Acclaimed country music group The Randy Rogers Band will perform at the Dixie tonight at 11.
The group’s most recent album, “Burning the Day,” released on Aug. 24, was on the top 10 albums list on iTunes in its first week.
“Any time you put out a record, it seems like you get a little pop, and you move up a few notches on the old music ladder,” lead vocalist Randy Rogers said. “The album has been very well received, and I think that is definitely helping us out, touring-wise.”
“Those that have heard of [The Randy Rogers Band] love him,” said Jeremiah Jones, owner of the Dixie. “They’re really into his music. The band’s music is really honest and genuine music.
“It’s not national country. It’s not pop-radio country like you hear on most stations,” Jones said.
The Randy Rogers Band has been releasing albums for 10 years, but first gained popularity in 2006, when their album “Just a Matter of Time” hit No. 8 on the Billboard Country Music chart. The band’s single “Kiss Me in the Dark” also made its way onto the Hot Country Songs chart.
More recently, the group’s single “Too Late for Goodbye” made an appearance on the Hot Country Songs chart this year, peaking at No. 47.
“It’s country music. It’s a little rough around the edges,” Rogers said. “It’s maybe not as polished as some mainstream, Top-40 country music. But it’s honest music. I’m a songwriter, so 90 percent of the stuff you hear on the stage is stuff I wrote. Our guitar player and bass player also write, so some of it’s their stuff. We’re just trying to be a real band. We play our own records. We write our own songs. We’re just trying to do it the old fashioned way.”
The Randy Rogers Band has played in Tuscaloosa at the Jupiter Bar and Grill, the precursor to the Dixie. The exposure and the shows have led to the group developing a following at the University.
“I like him because it’s a good example of a group of guys that got together and were discovered based on talent, not through like a booking agent,” said Cole Mattox, a sophomore majoring in business. “It’s just good, heartfelt country music.”
“We’re blessed that we did have that fan base,” Rogers said. “We’ve played 200 shows a year for probably the last five years. We’ve stayed out on the road and we’ve catered to a growing audience. I think that audience is the reason, obviously, that we sold that many records. We’ve been generating a buzz. We’ve been trying to get out to Alabama and the SEC. We’ve been trying to expand for years. I hope that we can continue to do that.”
The show will begin at 11 p.m. at the Dixie, located on The Strip. The doors open at 9 p.m., and tickets are $12 at the door and $10 in advance.
The group has performed about 1,500 shows together, striving to make each night better than the last, Rogers said.
“The same guys on stage have been together for a long time,” he said. “If you want a live music experience, the bang for your buck is the Randy Rogers Band.”
