Kenny Rogers has been around forever and at age 74 the man has a lot to say. So this week he released a glimpse into his life and 50 plus years in the music industry.
Being born into the ‘depression era’ Texas I a family of 5 kids and alcohol dependant father seems almost cliché’ for country music, as if it were a requirement.
But there is amazing longevity and cross over with Rogers that simply cannot be sneered at. The songs seem corny “Lady’, “The Gambler” “Lucille” all seem very hokey yet there is not a person you know that cant belt out a line from anyone of them. What does that tell you? It tells you that no matter what you think of ‘country music’ or even of Rogers- that man has serious pop skills and is woven into American culture.
He did a rather extensive interview with Reuters. In this interview he is more candid than he needs to be but the time must just be right. His fans and the public certainly do not ‘deserve’ a tell all- we deserve nothing more than entertainment, so my though is Mr. Rogers needed to do some soul cleaning.
Here's a bit of what went down.
Q: In what ways do you think your challenging upbringing has helped shaped you?
A: “I think it made me more determined. One of the things I talk about in the book is the fine line between being driven and being selfish. I think there were times in my life I was so driven I became very selfish, and I’m not proud of that. I think it’s a realization I came to when I was writing this book.”
Q: You also share your father’s struggles with alcoholism and its effect on you.
A: “I think that one of the real tragedies in my life is that I never really got to know why my dad drank. He was an alcoholic, but during that time, post-War World Two, a lot of people were unemployed and ended up drinking. He couldn’t really support his family and I think it just broke him down. It breaks my heart that I didn’t know that before he passed away.”
“I never drank in my life. I saw it destroy him and saw it destroy other people I work with, so I made a conscious decision about this. Plus I didn’t know if there was any predetermination for me as the son of an alcoholic to become addicted, so I just never tried it.”
Q: What do you think your father, Floyd Rogers, would have thought about your book?
A: “I think he would appreciate the honesty, the candor and the fact that I don’t take myself that seriously. But I don’t think there is anything in that book that he would be offended by because it’s the truth as I saw it, and that’s really all you can do.”
Kenny’s book is available in bookstores and online now.