Randy Rogers Band
Randy Rogers Band is an American "Texas Country" group from the state of Te… Read Full Bio ↴Randy Rogers Band is an American "Texas Country" group from the state of Texas that formed in 2000. The band is composed of Randy Rogers (lead vocals), Geoffrey Hill (guitar), Jon Richardson (bass guitar), Brady Black (fiddle), and Les Lawless (drums).
When the Randy Rogers Band’s last project debuted as the most-downloaded country album on iTunes, plenty of the industry “insiders” on Music Row were left scratching their heads: Who are these guys?
The Nashville elite may not have known about the five-piece band, but much of America already did. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them alongside such artists as U2 and the Stones in its list of Top 10 Must-See Artists in the summer of 2007. They earned $2.5 million—a staggering total for a still-developing act—on the tour circuit in a single year. Willie Nelson, the Eagles, Gary Allan and Dierks Bentley all picked them as opening acts for their concerts. And more than 2,200 people showed up and bought the bands album at an appearance at Wherehouse Music.
The fans’ exuberance was shared by USA Today, which praised the band for having “loads of grit, swagger and heart.”
The Randy Rogers Band built its audience by combining forces: It’s a dynamic live act centered around songs that fit the rowdy, party vibe of the concert circuit, but their songs also say something.
That’s particularly true in their album, The Randy Rogers Band, in which a dozen persuasive tracks give the listener plenty of reasons to want to down a celebratory brewski. But the songs also maintain a depth that makes them powerful and provocative even beyond their edgy arrangements and tough-guy sound.
Invariably, the songs are about people making choices and dealing with the consequences they bring. That’s the case in the opening “Wicked Ways,” in which a string of wild endeavors leaves an out-of-control adult in need of redemption. It’s true in “When The Circus Leaves Town,” where a performer comes to terms with the emotional crash that accompanies the conclusion of a pumped-up show. It’s even a tenet in “One Woman,” a ballad that finds a former playboy recognizing his old choices and behaviors were a shallow pursuit next to the promise and solidity that stand before him.
“These songs are definitely true, and they’re relatable to many different life situations that I’ve either gone through in the past or will go through in the future,” Rogers, the lead singer and primary songwriter, says. “I just tried to create believable characters and relatable characters. I hear from fans that we really have helped them in real-life situations when they’ve applied the songs to their everyday life. That’s what I strive for in the songs that I write.”
“We’re not old, but we are getting a little bit more mature,” bass player Jon Richardson asserts, drawing laughter from the rest of the band. “We’re trying to be more mature, anyway. And that’s something that we can write about a little more naturally now instead of ‘Here’s a song about how much fun I had’ or ‘Here’s a song about a girl.’ That’s probably just a natural progression of our own lives being reflected in our songs.”
Indeed, the Randy Rogers Band is confronting the same questions about relationships and identity that face many of the college students and young adults that form the centerpiece of the group’s audience. The balancing act between work, home and recreation is a difficult one—even tougher for an ensemble that spends more than 200 days annually on the road.
“All the guys, except for Jon, are married or soon to be married,” guitarist Geoffrey Hill observes. “Les [drummer] and I both have kids. So sometimes it feels like you’ve really gotta struggle to fit all that into your life, I guess, but it’s kinda part of the game. I always said that I play music for free, and I get paid to leave the family behind and go on the road.”
That requires a constant rededication to the group, a commitment the five members have repeatedly made since the current lineup coalesced in 2003.
The Randy Rogers Band’s status as a group has occasionally confused its audience, which sometimes assumes Rogers is simply a solo artist. It’s the same issue that acts such as Huey Lewis & The News and Edwin McCain have battled, though one that doesn’t concern RRB all that much.
“I don’t think it’s an issue at all,” fiddler Brady Black asserts. “I think when we got together, Randy had already had a band, and his name had been out a little bit, and so we just kind of went with it.”
“That,” Black smirks, “and he owned the van…”
Actually, the name came rather innocently. Rogers had developed a following, he played open-mic nights, impressing club owner Kent Finlay enough to offer Rogers his own regular night, as long as he found a band to back him.
That group might have taken his name, but Rogers—who’d had previous experiences as a guitar player in another band—had no interest in being just a one-man show.
