Kenny Rogers
(Q)-Even though you’ve been up for the CMA Entertainer of the Year Award before, you’ve never won. You’ve commented that really hurt you. You’re nominated for quite a few awards this time out. How do you feel about that?
Kenny Rogers (KR)- It would mean a lot to me.(To win the CMA Entertainer of The Year Award). That award will do for me what “The Greatest” has done for me at radio. It made or will make me viable once again. And that’s really important to me. It’s like you have to win something if before people will consider you for other things. (awards) I mean they did the same thing that happened to me to Shania (Twain). They (the country music industry) would say, “She’s too pop.” But boy, when they started talking about how well country music is doing, they sure starting counting in her records. There’s kind of a strange dichotomy in there of how they… and quite honesty I don’t know who they is, but when they run record sales up, they’d talk about Garth, Shania and Faith and then they’d start talking about how their too pop. And yet they count their album sales whenever they’re searching for credibility for the genre. So that was always my sour grape with it (Not winning a CMA Entertainer Of The Year Award). I worked very hard and there were times when I had huge acceptance at pop radio and I always said I was a country signer who had pop influence. But I never denied my country roots. But it’s not for me truly, really sour grapes, it’s a bit of a (personal) goal. It’s like saying I always wanted to do something short of dying to be on the cover of “Time” magazine (he laughs). I don’t want to die to get it, but I’d like to do something that’s worthwhile enough to be on the cover of “Time” magazine.
(Q)- Looking into your crystal ball, what’s the future hold for Kenny Rogers and the country music genre?
(KR)-For myself, everything just looks so unbelievable. I mean all of a sudden, none of the things I could do(career-wise- just two years ago are being handed to me, literally handed to me. So I think that’s an important factor. What I didn’t want to do is die having not had a hit (single) in twenty years. I had a goal at one time having a Top Ten a6 age sixty. Well, I was sixty-one years old and I missed it by a year, so that’s not bad. For me, I could have made more money then I could have ever used for the rest of my life off of the hits that I had because I had a great career. But there’s something about a (current) hit song that chances the audience’s perception of the artist, but more importantly it changes the artists’ perception of themselves. And, when you walk out on-stage, you carry yourself differently and you’re no longer doing a retro-show. You’re a contemporary act with a lot of credentials. It’s a great place to be. You’re a factor. There’s nothing sadder then being (in this business of country music) a non-factor.
(Q)- You’ve always done well, in part because you’re a master at storytelling and that’s what a country song is all about.
(KR)- I’ve always believed that country music is the white mans rhythm and blues you know? Rhythm and blues talks about the pain and the problems of the white mans community. And I think that really, music is such a dynamic when it comes to communication, the things that you can’t really express for yourself, you sometimes can express for yourself in the selection through the music you choose. And, I think that what allows me the opportunity to be a storyteller is that I’ve been through most of the stuff I’m singing about. The idea that there’s a difference between empathy and sympathy. I’ve been there and I know that pain in all of these situations. That’s a part of why, a lot of the young kids who are great technicians and signers, really don’t understand the pain, they don’t understand where the emphasis should go so that it impacts you at a higher level. And I think that has always been my strength. Or at least in my opinion. If you give me a song that touches me, then I can find a way to communicate it to people so that they can understand the story. Every song o my new record has that sense of values, moral and ethics that goes with this sort of thing and that each song has it’s own character of it’s own.
(Q)- After a point don’t you have to supercede your judgement and not go to far into what will work or what won’t, as far as material and production and song selection?
(KR)- I still think that my gut still tells me what to do and it overrides my heart in a lot of cases. It tends to take me to certain places, because music has always had a place in my life and that’s about communication. I think that when you go back and listen to the songs I’ve done, those songs tell you something about me. The songs you choose (to record)I think sometimes gives you more insight into the person singing it as well. I heard some really great songs when I went into making this album but then I thought about those songs and realized that, not all of those songs represented me and who I am at this place in my career. So, I’m really careful and I think the continuity comes from everyone’s personal frame of reference.
(Q)- Is picking the material you’ll record more important and difficult or a challenge to you then ever before because of your age and track record and the success of “The Greatest” from last year? Are the stakes for Kenny Rogers higher then ever?
(KR)- Yes. Absolutely.
