Eugene Rogers (March 23, 1917–November 23, 1993), known professionally as Smokey Rogers, was an American
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance ...
musician and songwriter active during the 1940s and 50s on the West Coast.
Born in
McMinnville, Tennessee
McMinnville is the largest city in and the county seat of Warren County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 13,605 at the 2010 census. It was named for Governor Joseph McMinn.
Geography
McMinnville is located at (35.686708, -85.779309) ...
, Rogers joined
Spade Cooley
Donnell Clyde "Spade" Cooley (December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969) was an American convicted murderer and former Western swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality. In 1961 he was arrested and convicted for the Ap ...
's band in the 1940s (who gave Rogers his stage name).
Tex Williams
Sollie Paul "Tex" Williams (August 23, 1917 – October 11, 1985) was an American Western swing musician. He is best known for his talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)", which held th ...
, Rogers and other members of Cooley's band formed a group called The Western Caravan. Both groups featured Rogers on vocals for novelty songs.
Rogers co-wrote "Spanish Fandango" with
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although ...
, released in 1947. In 1949, he had a modest hit with "A Little Bird Told Me". Rogers is best known for writing the ballad "
Gone", first recorded by
Ferlin Husky
Ferlin Eugene Husky (December 3, 1925 – March 17, 2011) was an early American country music singer who was equally adept at the genres of traditional honky-tonk, ballads, spoken recitations, and rockabilly pop tunes. He had two dozen top-20 hit ...
1952. When Husky re-recorded the song in 1956, it reached No. 1 on the country chart. It remained there for ten weeks and crossed over to the pop chart. He also wrote "My Chickashay Gal", popularized by
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...
.
From 1947–50, Eugene Rogers appeared in at least 22 of
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
' "musical featurettes" with Tex Williams. In 1950, he bought the Bostonia Ballroom in
El Cajon, California near
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
and started a daily live TV show from the facility. In 1958, he was also doing a radio show on 50,000 watt X.E.R.B. in Rosarita Beach, Mexico. He programmed both sides of a Zane Ashton (aka Bill Aken) record of 'The Wind Running Through" with the flip side being the same song in Spanish and called "El Viento." The resulting sales in Mexico gave Ashton his first gold record.
Rogers and his first wife, Madelene, had 6 children; Laura Jo, Carl, Harold, Ruth-Ann, and twin sons, Roy and Rex Rogers. Rogers and his second wife lived in Apple Valley, California for several years where he was a local radio personality and performed regularly at the Branding Iron Restaurant. He died in San Diego on November 23, 1993 at age 76.
[Personal knowledge]
Discography
Links
Smokey Rogers bio- CMT
*
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Smokey
1917 births
1993 deaths
People from McMinnville, Tennessee
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee
Western swing performers
20th-century American singers
Country musicians from Tennessee
20th-century American male singers