More than three years since his death, the first posthumous album by Kenny Rogers, Life Is Like A Song, out June 2, features a collection of 10 songs curated by his widow Wanda, along with previously unreleased tracks and rarities.
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Pulled from Rogers’ archives, the collection of songs features tracks that were deeply personal to the singer and songwriter and also marks the first new, non-holiday, album by him in a decade.
Curated and executive produced by his widow Wanda Rogers, Life Is Like a Song features eight previously unheard recordings from 2008 through 2011, including his covers of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” and Lionel Richie’s “Goodbye,” which was played as a lyric video at Rogers’ memorial in 2022, as well as a duet with Dolly Parton on “Tell Me That You Love Me,” among many others.
A digital deluxe edition of the album also includes two bonus tracks, a cover of “At Last,” written by Mack Gordon and Henry Warren and made famous by Etta James in 1960 and the Buddy Hyatt-penned “Say Hello to Heaven.”
“I think the record is fabulous, and it is going to make Kenny so proud,” said Wanda Rogers in a statement. “These songs are such a beautiful reminder of his love ‘for the feelings a song can make’ for a person. He would often say that he wanted his songs to be ‘what every man wants to say, and every woman wants to hear.’ I think there are a lot of those moments on this album.”
Opening on Rogers’ country-rock anthem, “Love Is A Drug,” which he co-wrote with longtime collaborator and his former New Christy Minstrels bandmate Kim Carnes, the album extends into his rendition of The Temptations’ Motown classic “I Wish It Would Rain,” “Straight Into Love,” a duet with Australian country artist Jamie O’Neal.
Life Is Like a Song also features “Catchin’ Grasshoppers,” a touching song written by Laura McCall Torno and Earl Torno, as an ode to his twin sons with Wanda with lyrics Years from now I won’t remember this day / I won’t recall the field / But I’ll remember my children’s eyes / Lighting up like stars when they were five / Yes, I’ll remember / Catchin’ grasshoppers.
Other tracks include a duet with Kim Keyes (Billy Joel, Amy Grant) on “Am I Too Late,” written by Larry Keith and Jim Hurt, “That’s Love To Me,” penned by Gary Burr and Jim Photoglo, and the cinematic “I Will Wait For You,” by Michel Legrand, Norman Gimbel, Jacques Demy.
“This is a very special record to me and our family because it really tells the story of our life together, and I feel his fans will also relate to it in a big way because it walks the listener through the seasons of life that we all experience in one way or another,” said Rogers. “There is joy, there is love, there is family, there is uncertainty, there is pain, there is faith. It’s emotional and real. This is the kind of music Kenny loved to make.”
Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images
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