Latest Interview - August 2023

I was floating in a dream
Everything was slowin’ down
I was stokin’ the machine
Everything was spinnin’ round

Chorus 

All you Portuguese Cowboys 
You can find me underground 
I’ll turn my amplifier all the way on ten 
And you’ll never hear a sound

All you Portuguese Cowboys  
On your virtual Sundays  
I’ll turn my amplifier all the way on ten  
And together we can play 

I was dreamin’ right out loud
Everything seemed far away
I was lookin’ for a crowd
But there’s no place left to play

Written by Ron Rogers  
Published by Boocus Tunes 
BMI ©2022
Doo Rag Recordings 
All Rights Reserved


 

Bio

"Ron Rogers’ songs and recordings mine a heady psychedelic swamp-rock groove grounded in his Texas roots and tempered by extended tenures in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. Think John Hiatt and Steve Earle – if they spent the Summer of Love in Haight Ashbury. His catalog is a treasure chest of undiscovered gems." 
Mike Shea, Executive-at-Large and Partner
S
outh By Southwest Conferences and Music Festival 

Portuguese Cowboys, the fifth album by Ron Rogersis the Fort Worth native’s keenest observation of this modern world’s inherent unfairness set to a tuneful gumbo of Americana roots, rock ‘n roll, and 1960s psychedelia. The title track and his songs of protest, love, and humor capture the rage, hopelessness, and isolation of a world gone wild that came to a head during the pandemic when live music came to a crashing halt. Unable to create music face-to-face, Ron wrote the song, "Portuguese Cowboys," at his current home in Porto, Portugal, and collaborated via digital file-sharing with special guest artists Donald Ray Fischer, Deborah Giles, and Emery Wilson – often in Los Angeles and Portland.  

An adventurous musical alchemist, Ron experiments with sounds and styles that span time and place, but remains ever-faithful to his twang-rock Texas roots.  

Portuguese Cowboys  is available for sale on Bandcamp.com.  

Ron’s musical course started as an underage teen soaking up rock, country, and R&B in Fort Worth dive bars and continued to Austin where he honed his songwriting skills in a succession of well-regarded live bands. He was the mastermind/songwriter of the pop/rock band Private Lives which opened for a who’s who of touring artists (The Fixx, Huey Lewis & the News, Flock of Seagulls, and more). Ron became a staff writer with Island Records/Blue Mountain Music. Billboard magazine tabbed Private Lives as "Best New Band of the Week" and "Best New Album of the Week" saying “This band is definitely a comer…” and the lead single “When the World Comes Crashing Through” garnered heavy regional airplay and a “Best Song of 1983” award from the Austin Chronicle.  

Post-Private Lives, Ron toured and performed with a Texas Musical Revue in Moscow, Kiev, and Leningrad/St. Petersburg – all part of the Soviet Union at that time – and jammed with infamous punk band Strange Games (Strannye Igry) in the basement of a Leningrad police station and Moscow’s famous rocker Stas Namin in his Gorky Park studio. 

The adventure continued in Los Angeles with his solo album release La La Land whose title song was selected by screenwriter/producer, Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge) as the opening theme for An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn. His film and TV work include composing the theme song and score for the indie film, Gate of Gold, as well as music of all styles for sit-coms and movies from the Carsey-Werner Company, Lifetime TV films, the SyFy Network and TV Land, as well as Japanese animation, commercials, and YouTube videos. 

In 2004 Ron moved to Portland, Oregon and upped the volume on his songwriting, live performances, and recorded output releasing three albums that laid the groundwork for his current musical style: 

La La Land (1998) "Drawing on Texas blues, R & B, country,  even a touch of swamp rock, Ron Rogers conjures a gritty, evocative sound for La La Land,  A clever and literate songwriter, he strikes paydirt with the title track , a vicious swipe at Hollywood.  -- Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide Editorial Staff

Country & Eastern (2004) and the accompanying video for “Alabama Chrome” were launched at Portland's legendary Aladdin Theater. 

Ron Rogers and the Wailing Wind (2013 Civil Defense Music) was hailed by the Portland Tribune as “some of the best Americana story-telling music that represents the hard life, injustice, the dark side, and tough living.” 

World Gone Wild (2019) featured Ron and the Wailing Wind and vocalist Deborah Giles from Private Lives in a grittier, bedrock roots sound with more than a hint of psychedelia in the mix.

 

Reviews

Bob Dylan by Ron Rogers

-- Carl Munson, Good Morning Portugal Podcast

"Portuguese Cowboys glows with strong, skillful and seasoned musicianship. The melodies are, from the get-go, catchy and delightfully engaging with Ron's lyrics both intriguing and poignant. A journey, a treat, and a rare quality." 