“I always wanted everybody to be equal, not only financially but also input-wise and creatively,” he says. “When we started the band, I pledged to them that I would work every day as hard as I could and try to get us down the highway a little further if they would sign up with me and share in some of those sacrifices, and I think from that day on, everybody pretty much quit their alternative jobs, and kinda gave 110 percent to the band.”
The Randy Rogers Band took the same slot that George Strait and the Ace In The Hole band had once occupied at Cheatham Street, appropriate since the band used the same sort of inner motivation in building its sound as Strait did a generation ago.
Their music is hardly the same. In contrast to Strait’s pure-country aesthetics, RRB combines that traditional country sound with a rollicking, swagger influenced by rugged sounds from such diverse sources as Waylon Jennings and Stone Temple Pilots. But, as Finlay recognized, there’s an authenticity and honesty to the band that parallels Strait’s personal manifesto.
“In a way, George was a little bit out of the box for Nashville when he debuted,” Rogers notes, “I think George Strait, when he first hit town, he knew who he was, and I think that’s partly why he has been so successful throughout his career. If there’s a correlation between the two of us, I think that we definitely have a sound and we know who we are.”
The Randy Rogers Band further distinguishes that identity in its self-titled album, the band’s second release since signing with Mercury Nashville. Produced by longtime admirer Radney Foster, who’s successfully maintained alt country integrity while writing mainstream hits for the likes of Sara Evans and Keith Urban, sessions for The Randy Rogers Band took place at Dockside Studios, a bayou location in Maurice, Louisiana, that’s also been the breeding ground for projects by B.B. King, Mavis Staples, Keb’ Mo’, Levon Helm and Mark Knopfler.
“We shut ourselves up for 10 days and had a band-camp set up,” Richardson observes. “There weren’t any distractions. It wasn’t like we were all goin’ home every night and comin’ back the next day. We were just living and breathing it for 10 days or so. We were just completely absorbed by it.”
The consequences of that choice are just as absorbing for the listener. The album ranges from the hypnotic country of “Buy Myself A Chance” and the first single, “In My Arms Instead,” to the propulsive buzz of “Never Be That High” to the painful conclusion, “This Is Goodbye.”
Rogers’ various performances reflect the wide-ranging influences that snapped together in the process, evoking at times the sneer of Steve Earle, the soul of Bakersfield’s Monty Byrom (formerly of Big House) and the vulnerability of Keith Urban.
With its infectious hooks and daring attitude, the album underscores the iTunes popularity of the Randy Rogers Band, its critical appeal and its significance on the nation’s concert circuit, where they’ve broken attendance records at numerous clubs across the heartland. Even Kenny Chesney, who consistently places among the top-selling tours, saw the group’s blue-collar connection when he covered Rogers’ “Somebody Take Me Home” for the album The Road And The Radio.
Each of the five members recognizes his contribution to the Randy Rogers Band’s overall unity, and they repeatedly make choices—creatively and personally—that keep that all-for-one-and-one-for-all solidarity intact.
When the Randy Rogers Band’s last project debuted as the most-downloaded country album on iTunes, plenty of the industry “insiders” on Music Row were left scratching their heads: Who are these guys?
The Nashville elite may not have known about the five-piece band, but much of America already did. Rolling Stone magazine ranked them alongside such artists as U2 and the Stones in its list of Top 10 Must-See Artists in the summer of 2007. They earned $2.5 million—a staggering total for a still-developing act—on the tour circuit in a single year. Willie Nelson, the Eagles, Gary Allan and Dierks Bentley all picked them as opening acts for their concerts. And more than 2,200 people showed up and bought the bands album at an appearance at Wherehouse Music.
The fans’ exuberance was shared by USA Today, which praised the band for having “loads of grit, swagger and heart.”
The Randy Rogers Band built its audience by combining forces: It’s a dynamic live act centered around songs that fit the rowdy, party vibe of the concert circuit, but their songs also say something.
That’s particularly true in their album, The Randy Rogers Band, in which a dozen persuasive tracks give the listener plenty of reasons to want to down a celebratory brewski. But the songs also maintain a depth that makes them powerful and provocative even beyond their edgy arrangements and tough-guy sound.
