Kenny Rogers Dead at 81

[G G]

Godspeed Kenny. I grew up listening to country music. I was 10 years old in 1975 and to me that's when I started listening to music more and from about 1975 to the late 80s were great times for country music. Kenny Rogers had at least one hit it seemed like on the radio at all times through those years. Arguably a lot of his music was more pop than country it got airplay on country stations anyway and it was some very good music. When I was about 13 or 14 I started learning to play the guitar. I had a friend just up the road that was older and I told him I wanted to learn. He told me to write down the words on a sheet of paper my favorite country song on the radio at the time and I did. He taught me the G, C, and D chords on the guitar. The song (like millions of songs) was a three chord song. He told me to practice that song until I could sing it and play the chords without having to pause to change chords and come back and then he would teach me more. The song? The Gambler. Many probably don't know this or remember but the song was written by Don Schlitz, and he also recorded it and realeased it and it had mediocre airplay. But when Kenny Rogers recorded it and released it, it exploded. So thanks Kenny for the role you played in a young boy from the piney woods of Northeast Florida's quest to learn guitar.