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Kenny Rogers opens South Shore Music Circus season

Kenny Rogers will probably perform some cuts from his latest CD, a gospel album titled “The Love of God,” when he opens the season at Cohasset’s South Shore Music Circus on Friday. But the singer promises his set list will still be heavy with the hits that made him a legend.

“Ray Charles is, was, and always will be my all-time musical hero. I loved him very much. I saw him in concert years ago, however, and he didn’t do ‘Georgia on My Mind.’ It made me very mad, because I felt I didn’t get my money’s worth,” Rogers said by telephone from his Atlanta home last week. “Each song is like a weapon in your arsenal. I am very fortunate, because I’ve had something like 30 to 35 hits. You have to have tools in your tool box to do your job. And those songs are my tools. I’ll put songs from a new album in my show, for sure, but I will always do my hits, too, because I know they are what people have come to hear.” With more than 120 million records sold and 65 albums, Rogers – and hits like “I Just Dropped In,” “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” “The Gambler,” “You Decorated My Life, “Lady,” and, of course, “Lucille” – Rogers has been giving fans of several musical genres what they want for more than 50 years.

“I started performing in high school. I learned very early on that the guys in the groups got all the girls and I wasn’t about to miss my chance. I’ve always been interested in all different kinds of music. At home, growing up, all I heard was Hank Williams and other great country singers. By high school, I was listening to doo-wop. One of my own early musical experiences was as a vocalist and upright bass player in a jazz group called the Bobby Doyle Trio. It was in that group, singing and performing jazz, that I learned most of what I know about different vocal styles.”

The Houston-born Rogers wasted little time putting that knowledge to work.

“I sang and played double bass with the New Christy Minstrels, which was a folk group. Then I helped form the First Edition, and we had more of a pop/rock sound. When I went out on my own in 1976, I focused more on pop and country music.”

Perhaps because of his early group success, Rogers, 72, said he has always enjoyed working with other artists. And he has had considerable success, too, scoring several country hits with his old friend, the late Dottie West, and climbing the pop charts with Kim Carnes on “Don’t Fall in Love With a Dreamer,” Sheena Easton on “We’ve Got Tonight,” and Dolly Parton on “Islands in the Stream.” “I think I am at my best when I do duets,” said the three-time Grammy winner. “The secret is that you start with a great song first. Then, once you have the song, you think, ‘Who will I sing this well with?’ I started working on a new duets album about a year ago and I’ve got a couple of songs in the can, but it isn’t always easy to find just the right music. I have a concept album in mind, too, called ‘Killer Combinations’ in which I would record with people like my good friend Wyclef Jean and other people outside my genre.

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