Invariably, the songs are about people making choices and dealing with the consequences they bring. That’s the case in the opening “Wicked Ways,” in which a string of wild endeavors leaves an out-of-control adult in need of redemption. It’s true in “When The Circus Leaves Town,” where a performer comes to terms with the emotional crash that accompanies the conclusion of a pumped-up show. It’s even a tenet in “One Woman,” a ballad that finds a former playboy recognizing his old choices and behaviors were a shallow pursuit next to the promise and solidity that stand before him.
“These songs are definitely true, and they’re relatable to many different life situations that I’ve either gone through in the past or will go through in the future,” Rogers, the lead singer and primary songwriter, says. “I just tried to create believable characters and relatable characters. I hear from fans that we really have helped them in real-life situations when they’ve applied the songs to their everyday life. That’s what I strive for in the songs that I write.”
“We’re not old, but we are getting a little bit more mature,” bass player Jon Richardson asserts, drawing laughter from the rest of the band. “We’re trying to be more mature, anyway. And that’s something that we can write about a little more naturally now instead of ‘Here’s a song about how much fun I had’ or ‘Here’s a song about a girl.’ That’s probably just a natural progression of our own lives being reflected in our songs.”
Indeed, the Randy Rogers Band is confronting the same questions about relationships and identity that face many of the college students and young adults that form the centerpiece of the group’s audience. The balancing act between work, home and recreation is a difficult one—even tougher for an ensemble that spends more than 200 days annually on the road.
“All the guys, except for Jon, are married or soon to be married,” guitarist Geoffrey Hill observes. “Les [drummer] and I both have kids. So sometimes it feels like you’ve really gotta struggle to fit all that into your life, I guess, but it’s kinda part of the game. I always said that I play music for free, and I get paid to leave the family behind and go on the road.”
That requires a constant rededication to the group, a commitment the five members have repeatedly made since the current lineup coalesced in 2003.
The Randy Rogers Band’s status as a group has occasionally confused its audience, which sometimes assumes Rogers is simply a solo artist. It’s the same issue that acts such as Huey Lewis & The News and Edwin McCain have battled, though one that doesn’t concern RRB all that much.
“I don’t think it’s an issue at all,” fiddler Brady Black asserts. “I think when we got together, Randy had already had a band, and his name had been out a little bit, and so we just kind of went with it.”
“That,” Black smirks, “and he owned the van…”
Actually, the name came rather innocently. Rogers had developed a following, he played open-mic nights, impressing club owner Kent Finlay enough to offer Rogers his own regular night, as long as he found a band to back him.
That group might have taken his name, but Rogers—who’d had previous experiences as a guitar player in another band—had no interest in being just a one-man show.
“I always wanted everybody to be equal, not only financially but also input-wise and creatively,” he says. “When we started the band, I pledged to them that I would work every day as hard as I could and try to get us down the highway a little further if they would sign up with me and share in some of those sacrifices, and I think from that day on, everybody pretty much quit their alternative jobs, and kinda gave 110 percent to the band.”
The Randy Rogers Band took the same slot that George Strait and the Ace In The Hole band had once occupied at Cheatham Street, appropriate since the band used the same sort of inner motivation in building its sound as Strait did a generation ago.
Their music is hardly the same. In contrast to Strait’s pure-country aesthetics, RRB combines that traditional country sound with a rollicking, swagger influenced by rugged sounds from such diverse sources as Waylon Jennings and Stone Temple Pilots. But, as Finlay recognized, there’s an authenticity and honesty to the band that parallels Strait’s personal manifesto.
“In a way, George was a little bit out of the box for Nashville when he debuted,” Rogers notes, “I think George Strait, when he first hit town, he knew who he was, and I think that’s partly why he has been so successful throughout his career. If there’s a correlation between the two of us, I think that we definitely have a sound and we know who we are.”
The Randy Rogers Band further distinguishes that identity in its self-titled album, the band’s second release since signing with Mercury Nashville. Produced by longtime admirer Radney Foster, who’s successfully maintained alt country integrity while writing mainstream hits for the likes of Sara Evans and Keith Urban, sessions for The Randy Rogers Band took place at Dockside Studios, a bayou location in Maurice, Louisiana, that’s also been the breeding ground for projects by B.B. King, Mavis Staples, Keb’ Mo’, Levon Helm and Mark Knopfler.
