Shane Rogers Band

Second Time Around

Faris Wheel Productions

by Dave Pilot

According to his website, www.shanerogersband.com, Shane Rogers “has taken the outlaw country genre to the next level by infusing it with a raw rock-n-roll edge.” According to his latest release, Second Time Around, it might be more accurate to say Rogers has taken Gram Parsons and Marshall Tucker and made them reasonably fresh again.  Nothing here is outlaw country in any real sense, and with what Jackson Taylor is unleashing lately nobody else in their right mind would be making outlaw country now anyway.  But what you will find in Shane Rogers is a throwback vocal style evocative of any number of ‘70s acts that fits quite nicely in the current alt-country arena.

What you’ll get out of the songs varies widely.  The opener, “You Can,” has Marshall Tucker written all over it, and covers territory ranging from childhood nostalgia to some form of religious insight.  It’s a hopeful cut, and bubbles along nicely on a solid instrumental background. “Sad Song,” on the other hand, after the mournful guitar intro finishes out, turns into a borderline sappy song that either Air Supply or John Michael Montgomery probably could have made some money with.

That’s more the anomaly than the reality, however.  Rogers does appear to know his way around a lyric.  See the opening stanza from “Sober”:

"On a cold and lonely shoulder
This side of Abilene
I drank myself sober
When I ran out of gasoline"

The rest of the song keeps up.  It’s a simple country sort-of-rocker, the kind of song that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t try to be more.  And it’s a good one. Other tracks, like “The Price,” “Becky Lynn,” and “This Glass Is Half Empty,” continue in that vein.

All in all, this is a fairly nice little record.  It’s not a great one. Lubbock today is home to better songwriters – Cary Swinney for one.  And in a few instances (“Southern Rebel Girl,” for one), the band tries too hard to be cool and comes off instead as half-baked.  What’s left overall is good ear candy to help pass long drives, and likely a band that raises the roof with their live shows.  But this is still a work in progress, and to be as good as they claim to be, the Shane Rogers Band will need to add some maturity and cohesion to their current very raw musical recipe.

You can find out more at www.shanerogersband.com.  The CD is available online at lonestarmusic.com.

Written by Dave Pilot, December, 2006

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