NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Each January the Randy Rogers Band comes up with goals for the next year, and 2010's list was a doozey.
A few items:
— Release the biggest record of the band's career.
— Latch on to an arena tour with a major star and play the best festivals.
— Draw the national media and radio attention that has eluded them.
Rogers hopes this month's release of the band's latest album, "Burning The Day," is the first domino in the bid to become household names.
"I just think we're ready for it," Rogers said. "They say it takes 10 years to be an overnight success. Well, October will be our 10th year of touring. It seems like it could happen exactly on the button."
The Randy Rogers Band has seemingly been on the verge of a breakthrough for the last couple of years. Composed of self-described "lifers," it's the buzz band that has risen out of the vibrant Texas scene with crowd-pleasing hard work. The band plays more than 200 shows a year every year. And its last two albums debuted in the top five of the Billboard country charts.
"We're not waiting around for that magical moment to happen," Rogers said. "You make your own luck, and the harder you work the more luck you have. I've tried to, as a leader of this band, to be an even-keel kind of guy, so I'm trying to go into this new record without being too overly excited or without my expectations going through the roof because I know this business, and this is the most impossible business to make it in. That's why I'm in it. I love the challenge."
After making three albums with Radney Foster, Rogers and his cohorts enlisted the help of Nashville heavy hitter Paul Worley for their next album. Worley's had quite a year with the smash success of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," and the band wasn't sure what to expect recording in Music City for the first time.
Worley's first decision caught them by surprise. He wanted them to ... rehearse.
"They kind of went, 'You want to what?'" Worley said with a chuckle. "I said, 'You know rehearse. Don't you guys do that?"
Turns out, they don't. As a band that spends more days on the road than not, new songs are worked up at soundcheck and played that very night.
Worley took them into a rehearsal space for what Rogers described as "grueling" sessions. The producer wanted to become part of the band's culture. He brought his own guitar, left it unplugged, and played along as they tinkered with the songs. The band then took the music out and road-tested it before going into the studio. They used very few outside players and Worley believes they've made the album that will lift them to that coveted next level.
"The interesting thing was their greatest fear about coming to Nashville and working with a Nashville producer was that they would lose their identity, when in fact what happened is the opposite," Worley said.