ first AC No. 1 and the most important hit of his solo profession to that time. It might hardly sound extra completely different from “The Gambler,” which it adopted, however followers embraced it however – early proof of Rogers’ versatility.
8: Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To City, Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To City (1969)
A rollicking down-home tune with a superbly singable refrain, “Ruby” and its performative, upbeat, folksiness function a Malicious program for a surprisingly grim story. The narrator, husband of the titular Ruby, has been wounded within the “crazy Asian war” (given the timing, assuming it was Vietnam could be honest – however the creator, Mel Tillis, says it was impressed by World Warfare II) and so Ruby has began searching for affection elsewhere. The primary hit credited to “Kenny Rogers and the First Edition” moderately than simply The First Version, “Ruby” fittingly featured Rogers entrance and middle as a gruff however relatable everyman (besides, maybe, the road when he threatens to “get my gun and put her in the ground”).
7: Night Star, Eyes That See In The Darkish (1984)
With Barry Gibb as head producer, it could be honest to have anticipated an album filled with the disco experiments that Kenny Rogers was already making lengthy earlier than the Gibbs got here into the image. However Eyes That See In The Darkish is extra polished pop than the rest, with a front-to-back consistency that a lot of Rogers’ albums, with their laser concentrate on creating enormous hits, lack. “Evening Star” is among the album’s most “country” entries, with the Gatlin brothers singing backup and a decidedly Western focus. Lilting and delicate, it’s easy and, merely, fairly.
6: Candy Music Man, Daytime Associates (1977)
Nothing about “Sweet Music Man” says “major hit,” as has been confirmed by the tepid responses to not simply Kenny Rogers’ a number of releases of the monitor, however covers by artists from Dolly Parton to Reba McEntire. Nonetheless, the Rogers-composed tune retains getting lined, its candy melody and meta chorus (“Nobody sings a love song quite like you do”) charming artists of all generations. It’s essentially the most enchanting critique of the music trade’s cynicism you’ll ever hear.
5: Lucille, Kenny Rogers (1976)
The mythology of “Lucille” is that Kenny Rogers, newly solo after his tenure with The First Version, was doing gigs as a Vegas lounge act and promoting music classes when he discovered it in a pile of cast-off songs in a Nashville publishing workplace. The tune is so seamless and self-evidently catchy it’s laborious to essentially consider that rags-to-riches story. Both approach, the tune reached No. 5 on the Scorching 100 and have become his breakthrough solo hit – creating an acoustic, folksy template that Rogers would draw from many times. And why not? It sounded just like the tune he was born to sing, and who doesn’t need to sing alongside to, “You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille”?
4: Girl, Kenny Rogers’ Biggest Hits (1980)
If Kenny Rogers wasn’t explicitly conscious of the quiet storm motion in R&B, Lionel Richie, who wrote and produced what would change into the most important single of his profession, actually was. It comes by means of in “Lady,” which has the identical form of super-slow tempo and conversational balladry as a few of the sultrier R&B hits of the day. The tune was monumental, staying atop the Scorching 100 for six straight weeks and charting on not solely the AC and nation charts, however the soul chart as effectively. It cemented Rogers’ standing as a bona fide pop star as a lot as a rustic singer, and confirmed that Richie had greater than sufficient expertise to make it as a solo act himself.
3: Simply Dropped In (To See What Situation My Situation Was In), The First Version (1967)
In line with what would change into his personal musical non-tradition, Kenny Rogers’ first main hit tune alongside the First Version was odd – a psychedelic rock tribute to LSD that might change into the theme tune for a era of hippies (or at the very least the information reels that captured them) and Huge Lebowski followers. It’s a loud, experimental, unusual tune that doesn’t sound as well-liked because it was, nevertheless it reached No. 5 on Billboard’s Scorching 100 because the band’s second-ever single. It’s not only a large tune, however a popular culture touchstone – shorthand for a complete era’s trippy proclivities. And Rogers is, as ever, completely convincing, though his position may as effectively have been on Mars in comparison with the one he performed throughout his best solo success.
2: Islands In The Stream, Eyes That See In The Darkish (1982)
There may be no happier hit tune than this one, a straightforward post-disco monolith seemingly completely tailor-made to each Kenny Rogers’ and Dolly Parton’s specific tackle pop-via-country. It was initially penned, in response to the Gibb brothers, for Marvin Gaye, nevertheless it’s laborious to think about anybody else promoting its pleasant idiosyncrasies so effectively (“I set out to get you with a fine-tooth comb”?). Kenny and Dolly have been an extremely interesting duo, and “Islands” serves as an everlasting tribute to their camaraderie – in addition to a superb retort to anybody who may get too slowed down in nation orthodoxy.
1: The Gambler, The Gambler (1978)
You realize the tune, and you realize the refrain. In case you’ve been in a bar anytime prior to now 4 a long time, you’ve most likely sang it just a few instances. Don Schlitz penned an epic story that, regardless of having already been recorded by Bobby Naked and Johnny Money, didn’t change into ubiquitous till Kenny Rogers etched it into the historical past books. The manufacturing is impeccable, and Rogers’ efficiency is modest sufficient to goad one million followers into exhorting one another to know when to carry ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. It takes a reasonably highly effective tune to utterly outline its singer, particularly when that singer is somebody who was already as acquainted and established as Kenny Rogers. However, Kenny is The Gambler. Smart, benevolent, catchy as something – there are quite a bit worse locations to wind up.
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