Don Henley News

At 65, Kenny Rogers ' familiar voice is raspier than it was 25 years ago on such hits as "She Believes in Me" and "Coward of the County."

But with his snowy white hair and beard intact, he remains one of country music's most recognizable figures. This month, Capitol Records Nashville released a double-CD set "42 Ultimate Hits" that shows why.

Rogers' career is remarkable not only for its success (21 No. 1 songs on either the country or pop charts) but for its longevity and range. Even before the hits began with his rock group the First Edition in the late 1960s, he played folk, jazz and doo-wop.

The new collection picks up with the psychedelic "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In) and continues through his new country single "My World Is Over," the latest in a long line of duets with female singers, this time with Whitney Duncan.

In between are "Ruby," "Lucille," "The Gambler," "She Believes in Me," "You Decorated My Life," "Coward of the County," "Lady," "Islands in the Stream," "Real Love" — songs that clicked with both pop and country listeners for 30 years.

Rogers jokes that just about everyone can find something familiar in his catalog.

"I met a young kid the other day, and he said, `Oh, my mom used to listen to you all the time.' He mentioned the 5th Dimension, and I said, 'No, it was the First Edition and we had the song "Just Dropped In.'" He said, 'From the (1998 movie) "The Big Lebowski?" I love that song.'"

Then there was the youngster who eyed him up and down and shouted to his mother, "Hey, there goes that baseball guy," a nod to Rogers' 1999 baseball ode, "The Greatest."

Rogers has a knack for picking the right song at the right time, said Jay Orr, a historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

"I think his great genius has been his ability to hear hits, to sense the popular taste," Orr said. "At a time when pop music was going to punk and disco and away from broad popular appeal, Kenny sort of found the middle."

Some of his most successful songs wrapped dark lyrics in bright, catchy melodies. "Ruby," "Lucille" and "Coward of the County" all dealt with weighty issues: war, abandonment and revenge, respectively.

"In concert, he'd have a song like `Lucille' that is a stark portrait of a fellow being deserted by a woman, but the melody is fetching and Kenny would have folks clapping along," Orr said.

Rogers' career cooled in the 1990s as a new wave of singers emerged. He returned to the upper end of the charts in 1999 with "The Greatest" and "Buy Me a Rose," his last No. 1 song.

Rogers said he's always considered himself an entertainer rather than a singer. His theory is that "singers have to have hits and entertainers can work forever."

"When I first started doing music, country music was what country people would buy. Now, country music is what country radio will play," he says.

He pauses a moment then adds, "I don't think radio owes me anything from the past. What radio has said to me is, `If you do a great song, we will play it. If you do just a good song, there are a lot of other good songs out there.'"

The Houston native got his start in the 1950s as part of a local doo-wop act called the Scholars.

Later, jazz player Bobby Doyle took him on as a protege, and he spent a decade playing bass in Doyle's trio.

He joined the folk music act the New Christy Minstrels in 1966, leaving a year later to form the First Edition with other ex-Minstrels.

In an interesting footnote, Rogers also produced the first album by Texas band Shiloh whose members included future Eagle Don Henley and Warner Bros. Nashville President Jim Ed Norman.

Rogers left the First Edition in 1974 and struggled a few years until he broke through as a country singer with "Lucille."

By 1980 he become so big that he expanded into acting, including a series of made-for-TV movies inspired by "The Gambler."

In recent years, he opened a chain of chicken restaurants, co-founded Dreamcatcher Entertainment, released several photography books and started an interior design business.

He married for the fifth time in 1997, to Wanda Miller. The couple lives outside of Atlanta and are expecting twin boys next month.

"If I make music 95 percent of my life, when music goes so does 95 percent of my life," Rogers said. "So I have these other things that I'm equally passionate about. I try to always make sure I have someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to."

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On the Net:

http://www.kennyrogers.com