Listening to this music, it quickly becomes clear that this Roy Rogers is not the King of the Cowboys. Bluesman Roy Rogers has been nominated eight times for Grammy Awards and three times for the prestigious W. C. Handy Awards. Between recording albums with his band, The Delta Rhythm Kings, Rogers has been featured on albums with Bonnie Raitt, John Lee Hooker, Zucchero, and other artists. When he's not performing, he hosts a Saturday morning radio show that discusses genres that have grown from our musical roots and the influences on each.
While Roy Rogers is widely known as a bluesman and this release is clearly at root a blues album, the sound here is not necessarily pure Blues. What I hear more clearly is the blues-influenced end of the Rockabilly spectrum. There's a very thin line that divides electric Blues and Blues-based Rock and Roll. Slide a ways across that line and throw in a few country music influences and you've got the Rockabilly sound of artists like Carl Perkins and Wanda Jackson. I hear that sound in this live set.
Take the classic rocker "Shake Your Moneymaker" for example. This song started out as a Rockabilly hit by author Elmore James. Later, a dozen other artists, including a heavy Detroit Rock and Roll version by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, recorded it. Rogers actually takes the song back a step or two in the other direction, slipping in elements of Western Swing that give it a certain Bill Haley flavour.
Willie Dixon's "Built for Comfort" and Robert Johnson's "Terraplane Blues" especially take the listener back to the middle decades of the last century. "Terraplane Blues" actually harks from earlier in the century, but the treatment here is very 1954. "Built for Comfort" moves the mood up somewhat to '56 or '57. Doesn't much matter the year, though. In any year, this music just sounds great.
A master guitarist in any style, Roy Rogers is especially known for his polished technique on slide. While some of his slide guitar work is clearly influenced by the Blues, a lot of his playing takes me back to the great slide guitar sounds I was hearing on Rockabilly and Country & Western music during the Fifties. This very country sounding slide guitar definitely contributes to the Rockabilly sound of many songs on this release.
Six of the songs on Live! were written by Rogers. Set against the classic numbers that are also included, these original compositions stand up very well. Strong rockers with well-written lyrics, these songs demonstrate that, more than simply a guitar player, Rogers is a highly talented all-around musician who has clearly earned the acclaim and respect he receives from fans and his peers.
Article comments
1 - Pico
I've got a few Rogers but not this one. Any blues music that harkens back to the 50's has got to be good in my book, though. I'm gonna have to pick this one up.
Great article!
-P