Kenny Rogers: 1st 50 Years

I was watching GAC's Kenny Rogers: 1st 50 Years special last night with a big grin on my face. I laughed, I cried, I got goosebumps, but mostly I went down memory lane. I am not a Kenny Rogers "fan" in that I don't own any albums, nor have I attended any concerts, but I've always liked Kenny Rogers' music. What I didn't realize is that I love it. Quite a few of the songs that I heard as a child and set me on the path to a country music obsession some 30 years later are Kenny Rogers songs. The Gambler has been one of my favorite songs since it came out in 1978.

I'm not sure I'd even heard all of these important old songs in their entirety until last night.  Some of the songs that crossed over to onto pop stations I know well, but I remember a few from clips on those TV advertisements for "Country Hits" albums in the 1970s and early 80s, the ones with the still shots of the artists and the song titles rolling down the screen. One song that I thought I knew, but really didn't is "Lucille". Billy Currington sang this during the TV special. I am not ashamed to admit that I had no idea what "Lucille" is about until last night. No wonder they only played a short clip of it on those commercials. Here is a recording of Billy Currington singing "Lucille", with lyrics.

There were a lot of excellent performances in this concert, but the ones that stuck with me were Kenny Rogers and Lionel Richie singing "Lady", Kenny Rogers singing "The Gambler", Billy Currington's "Lucille", and Tim McGraw singing "She Believes in Me". Dolly Parton sang quite a bit in the beginning of the show. She was fabulous. She's always fabulous.

GACTV.com has articles about the concert, a trailer, and an old Gambler video for you to enjoy.  If you missed the concert, be sure to scroll through the photo gallery. Dolly is wearing purple lame'.

I'll search through youtube and keep an eye on GAC's website. If they make videos from the concert available I'll add the links.