Life Is Like A Song (Deluxe Edition) Kenny Rogers

• 1 Love Is A Drug 02:58
• 2 I Wish It Would Rain 03:02
• 3 Am I Too Late 03:28
• 4 Tell Me That You Love Me 03:13
• 5 Straight Into Love 04:01
• 6 Wonderful Tonight 03:26
• 7 Catchin' Grasshoppers 04:09
• 8 That's Love To Me 03:43
• 9 I Will Wait For You 05:06
• 10 Goodbye 03:23
• 11 Say Hello To Heaven 03:40
• 12 At Last 02:47
• Total Runtime 42:56

Info for Life Is Like A Song (Deluxe Edition)

Kenny Rogers celebrates his musical legacy with a posthumous release featuring eight previously unreleased tracks and two rarities. Life Is Like a Song, has been curated and executive produced by his widow Wanda Rogers.

Life Is Like a Song is built around those eight never-before-heard recordings spanning 2008-2011. Rogers didn't release any full-length studio albums between 2006's Water and Bridges and 2011's The Love of God (which was expanded by UMe in 2022). Rogers brought his familiar, distinctive, and lived-in vocals to Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" and The Temptations' Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong/Rodger Penzabene standard "I Wish I Would Rain" (both of which feature new instrumentation from producers Kyle Lehning and Viktor Krauss) and to a perhaps more unexpected cover of "I Will Wait for You," the lovely Academy Award-nominated tune by Michel Legrand, Jacques Demy, and American lyricist Norman Gimbel from director Demy's film musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Kenny was always a sympathetic duet partner to his old New Christy Minstrels pal Kim Carnes; here, he sings her "Love Is a Drug" and revisits Larry Keith and Jim Hurt's "Am I Too Late." The latter was first recorded by Rogers on 1977's Daytime Friends; this version features singer Kim Keyes. Australian country singer Jamie O'Neal appears on the new duet "Straight Into Love."

The most high-profile collaborator on the set is Rogers' longtime friend Dolly Parton. They'd teamed up numerous times over the years including on the chart-topping "Islands in the Stream," the Once Upon a Christmas album, and 2013's chart single "You Can't Make Old Friends." Dolly joins Kenny here on "Tell Me That You Love Me," which was first issued on the 2009 Time Life box set The First 50 Years. Produced by Tony Brown, it's featured on Life Is Like a Song in a new remix. The poignant, Lionel Richie-penned "Goodbye" (also helmed by Brown) hailed from that same box; it was reissued as a digital single following Rogers' 2020 death and also gets a reprise on this new album. (The third exclusive song on The First 50 Years, "Loving You Is a Natural Thing to Do," is not part of the new package.)

The most personal track on the new album may well be "Catchin' Grasshoppers," written by Laura McCall Torno and Earl Torno and sung to Kenny's twin sons with Wanda Rogers, Justin and Jordan. Produced by Kenny and Randy Dorman of his backing band Bloodline, the song is among the artist's most vulnerable.

Two additional tracks will be available only on Deluxe edition: a cover of Mack Gordon and Harry Warren's "At Last" (a No. 2 hit for Glenn Miller in 1942 that's perhaps best known today in Etta James' bluesy 1960 reinvention) and Buddy Hyatt's original song "Say Hello to Heaven."

Wanda Rogers shares in the press release, "I think the record is fabulous, and it is going to make Kenny so proud. 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. 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. 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."

Rogers' six-decade legacy includes more than 120 hit singles and nearly 40 studio albums. One of the best-selling artists of all time with worldwide album sales topping 120 million, Rogers was the consummate crossover star who found vast success across the pop, country, AC, and rock charts. That versatility was evident in the singer, songwriter, and musician's earliest recordings - from his doo-wop era (The Scholars, Kenneth Rogers) and work with Columbia Records jazz trio The Bobby Doyle Three, to his time as a member of the celebrated folk ensemble The New Christy Minstrels and, starting in 1967, with the eclectic psychedelic rock, country, folk, pop, and R&B band, The First Edition. After nearly a decade of hits with The First Edition, Rogers embarked on a solo career, during which he would soar to global superstardom, thanks to a string of chart-topping hits, including "Lucille" (1977), "The Gambler" (1978), "Lady" (1980), and "Islands in the Stream" with Dolly Parton (1983).

Rogers, who also found success as an actor, entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and photographer, officially retired in 2017. The recipient of the Horatio Alger Award in 1990, Rogers was an active philanthropist, including work with the Kenny Rogers Children's Center, USA For Africa/"We Are The World," and Hands Across America. His mighty and enduring influence was celebrated in a final, star-studded concert in Nashville, "All In For The Gambler," which featured performances and tributes by Parton and Richie, plus Don Henley, Chris Stapleton, Reba McEntire, and Idina Menzel, among many others. During his lifetime, Rogers was honored with multiple GRAMMYS®, CMA, AMA, ACM, People's Choice, and CMT Music Awards. In 2013, he was among the first recipients of the CMA's prestigious Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award (second only to its namesake). That same year, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Kenny Rogers

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