2 original albums on 1 CD: KENNY ROGERS (1977) / KENNY (1979).
Personnel: Dave Kirby, Jimmy Capps, Johnny Christopher, Ray Edenton, Reggie Young , Ricky Harper, Billy Sanford, Steve Gibson , Jerry Shook, Dale Sellers (guitar, guitars); Tommy Allsup (guitar, bass guitar); Fred Carter, Jr., Pete Wade, Randy Dorman (guitar); Fred Carter, Peter Wade Keusch (guitars); Steven Maxwell Smith, Steven Maxwell Smith (strings); Charles Cochran (piano, keyboards); Charles 'Chuck' Cochran (keyboards); Joe Osborn, Bob Moore (bass guitar); Steve Glassmeyer (guitar, saxophone, background vocals); Larry Keith (guitar, piano, background vocals); Pete Drake (steel guitar); Bobby Thompson (banjo); Tommy Williams (fiddle); Sheldon Kurland, Lennie Haight, George Binkley III, Roy Christensen, Carl Gorodetzky, Pamela Sixfin, Byron Bach, Brenton Banks, Stephanie Woolf, Marvin Chantry, Gary VanOsdale (strings); Edgar Struble (piano, Clavinet, synthesizer, background vocals); Hargus "Pig" Robbins, Bobby Wood (piano, keyboards); Shane Keister (piano, Moog synthesizer); Dave "Blind Boy" Briggs, Gene Golden (piano); George Richey, Larry Butler (keyboards); Kenny Malone, Jerry Carrigan, Buddy Harmon (drums, percussion); Bobby Daniels (drums, background vocals); Farrell Morris (percussion); Thomas Brannon, Johnny MacCrae, Don Gant, Donna McElroy, Steve Pippin, The Jordanaires, Todd Cerney, Bergen White, Yvonne Hodges, Lea Jane Berinati, Buzz Cason (background vocals).
Liner Note Author: Keith Glass.
Raven's 2007 two-fer pairs two eponymously titled albums from Kenny Rogers -- the 1977 United Artists release Kenny Rogers and 1979's Kenny. Kenny Rogers was the second album Rogers released for United Artists, following 1976's Love Lifted Me by a year. Love Lifted Me was a modest success, setting the stage for the breakthrough of Kenny Rogers. That breakthrough was largely fueled by "Lucille," the second single pulled from the LP. The first, "Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't I Got)," was a solid country hit, building upon his initial 1976 success, but "Lucille" opened all the doors for Kenny, turning into a pop crossover hit not only in the U.S. but in other countries as well, making him an international star. "Lucille" had a loping country beat but a pop sheen and was indicative of the rest of the album, which bounced between these two sides instead of balancing them the way the hit single did. For every pure country tune, such as Dallas Frazier's "The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp" (made into a hit by Tom T. Hall) or even Don Williams' decidedly mellow "Lay Down Beside Me," there were tunes that took a bit of a broader, almost stereotypical view of country such as the 2-step "While I Play the Fiddle" and "Mother Country Music," a soft pop tune in every way but its title and sentiment. Even on this early LP, Kenny didn't avoid the middle of the road, turning in a loungey version of the standard crooner number "Green Green Grass of Home," but the best moments on Kenny Rogers was when he balanced his soft touch with songs that had a country backbone, as on those aforementioned hits, and tunes by Frazier and Williams, but also "Puttin' in Overtime at Home" whose easy rolling, slick country-rock pointed the way toward the future of country-pop not just for Kenny, but for country music at large.
Kenny arrived two years after Kenny Rogers and those were eventful years for Rogers. During that time, he became a major star, largely due to his version of "The Gambler," a song by Don Schlitz that Kenny turned into his own on his 1978 album of the same name (although it has to be said that Rogers' version bears a startling similarity to Bobby Bare's version released that very year). Kenny was the follow-up to The Gambler and it's clear from how the album glistens and shimmers that Kenny was intended to be a consolidation of his crossover success. Actually, it could even be seen as the album where Rogers leaps from his self-created pigeonhole as a country singer -- a di
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