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The Randy Rogers Band has now been around long enough to serve as an influence to a new generation of Texas country artists. Since their breakthrough album, 2004’s Radney Foster-produced (and darn-near perfect), Rollercoaster, Rogers, Brady Black, Less Lawless, Jon Richardson, and Geoffrey Hill have been on a roll, indeed. The band which formed in San Marcos is the lone act among the vanguard of the Texas-Red Dirt scene to remain intact from a personnel level for over a decade. Take into consideration the insanely consistent high-quality of their six studio albums and it’s clear as to why they can be found in the headliner’s slot at so many festivals while filling clubs and theaters across the United States.
Touring in-support of the band’s most recent effort, Trouble, Rogers and the gang will be hitting the streets of Lewisville for the yearly Western Days shin-dig, which has had a sterling history as a showcase for the region’s top talent. Because the accomplished five-piece’s catalog is rock-solid, it’s a tough task to pick a favorite or even harder yet, to rank them in order, counting down from six to one (leaving out the fantastic Live at Billy Bob’s record). With the band swinging through town this weekend, we figure now is a good time to display that we’re just crazy enough to rank the albums of the Randy Rogers Band.
See also: Ten Best Texas Country Songs of 2013 (So Far)
6.) Burning the Day (2010) – In this unique scenario, last place isn’t a mark of shame. A case can be made that this slightly-too-slick, Paul Worley-produced album is more along the lines of 3-C, as intense knit-picking is required to rank these albums. With Rogers’ first co-written tune with legendary writer Dean Dillon (see: many of George Strait’s classics), and the live-show staple, “Too Late for Goodbye,” the record displays the band’s ability to easily transition from a slow-countrified number to a rocking tune featuring a touch of anger with the greatest of skill.
5.) Just a Matter of Time (2006) – This album could be the band’s most important one from a commercial career perspective. The follow-up to Rollercoaster was the band’s major-label debut for Mercury and boasted tunes that put to rest any concern that the gems on their previous album were flukes. The sultry trifecta of “Kiss Me in the Dark,” “One More Goodbye,” and “You Could Change My Mind” are songs that should easily be included in a RRB “Best Of” box set, should there be one, a few years down the road.
4.) Like It Used to Be (2002) – While the group’s relatively green debut album might actually be its seventh best album from a writing and musical perspective, it earns points for the fact that it successfully set the table for the future of the band and began to attract ears outside of San Marcos. Rogers’ voice is alarmingly smooth when compared to the weathered rasp that gives later albums their sonic identity. Popular Ft. Worth DJ and television host Justin Frazell claims this as one of the Texas Country albums he would choose if he had only five to pick. Between that, and the fact that the band’s greatest cry-in-your-highball tune, “Lost and Found” is on this record, this record is deservedly higher-up the list than a couple of the group’s more professionally polished offerings.
3.) Trouble (2013) – The album that Rogers told American Songwriter after its release is the group’s best album since Rollercoaster, probably is, but not enough time has passed to see how it stands-up against the others. The album’s first three singles are classic, RRB-style winners, plain and simple. The band’s most modern-rock single to date, “One More Sad Song,” is both their highest Billboard charting song (peaking at #38), and specifically about the divorce Rogers went through as the album was written. “Trouble Knows My Name” is a romping, ode to the lifestyle of musical outlaws featuring a duet with none other than Willie Freaking Nelson and “Fuzzy” is a swampy, often hilarious tune that could be a one-act version of the Hangover movies. The fourth single, the catchy-as-hell, mid-tempo toe-tapper “Speak of the Devil” is another tune that will race up the regional chart with relative ease. With a spark and urgency that wasn’t as obviously present in previous albums, Trouble has re-established Rogers’ lofty place on the Texas totem pole for those who may have forgotten.
2.) Randy Rogers Band (2008) – Another one of the records Foster produced for the group, their self-titled record digs deeper into sonic territory than the other albums did while retaining a signature RRB sound and a seamless quality without the feeling of a band trying to figure stuff out on the fly. The country-noir of “Wicked Ways” and “Break Even” proffer a darker tone that much of what is offered on other albums, while the spritely “Better Than I Ought To Be,” and the rustic “In My Arms Instead” are folk-rock songs that folk more than roll. “Buy Myself a Chance” and “Lonely Too Long” are hard-core honky-tonk numbers that pushed more sawdust around than most other Rogers tunes had before. The guys even dipped their toes into Sticky Fingers-era Rolling Stones-style rambunctiousness with “Never Be That High.” With all of these styles in effect, the collection feels right, feels real. This cohesive, no-skipping-needed album is a great RRB starter kit for someone who (for some crazy reason) can’t get their ears on a copy of…
1.) Rollercoaster (2004) – We didn’t say the ending would be filled with suspense, did we? It’s not like we’re talking about how Walter White and Jesse Pinkman will meet (or not meet) their fates. With tunes such as Rogers concert staples “Tonight’s Not the Night,” the rocking Steve Earle-esque “This Time Around,” and the band’s greatest “Texas Song,” the anthemic progress-hating, simple-life loving “They Call It the Hill Country,” this album is almost certainly at or near the top of the list for almost any Texas Country fan over 30 years-old. We could go on and on about this record. But instead, we asked a few notable folks about why Rollercoaster is the best of all Randy Rogers Band albums.
Cody Canada (Cross Canadian Ragweed / The Departed) – “It’s my favorite because of the intensity of Randy’s writing process back then and how you could feel the energy the band was creating.”
George Dunham (Co-host of the award winning Dunham & Miller Show / Lead Singer for country band the Bird Dogs) – “The entire record is one big hook. When I heard ‘Tonight’s Not the Night’ and ‘This Time Around’ for the first time, it was like when I heard the Beatles for the first time. Randy’s voice, Brady’s fiddle and Geoffrey’s riffs are like a symphony throughout the record.”
Brady Black (Fiddle player, Randy Rogers Band / Model for all Texas fiddle players of last decade) – “It was the first album that the five partners in our current form recorded. It was also our first time to work with Radney Foster. At the time, we all had second jobs – I was laying tile – and we literally had no finances to make a record. With some help from friends and investors, we finished the record in four days. It was a major turning point for our band because it’s the record that proved to us we might actually make a living in this competitive industry. We had our first band co-write with ‘Down and Out,’ success with radio and we got to record with Foster, one of our heroes!”
The Randy Rogers Band performs Friday night at 10pm on the Main Stage at Lewisville’s Western Days.