“We shut ourselves up for 10 days and had a band-camp set up,” Richardson observes. “There weren’t any distractions. It wasn’t like we were all goin’ home every night and comin’ back the next day. We were just living and breathing it for 10 days or so. We were just completely absorbed by it.”
The consequences of that choice are just as absorbing for the listener. The album ranges from the hypnotic country of “Buy Myself A Chance” and the first single, “In My Arms Instead,” to the propulsive buzz of “Never Be That High” to the painful conclusion, “This Is Goodbye.”
Rogers’ various performances reflect the wide-ranging influences that snapped together in the process, evoking at times the sneer of Steve Earle, the soul of Bakersfield’s Monty Byrom (formerly of Big House) and the vulnerability of Keith Urban.
With its infectious hooks and daring attitude, the album underscores the iTunes popularity of the Randy Rogers Band, its critical appeal and its significance on the nation’s concert circuit, where they’ve broken attendance records at numerous clubs across the heartland. Even Kenny Chesney, who consistently places among the top-selling tours, saw the group’s blue-collar connection when he covered Rogers’ “Somebody Take Me Home” for the album The Road And The Radio.
Each of the five members recognizes his contribution to the Randy Rogers Band’s overall unity, and they repeatedly make choices—creatively and personally—that keep that all-for-one-and-one-for-all solidarity intact.
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Randy Rogers Band Lyrics
65 Degrees Well it was 65 degrees and wind all around Bobby said…
Again On the floor now, on the floor now Well it's started…
An Empty Glass An empty glass A last cigarette It's closin time I'm drun…
Anchors Away Sun's on the ceiling Is my sign for leaving She's lying ther…
Before I Believe It's True Well I‘ve never seen this place but I've been here…
Better Off Wrong This might be a good time to say goodbye But I…
Better Than I Ought To Be Well, I'm a whole lot better than I ought to…
Break Even Well this is pretty low, it ain't the bottom Still a…
Buy Myself A Chance Well, I've been watching you stare at the floor That guy's…
Can't Slow Down Maybe you can work it out It will be easy…
Comal County Line Verse 1 Benny's in the basement talking bout the days when …
Company You Keep Guess you've heard by now that I've decided Well I'm not…
Copano Bay Wish I were back, on Copano Bay With my sail rig…
Crazy People Daddy rolling through a four-way Momma singing to a hymnal …
Damn The Rain Well, she loved the rain more than just about anything…
Didn't Know You Could Peace of mind combined with everything you didn't say Leaves…
Disappear You only want what you can't have, And that's all there…
Don't Deserve You These walls, they used to be our home You and me…
Down & Out I've been down and I've been out I washed up…
Drinking Money Verse 1 Well it's Friday night and there ain't much going…
Fire in the Hole The words that we use are a hell of a…
Flash Flood Another day just rolling by in the same old town.…
Friends With Benefits well i'm so sick and tired of all your hissy fits we've…
Fuzzy Got a call from my cousin Come and get me right…
Good One Coming On Daddy used to tell me all the time There would come…
Goodbye Lonely They say love is hard to find Like its something we…
Had To Give That Up Too Started drinking it was gin One or two every now then…
Holding On To Letting Go I guess some ships sink Yeah but I never thought ours…
I Met Lonely Tonight I met lonely tonight She was sittin' at a table by…
I Miss You With Me 3 a.m. and I'm all alone, try to call but…
I'll Never Get over You You'll do whatever you want to You'll make a million…
I've Been Looking For You So Long I tried to find my way around here But there's no…
If Anyone Asks If anyone asks I'm brokedown Or maybe I'm just outta town …
If I Had Another Heart If I had another heart I'd be just fine and…
If I Told You The Truth Well, here we go again with the back and forth Trying…
In My Arms Instead All the leaves have turned to rust The air is getting…
Interstate Open suitcase, clothes scattered on the floor I don't take t…
Just A Matter Of Time Saw you again last night I caught you catching my eye I…
