Randy Rogers – Main Street Crossing – Tomball, TX January 26, 2011
Concert Reviews
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Written by Matt Matthews
Jan 26, 2011
Fresh off his band’s performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and just days before his scheduled appearance on Conan, Randy Rogers stopped off at Tomball’s Main Street Crossing and played to a sold out crowd. Texas Mix 105.3 FM radio presents the acoustic songwriter series every Wednesday night at the cozy coffee house and café situated just off the old train depot on Main St. As host of the show, generally my duties are to simply open the broadcast, thank the sponsors and introduce the artist. However, this time, at Randy’s request, I joined him onstage for the entirety of the broadcast. The 200 people in attendance were treated to many of the great new songs from the Randy Rogers Band’s latest MCA/Nashville project “Burnin’ The Day” as well as some of the most popular songs from albums past. In between, I had the opportunity to ask Randy questions about the state of country radio, his method of writing and the structure of his award winning band and we reminisced about the past 12 years of his career. When queried why he thought his band was able to break into the national market while some other regional bands were still waiting to make the leap, Rogers simply replied, “Luck”. That may be but the fact that Randy Rogers can write one hell of a melody is more likely the reason. He helped illuminate that point when he eased into his 2010 chart topping song “Buy Myself Chance” and the equally popular “Too Late For Goodbye” both co-written by crossover artist Sean McConnell.

Speaking of co-writes, Rogers has written with some of the best in the business including Bruce Robison, Radney Foster, Drew Womack and George Ducas. He also proved he could hold his own with those powerhouse writers when he treated the 200 plus in attendance at Main Street Crossing to “Down And Out” and “Like It Used To Be”, two songs written solely by Rogers and were included on his 2004 Smith Music Group release “Rollercoaster”. Rogers’ gritty sweet vocals captivated the audience on what he admitted was “my favorite song off the new album”, a Dean Dillon collaboration titled “Just Don’t Tell Me The Truth”.

Although not all artists who agree to play “Texas Mix Live! At Main Street Crossing” wedge their performance between two nationally televised late night talk shows, the venue along with the help of True Texas Music Booking and KTWL-FM are presenting many artists just as popular as Randy Rogers. Roger Creager has sold out two shows at Main Street Crossing and Ray Wylie Hubbard recently made his second near capacity appearance on the series. Kelly Willis, Ray Benson and Gary P. Nunn have also made stops in Tomball. Nunn will be back on march 2nd. Also scheduled to appear in the coming weeks are Charlie Robison, Slaid Cleaves, Cory Morrow, 2 Tons Of Steel and the Kevin Russell (The Gourds) side project, Shinyribs.

You can find the complete Texas Mix Live! schedule as well as information on other shows, the café’s complete menu and information on how you can become involved in this non-profit, listener friendly venue at www.mainstreetcrossing.com. And just in case you can’t make it on any given Wednesday night, KTWL broadcasts the series live beginning at 8 pm on 105.3 FM and via a web stream at www.texasmixlive1053.com