Search - Randy Rogers :: Rollercoaster

Best Texas Music release of 2004

Patrick Nichols | Austin, TX USA | 10/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With a voice that's part Steve Earle, part Jay Farrar, Randy Rogers just can't help but to grab your attention. And on Rollercoaster, once he grabs hold, he and the Randy Rogers Band don't let go until the 51-minute ride is over.



With the help of songwriting friends Cody Canada, Wade Bowen, and Radney Foster (who also produced the album), Randy Rogers and company craft an intricate story arc on the album's first half. Beginning with "Down and Out" and continuing into "Somebody Take Me Home," we glimpse our heartbroken protagonist at his wits' end: Out of this bar, out of this heartache / Out of this world, I just keep breaking down / I keep breaking down. A chance at reconciliation follows in "This Time Around," and we see the magnetism that continually attracts him to his mercurial lover in the beautiful "Love Must Follow You Around." But in "Lay It All on You" our protagonist makes it clear that it's not up to him to keep the flame alive: I never know if you're gonna leave / I say it's the last time, just like I always do / I give you another chance and I lay it all on you. The Texas Music Chart-climbing "Tonight's Not the Night (For Goodbye)" draws the arc to a close...for now: This is your love song baby...Sometimes it's not easy / Sometimes love can scare you half to death / But I'll give it my best / Yeah we'll find a way to make it.



The second half of the album isn't quite as strong as the first, but that's a tough act to follow. There's a version of "Again" that is superior to Cross Canadian Ragweed's attempt earlier this year on Soul Gravy. And strengthening the echoes of Steve Earle, the band decries central Texas sprawl on Kent Finlay's "They Call It the Hill Country."



The closing track, the acoustic "I Miss You with Me," serves as a postscript to the opening story arc. It's months since we last glimpsed our tempestuous lovers, and unsurprisingly they are together no more: I know we had our fights / But nothing since has felt that right / I live my life from day to day / If I don't think too much everything's OK. But a live bonus track of "Like It Used to Be" from the band's previous album hints at yet another reconciliation: We'll shoot the lights out / So no one else can see / Yeah we'll close our eyes / And wish it was like it used to be.



From beginning to end, the Randy Rogers Band delivers a powerful set that's sure to continue the San Marcos group's rapid ascent in the Texas Music community. The songwriting is crisp. The vocals are raspy yet moving. The instrumentation is consistently driving throughout. Everything works.



Rollercoaster is quite simply the best Texas Music release of the year thus far. Period."

WOW.....WHAT A TRIP

B. Wheeler | Portales, NM | 04/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just had the major pleasure of seeing these fellows live in Lubbock, TX at the Bluelight, and belive me..these dudes are cool. This was my first Randy Rogers Experience and I am very much hooked now. I was out of the country scene for a long time becaue mainstream music was boaring and repetitive. This band breathes new life into the music and does magic.

With Randy's consistanly good and smooth vocals, Brady's Charlie Daniel's like fiddle jamming, and the rest of the bands excellent support and solos, The Randy Rogers Band is a hit. If they are close to you (with in 200 miles) find a way to get to see them. Oh yeah..and buy thier albums haha."

A ride you don't wanna miss!

DanD | 03/22/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Randy Rogers Band has tapped into something that has always lurked just underneath the surface of country music: rock 'n roll. While staying within their country boundaries, they have broadened the sound of country, mixing fiddle and acoustic with charging drums and driving electric guitars. Producer Radney Foster, a credible singer/songwriter in his own right, seems determined to help these guys harness that sound and make the most of it.



Tracks such as "Down and Out," "This Time Around," "Can't Slow Down," "Ten Miles Deep," and "Again" have an undeniable beat. Others, such as the haunting "I Miss You With Me" and "Love Must Follow You Around," are smoother and gentler--but no less intoxicating. Rogers's voice is gravelly enough to add grit to the honky-tonkers, and sensititve enough to bring heart to the ballads. And with co-writers such as Foster, Wade Bowen, and Cross Canadian Ragweed's Cody Canada, he's crafted some fine songs, performed by this one-of-a-kind band. ROLLERCOASTER is one of the best country releases so far this year, because it is raw and uninhibited--the way country music was always meant to be."