THE RANDY ROGERS BAND
With guest Whiskey Myers
When: Friday, October 9 after the PRCA Rodeo
Where: Arena
Tickets: $20 pre-sale or $25 at the gate. Kids 10 & Under Free
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 an opening act for their concerts. And more than 2,200 people showed up and bought the band's 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.
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."
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-andone-for-all solidarity intact.
From their first show in Montalba, Texas, a young Whiskey Myers was hooked on performing, and the crowds were hooked on them.
In the spring of 2007, they were given the opportunity to open for Roger Creager at Gator's Bar and Grill in Gun Barrel City, Texas. The club owner was so impressed by their performance and the crowd that had come to the stage that he asked them to come back the next weekend to open for The Eli Young Band.
From then on, popularity for the band began to swell. They were heard on live stages all over East Texas, in interviews on local radio stations, and seen on television giving live interviews. Suddenly it seemed that the whole region knew who Whiskey Myers was, and everyone was becoming familiar with their high energy twin guitars, soulful vocals, and unstoppable rhythm.
Whiskey Myers' musical style was forged from several different genres of music from several different eras. The most obvious of these are the blues rock jam bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, and Led Zeppelin. Whiskey Myers takes the blues rock genre and mixes it with modern day Texas Country such as Reckless Kelly, Randy Rogers, and Cross Canadian Ragweed to derive a new sound that is sure to take concert listeners on an atmospheric roller coaster.
With a sound like no other and a stage presence that captivates anyone close enough to notice, a live concert performed by this young band is something that must be seen to be believed. The Tyler area has been instrumental in the development of Whiskey Myers from a group of musicians to a band. As the group continues to expand its fan base, new listeners all over Texas are beginning to recognize their talent. They continue to engulf listeners with their sound, ensuring that the name Whiskey Myers is one that will be remembered for ages to come.