----Phil Favorite, That Much Further West Podcast, Portland, OR
"Before he sank his feet into the rich soil of the Pacific Northwest roots rock scene, Ron Rogers survived a spell working a variety of music business gigs in Los Angeles. In that time, he saw the best and worst of the industry, spending countless hours in the studio as an engineer, working for labels in various roles, and all the while working to perfect his craft as a songwriter and guitarist. But nothing he experienced in L.A. or since moving to Portland has washed clean the Texa-delic blood he was baptized in as a younger man, and which infuses the sound of his band, The Wailing Wind, and their current album, World Gone Wild. The band’s third album is a delightful throwback to the late ’60s when Texas-based bands made bold musical statements on par with anything that came out of the Summer of Love scene in San Francisco."

-- Casey Jarman, Willamette Week, Portland, Oregon

Local singer-songwriter Ron Rogers' opening number off his new disc, Country & Eastern combines Tom Waits' lyrical blaspheming with Neil Young's aching, stretched-out vocal lines. You can tell Ron Rogers has been around.

--- Jim Hart - Portland Tribune , Portland, Oregon

“Some of the best Americana story-telling music that represents the hard life, injustice, the dark side, and tough living...” 

---  Tom D'Antoni - Oregon Music News, Portland, Oregon

“Remember when there was “Rock?” I mean the Rock that defined the late 60s and early 70s. Countrified Rock, Hippie Rock (I do not use the word Hippie pejoratively). The kind of Rock that found its commercial success with the Eagles, the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Allman Brothers, and a lot of others. If that is your speed, this album is for you. But it’s not retro in any respect, it’s what these guys love. There’s a dash of LA, and a bit of Texas. It’s guys like these that keep this music alive. For them and millions of others, it never died, it only got pigeon-holed and held prisoner by Classic Rock radio stations. Ron Rogers and the Wailing Wind  keep the roots and the Rock fresh and, well, wailing.” 
 

 
 

Music Videos

Buy on Bandcamp.com

Hard Road

Ron Rogers

When I lived in LA I met Jack Cassady, bass player for Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. We played some gigs together in North Hollywood with drummer Daren Hess and singer Deborah Giles. Jack came to my studio and played on a couple of tracks, this was one with Daren on drums.
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Lyrics

Alabama Chrome 

Like a vulture sittin' on his perch 
Outside the doors of the holy roller church 
He was stalkin' some sanctified soul who 
was sinkin' in despair 

His bumper sticker said brother "Keep It Weird" 
Truth be told there was little that he feared 
It was rumored that he'd even made the devil take a knee and say a prayer 

Alabama Chrome's your salvation on a roll 
Now and then you need a little duct tape for your soul 
You know Jesus never left home 
without his Alabama Chrome 

His sister was a nun from Galilee 
Put a curse on his soul for being free 
She said sooner or later every sinner's 
gotta bring it on home 
His plastic saviors are tacked upon the door 
And his sermons are strewn across the floor 
He's gonna wrap Jesus in a shroud of  
Alabama Chrome  

Alabama Chrome's your salvation on a roll 
Now and then you need a little duct tape for your soul 
You know Jesus never left home without his Alabama Chrome 

There's a hooker in a motel down the road 
A beast of burden with some baggage to unload 
He's gonna hear her confession Lord 
He's gonna help her to atone 
And if temptation is there to make him stray 
He'll ask forgiveness next time he goes to pray 
If his saintliness gets tarnished 
He'll just fix it with some Alabama Chrome 

Alabama Chrome's your salvation on a roll  
Now and then you need a little duct tape for your soul  
You know Jesus never left home with his  
Alabama Chrome 
Hey, you know Jesus never left home without his Alabama Chrome 

Written by Ron Rogers, Published by Khrome Songs, BMI  ©2011 
Doo Rag Recordings, All Rights Reserved 

 

No Protest Goin’ On

There ain’t nobody marchin’  
There ain’t no Memphis soul 
There ain’t no flags of freedom  
Flying from the poles  

You want your free election  
You gotta stop the bots 
You want an education child 
Well you know that you might get shot    

Chorus 

Nobody wants to hear my song 
There ain’t no protest goin’ on 
Nobody wants to sing along 
‘Cause there ain’t no protest goin’ on  

Worldwide pandemic 
That’s what we get 
Your nightmare is drowning in a coughing fit 
Doctors are beggin’ for mask and research 
While our king is a-pouting 
Get back to work and church  

Chorus  

They’re bailin’ out the markets 
We’re dyin’ of the flu 
We’ve got our social distancing 
That’s all we can do 
So I got FaceBook, my dogs, and my wife 
I’ve never seen so many goddamn banjos in my life 

Chorus 

Written by Ron Rogers 
Published by Boocus Tunes
BMI 
©2020
Doo Rag Recordings
All Rights Reserved

 

Visual Artist Ron Rogers