Just Don't Tell Me The Truth It ain't gonna do my heart any good To know that…
Just This Side of Heaven Just this side of heaven Was an angel in cowboy boots Aubu…
Kiss Me In The Dark Sailors sail Cowboys ride Lovers love when they get the chan…
Last Last Chance I got one foot on the gas, I got one…
Lay It All On You It's funny how some people dream They put on a show…
Let It Go Know the wolf is always knocking Behind your back somebody'…
Like It Used to Be Well it's been a hard week Chasing down these miles Trying…
Live On Well the time has come for me to go and…
Lonely Too Long The only thing she left was a tear stained letter Said…
Look out Yonder Mama look out yonder comin down the road Well it looks…
Lost and Found Day after day, I tell myself you never meant the words…
Love Must Follow You Around I don't wanna go to sleep tonight Cause in the morning…
Meet Me Tonight Meet me tonight in a memory somewhere back in time That…
Memory The day she left me behind i couldn't get her off…
Missing You Is More Than I Can Do The bright lights and the big city life Drove you right…
Neon Blues She comes in here every night That I ain't over it…
Never Be That High A hand-me-down hot rod holding down the interstate Life in …
Never Got Around To That I stood in the doorway and watched How she drove out…
Old Moon New Girl, I wrote you a letter A thousand old cliches but…
One More Goodbye Baby, I know it's late But I just couldn't sleep I got…
One More Sad Song We're on a road to nowhere, I don't know how we…
One thing I know Ashtray full of Marlboro reds Empty fifth layin' on the bed …
One Woman I don't need empty love words coming from somebody That'll …
Pour One for the Poor One I poured out my heart to the one that I…
Rain and the Radio Storms rollin' in Power lines are down They don't know…
Reason to Stay You look pretty good for all that you've seen You're smiles…
San Antone This highway's sure been good to me White lines as far…
Satellite There's something about this time of day The sun goes home…
She's Gonna Run Well shut up buddy what do you know about love I…
Shotgun Once I was a gamblin' man I kept my pistol by…
Somebody Take Me Home Same old bedroom floor Some old empty sheets I hate this h…
Speak Of The Devil God I hate this little town It's like you fall in…
Starting Over For The Last Time Say goodbye to your old friends and wish them well The…
Steal You Away I could see you standing with him He ain't holdin' your…
Still Be Losing You Does everybody know that im to blame None of you friend…
Still Here Well here we are again, just like last Tuesday night Gettin…
Superman We sat and talked last night like it had been…
Takin It As It Comes I'm takin' it as it comes And you know that it…
Ten Miles Deep When I'm dead, put me ten miles deep Hand me up…
Tequila Eyes You look so out of place with these shades of…
The Ballad of Stanley Stanley was a drifter back in '53 Never had a bed…
They Call It The Hill Country The hills of cow gap stood rugged and awesome But you…
Things I Need to Quit Ashtray full of Marlboro reds Empty fifth layin' on the bed …
This Is Goodbye Well, this is goodbye, the end of you and me We've…
This Time Around I used to be crazy, yeah they called me a…
Tommy Jackson It didn't matter Tommy Jackson was running free Cause the m…
Tonight's Not The Night Yeah, this is your love song baby This is the part…
Too Late For Goodbye You say we need to talk like I don't know You…
Trouble Knows My Name One night in Kansas City after we had played the…
We Never Made It to Mexico Adios señorita I hope that he treats you well I'll be drink…
When The Circus Leaves Town Everybody get your ticket, it's almost time To set up this…
Where You and I Belong Running round, chasin what I can't find You were here, befor…
Whiskey's Got A Hold On Me I don't know who I am Or why I take it…
Wicked Ways Long ago I was not weary Once I thought that I…
Wine in a Coffee Cup Alarm clock rings, same old thing 6:35, same routine All do…
You Could Change My Mind I see you but I can't believe you're here I can't…
You Could've Left Me You cant fool me, I can read you like a…
You Don't Know Me Well, I ain't the kind to sip on fancy wines That…
You Me and a Bottle It don't take much to make it to all go…
You Start Over Your Way Well, you showed up looking just like I remember Just like…