Saturday, April 4, 2020

RIP Bill Withers and Kenny Rogers...

The past few weeks have been really weird.  I've been preoccupied by the strange way the world has changed in a matter of days.  I never got around to blogging about Kenny Rogers' recent demise, which happened March 20th, the same day we had a COVID-19 related loss in the form of a dog we were hoping to adopt.

I still want to write about Mr. Rogers, though, because I have so many memories of growing up with his music.  My mom was a big fan and we used to listen to him on 8 track in her car.  Side note-- I never did get the appeal of an 8-track, but we did have a few 8-tracks at home.  He was a huge star when I was a little girl, so a lot of his music reminds me of a time when things were simple and innocent.


One of Kenny's biggest hits.  He was always great with a story song.

Personally, I loved his duets with Dottie West, probably even more than I did his famous Dolly Parton duets.  I love Dolly, but Dottie's smokey vocals were a great match to Kenny's.  They also sang some really nice songs.


One of my favorites by Kenny and Dottie...


And of course everyone loves "Islands in the Stream"...  That was also the name of a pony who beat out me and my pony as state champions at the 1986 State 4H horse show.

I read Kenny Rogers' book a few years ago and followed him on Facebook.  I was always impressed that it seemed like he did his own social media, which I thought was pretty amazing.  He seemed very grounded for being such a big star.

Bill Withers died yesterday.  My friend Meryl, who has a rock star husband, actually met Mr. Withers and said he was an extremely nice person.  But he also sang some evergreen hits that will never go out of style...  


"Ain't No Sunshine" was definitely a classic...



One of my favorites... might have to sing this one myself today.



And probably his biggest hit... this one was revived when I was in high school.

It's always sad to see wonderful musicians pass away.  Kenny and Bill were two who will never be forgotten.  I'm sure Heaven sounds a little sweeter now.

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