Kenny Rogers will perform his final concert ever tonight in Nashville and country stars like Luke Bryan, John Rich and Billy Currington are talking about the iconic superstar.
The show has been named “All In For The Gambler: Kenny Rogers’ Farewell Concert Celebration” and will be an all-star celebration of Kenny’s career with a special appearance by Dolly Parton as the two sing the final duet together. Many other musical stars will also join Kenny on stage tonight.
Luke Bryan could not make it for the concert tonight due to his tight schedule. However, Luke did talk about what an amazing singer Kenny has always been, “Artists like Kenny Rogers and Ronnie Dunn, these singers that are true recording artists. One minute they’re whispering they sound like they’re next to you in a symphony hall and then the next thing they’re…they got whole ‘nother character going on, on a song and that was … Kenny Rogers was the top of my list. I mean, when you just hear him say (singing) ‘While she lays waiting, I stumbled through the night’… I mean you just gotta imagine how genius and creative he was at the mic that day on all of his records.”
John Rich of Big & Rich talks about how honored he was to get to produce a song for Kenny one time, “I had the great pleasure of recording a song on Kenny Rogers. So, I actually got to sit in a studio with him oh probably six or seven years ago and record an original song on “The Gambler,” on Kenny Rogers. I’ll never forget him walking out to the mic and I’m the producer … he goes through this song one time and you’re … I just didn’t even know what to say because it’s one of the greatest conveyors of a lyric that ever sang a lyric. I mean, Kenny Rogers when he says a line and he gets right up on the mic and says it, it is gospel.”
Billy Currington explained that his mom took him to a Kenny Rogers concert and the influence the icon had on his career after that, “That ended up being my first concert I ever went to. ‘Cause she knew my love for Kenny Rogers was so strong she eventually bought me a little, I think it was his twenty greatest hits and something to play it in. And that same year she bought me, he was coming to Savannah Civic Center, and [she] bought us both a ticket to go see the show. And Kenny Rogers changed my life from that point on.”
“All In For The Gambler: Kenny Rogers’ Farewell Concert Celebration” will take place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville tonight and will include performances from artists such as Dolly Parton (as mentioned earlier), Reba, Chris Stapleton, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town and more.
By: Buck Stevens
