Converting The Skeptics: Randy Rogers

The titan of rough and rowdy red dirt is also one of modern country's great romantics.

By Natalie

The man you see above is a heartthrob. Really! Don't let the carefully honed muscles and sculpted jawlines of your Tim McGraws and Riley Greens fool you — no Music Row hunk du jour can get you swooning the way Randy Rogers' vulnerable, cracked in all the right ways pleas to kiss him in the dark will. Rogers has been one of the reigning dons of Texas country for a couple decades now. But in a subgenre that's generally (correctly) associated with machismo and rock n' roll bluster, he's more often than not channeled the unrepentant romance of his fellow Cheatham Street Warehouse (that's San Marcos, Texas) alum George Strait over perpetually danceable (and specifically two-steppable) grooves.

His unexpected gift for love songs, though, is just one reason why Randy Rogers deserves your attention. I posted this a few months ago — "the fact of the matter is Cody Johnson is getting what Randy Rogers was due" — and I stand by it! Josh Crutchmer (who has literally written the book on red dirt) replied, "Randy will go down as being as influential on Texas music as Robert Earl Keen and Willie Nelson, and it's weird that he's not broadly thought of that way by the scene right now."

Personally I'm not sure if I'm willing to give him Willie-tier credit (because…almost no one qualifies for that) but the point that his particular aughts-informed, approachable take on Texas country has spawned legions of imitators (Josh might hate me for this but Turnpike came after Randy!!) stands. A big catalog of pretty consistent, good-timing, twangy songs is made unforgettable by Rogers' singing, which is somewhere between a full country twang and a rocker's rasp and belt — it's an unassuming, everyman's style but the more you listen, the more you hear his expert phrasing and sensitivity.

What follows is a little intro to Randy, both via the Randy Rogers Band (his most known format) and his duets with fellow Texas stalwart Wade Bowen. It's not about reinventing the wheel; it's about the just-right spin on classic themes of love, heartbreak and (of course) drinking).