Long considered alongside country music's top vocalists, Nail has in recent years learned how to apply his own personal stories to songs in ways rare in country music today.īootheel 2021 follows Bootheel 2020, released late last year. This acoustic version slows down an original version that is hardly a rocker, but still heavy with drums and more theatric production elements. Anyone who has every been dumped for the sure thing can relate. "We were the surest thing around / We'd be comeback history," Nail sings after first describing his romance, then that of his lover and the guy who came next. If ever wanting proof of how profoundly a story song can connect to a producer’s dramatic imagination, take a look at CBS’ 1980-debuted film take on “The Gambler.” Kenny Rogers’ first starring role certainly does everything to establish him as a music-to-move superstar worthy of awareness.There's an air of hope to "Comeback History," but it's recognizable as slim hope by anyone who's loved and lost and lived with that regret. However, given the song’s massive success and broad appeal, Kragen & Company, who had earlier produced Rogers’ CBS TV specials, decided to shoot a feature-style film on 35mm film in the midst of hot springs, streams, fumaroles, natural gas seeps, and volcanic domes in Northern New Mexico. Before 1978, Rogers had started hosting variety show-style made-for-TV specials with CBS. Moreover, the song took Rogers’ initial dabbling in the film industry to another level of impact. Moreover, it won him the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. 1 country hit that crossed over into the Hot 100 in the top 20. Thus, while their versions of “The Gambler” were not so successful, Kenny Rogers’ version of “The Gambler” was a No. Thus, for “The Gambler,” Rogers’ ability to tell the story of the song’s protagonist with a level of resolute, gruff honesty created the protagonist as something of a three-dimensional character - something that artists like Bare and Cash did not accomplish. If anything, Kenny Rogers’ youthful obsession with soul stars like Sam Cooke informed his career with a constant erring towards wanting to infuse all of his reads of lyrics with soul and gravitas. However, something in Kenny Rogers’ creative DNA allowed him to take the song to the next level and create his signature tune. Is there joy for “The Gambler” when he folds ’em and walks away? Or is it a melancholic anthem tied in the moroseness of the moment? Both Bare and Cash’s versions are more recitations of the lyrics and lack a certain verve. However, because the song lacks a definitive conclusion, imparting definitive energy on the song is difficult. Notably, Bobby Bare and Johnny Cash - whose roots in the genre extended back a quarter-century, sang it. He also adds that this included what he calls his “ ‘Guy de Maupassant’ ending,” wherein the story has no real conclusion, and it’s assumed the gambler dies.īefore Rogers sang “The Gambler,” other country veterans who were well aware of the potential power of a story song gave an attempt at singing it. I finally settled on the eight lines of the last verse,” Schlitz continues. So I spent about six weeks trying to figure out what was gonna happen after the chorus. I thought it was an interesting story, but it was a throwaway. “I wrote most of it in my head,” he tells American Songwriter. Songwriter Don Schlitz wrote the song in August 1976 while on a shift as a computer operator. Kenny Rogers was 40 years old when he recorded “The Gambler.” It wasn’t necessarily a part of an album cycle for a now-graying performer many deemed just past his prime. However, songs from his follow-up albums Daytime Friends and Love or Something Like It had yielded a similar level of a country-to-crossover splash. Back when he was the lead singer of rock and roll, R&B, folk, and country band The First Edition, Rogers’ first mainstream smash came from a cover of Waylon Jennings’ Vietnam veteran heartbreak tale as a song, “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town.” The song was a Top-40 American country hit but crossed over as a Top 10 Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and a global smash.įast-forward to 1978, and Kenny Rogers was five years past The First Edition and in the midst of a solo career that, following 1977’s “Lucille,” was finally starting to catch steam. “The Gambler” wasn’t a sudden aberration in Rogers’ legendary career, though.
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