Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers: ‘There’s Room for Country in Country Music’
It’s been nearly 15 years since Randy Rogers bumped into Wade Bowen at a gig in San Marcos, Texas.
At the time, both songwriters were greener than the Texas Hill Country. Rogers had just wrapped up the sessions for his first studio album, Like It Used to Be, and Bowen was a few months shy of releasing his own debut, Try Not to Listen. The two hit it off, and Bowen brought his road band back to Rogers’ house after the show, looking to swap songs and drain a leftover keg. That night in San Marcos — full of stories, beer, country music and acoustic guitars — kickstarted a long-running collaboration that’s since taken the two songwriters from Rogers’ backyard to stages across the U.S. This week, the project hits highway speed with the release of Hold My Beer: Vol. 1, the pair’s first album as a duo.
Rogers and Bowen didn’t need to record an album together. For years, they’ve built separate careers as frontmen of two very different-sounding bands — the Randy Rogers Band and Wade Bowen, respectively — earning household-name status in Texas and gaining an increasing amount of attention from left-of-center country fans in the rest of the country. Together, though, they represent something that’s been missing from modern-day music: an old-school country duo whose music ignores the contemporary sound of bro-on-bro acts like Florida Georgia Line and, instead, takes its cues from Pancho & Lefty, Waylon & Willie and other tag-teamed classics.
On a spring afternoon in Nashville, several weeks before the album’s release, Rolling Stone Country tracked down Rogers and Bowen at a Mexican restaurant where, fueled by alcohol and tortilla chips, they weighed in on a number of topics, from male duets to day jobs.
Back in the Day
Randy Rogers: In the early days, we traveled in my ’88 Suburban named “Peaches.” It was blue with a racing stripe down the side. How we didn’t die in that thing, I don’t know. But she was a true peach.
Wade Bowen: She was a beaut, Clark!
Rogers: She was a real beaut.
Bowen: College Station was the first town where we ever made money. We were dead broke at the time. We went back to the hotel and Randy’s counting the money, and I’m trying to talk to him about something serious, and he’s like, ‘Holy shit, man, we just made $1,500 apiece!’ Then he does a Nestea plunge on the bed and money goes everywhere. We were so broke then, so just $100 would’ve been great.
The Early Bird Special
Bowen: Randy is a creature of habit. No matter what town we’re in, he has a routine he sticks to. You go to these specific restaurants and these specific bars. Once it’s 5:30 or 6, it’s dinner time and we’re going to the same place we always go.
Rogers: I like what I like. I like to eat a nice dinner. Any place you can get a good piece of fish and some decent wine.