Ron Rogers and The Wailing Wind
Ron Rogers: vocals, guitars
Don Campbell: bass, vocals
Dave Grafe: pedal steel
Chris Bond: drums
It’s been two years since Portland, Oregon, singer-songwriter-guitarist Ron Rogers and his musical sidekicks, the Wailing Wind, released their acclaimed Country & Eastern CD, but for fans of Rogers’ raw and edgy musical tales of the gritty side of life, the wait will be worth it.
Rogers released Ron Rogers & the Wailing Wind on November 5, 2013 – 12 songs that set a new standard of roots/Americana/Texas roadhouse music. He’s well steeped in the solid songwriting traditions of rock, blues and country, but applies a strong working-class sensibility and rough-and-tumble imagery to his lyrical craft. His are songs of protest, of pushing back against the establishment, of hard-working hands, and of making the best of a bad situation.
“To get to this recording,” says Rogers, “we’ve continued over the last couple of years to do what we do best – play live, rehearse, record. Songs come at me from all sorts of different directions. I’ve got a band that’s good at grabbing what I’ve got and laying it down without much fuss. It’s all about storytelling to a cool beat and electric guitars. It’s about as much fun as you can have standing up.”
Some of Portland’s finest and well-seasoned musicians make up the Wailing Wind – Dave Grafe on pedal steel guitar, Don Campbell on bass and vocals, and drummer Chris Bond. Since the release of Country & Eastern, the quartet has become tighter than a rusted lug nut and hotter than a habanero.
Rogers’ sixth CD was recorded in his Portland studio and adheres to his love of analog recording. The disciplined songwriter and journeyman engineer is a master at capturing the live feel of a nightclub or concert stage in the studio setting. He saturates recording tape with the passion and inspiration of single-take performances, preferring mood and feeling to note-for-note perfection.
Rogers was raised in Ft. Worth, Texas, and was musically schooled in the roadhouses of the Lone Star State. He was based out of Austin for many years before heading to Los Angeles, where he served as a staff songwriter for Island Records for two years and worked for Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss at A&M Studios for nine years before relocating to Portland in 2004. In 2007 he co-wrote a song with bluegrass legend Del McCoury and Portland songwriter Joe New, “40 Acres and a Fool,” that was released on McCoury’s CD, Moneyland. He is also a mixed media artist and his Shrines to Dead Musicians hang in galleries in Portland and around the US. He was commissioned in 2007 and 2008 to produce the covers of the Oregonian A&E Waterfront Blues Festival guides.