(Q)- How does this effect your personal life and your personal views of you and your position within the country genre? Isn’t it more difficult then ever for you to keep this going and to maintain your status as a Number One player in country?
(KR)- I think that now, more then ever, I have a battle that I have to fight. Radio stations get thirty-three records a week, on average. And, on average they add (To their play list) two. Which means they have to say ,’No’, to thirty-one other people. So ever record they listen to, they’re looking for a reason to say no to. It’s too slow, it’s too fast, this sounds too much like George Strait, there’s a ton of reasons for whatever that, ‘NO’, is. So I have to be very conscious of that fact. Yet at the same time, what’s always worked for me is tat I have to be very conscious of what has worked for me and that’s being true to myself. I’ve never felt that I was a particularly good singer. I’ve always felt that I have incredible gift for finding and recording songs that people can and will relate to in life. And I think that’s what has stood me so well over the test of time. It’ amazing to see how many different types of songs I’ve had hits with over the past. Yet there’s this fabric that runs threw all of those songs that makes them relate to one another. And I think that’s an important thing to me. You can have all sorts of musical types and styles and as long as they’re ‘IN’, for the time being, then that ahs to be about the different styles all coming together by the artist.
(Q)- In a way, with the exception of a few songs, you’ve never been typecast by your radio hits?
(KR)- What’s funny is that I have had songs that we’ve omitted because people (at radio) probably would haven’t picked the song up. You know, music is constantly in a box as far as radio goes. I did a song once called ,”Planet Texas”, that was a great song(he says about twelve years ago.). it was about cowboys from space and it was the most expensive video I’ve ever undertaken. We spent $600,000 dollars on the video and we couldn’t give it away. So I went to radio and said,’ Look, I’m not taking this personally, but why wouldn’t you play this?’ And they said,’it is a great record, but it’s so different from everything (else) that we’re playing right now, that we loose our signature and people will go and bypass it whenever it comes tot he radio. So, we’ don’t want them turning the dial and we can’t take that chance with this record. So what I learned from that was, there’s always a box as far as radio goes. Now this box moves from time to time, it might go Neil Young country and then it goes traditional and hewn it goes pop… but it’s always moving. And you need to stay on the “outer edge”, of that box. If you stay in the middle, then you don’t get lost. But you can’t get to far from the middle of that box. So I think there’s a lot of things that I can do, that allow me to stay on the cutting edge but not so far out that I don’t relate to radio. I had a friend who was this stunt high diver and I’d say to him, “I can do that.’ And he’d say,’Yeah you probably can but if you’d do that (a difficult stunt dive.) you’d probably kill yourself.” The truth is that you have to know the rules before you’re allowed to break them. And I think that’s one of the actions that I have to live by. I have to know the rules are so I know how far I can bend them before they break. And that’s why I study so much and watch the tends to see what it is that separates me from the groove, but that doesn’t separate me so far that it becomes exclusion.
(Q)- In any genre, talent is always abused and oftentimes abused to the point of desperation. That’s has always happened in the world of entertainment but it’s become almost common in the world of country music. Look at all of the young kids getting into the genre. And, as far as artistic expression, that sense of desperation more often then not, brought on by abuse and control issues, doesn’t provide a world of freedom for the artist to create their music within.
(KR)- Otherwise you’re a follower. It depends all about if you’re a leader or a follower. If you’re a leader you can stumble, if you’re a follower, then there’s no excuse. There’s an interesting thing I’ve learned. I went to a lot of radio stations last year. Ad I’d ask them, “Tell me the logic behind young country. (The young country radio format.) because when you say new young country, those are both two varied positions. You can only be new once and young for a while. So I said, “What’s the logic? You don’t create any heroes. Then there’s no one who wants to come and see you (In concert) do your music, because you all look and sound the same, like somebody else. So they(the fans) will go see someone else (in-concert). Tell me the logic behind this.” And they said, “Quite honesty, ours (stance) is that thing between art and commerce. We want to maintain country music’s integrity, but at the same time, all of the people who are buying advertising for our (radio) shows, want us to gear between eighteen and thirty-five. So, even if the majority of our listeners and over fifty years old, they say we don’t care how many who listen to you are over fifty (radio listeners), we want to sell to the people who are between eighteen and thirty-five. So you must hit an audience that’s that demographic.’ And my response was, “OK. I understand your logic.” Just tell me the rules and I’ll play the game.