Collection of Unreleased Songs from Kenny Rogers’ Archives includes Eight Never-Before-Heard Recordings Captured Between 2008 and 2011

Life Is Like a Song is a collection of unreleased songs from Kenny Rogers’ archives that tells the story of the love, life, loss and faith between the legendary singer/songwriter and his wife, Wanda, and their two children. It serves as the first new non-Christmas studio album in ten years from Rogers, who passed away in 2020. It’s also his only non-compilation full-length album, aside from reissues, to be released on vinyl since 1991. Life Is Like A Song was curated and executive-produced by the star’s widow Wanda Rogers, and includes eight never-before-heard recordings from between 2008 and 2011. Rogers’ range and versatility are displayed throughout a collection of original material and covers, which include interpretations of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” and Lionel Richie’s “Goodbye,” plus his much sought-after duet with Dolly Parton, “Tell Me That You Love Me.”

“I think the record is fabulous, and it is going to make Kenny so proud,” Wanda shares. “These songs are such a beautiful reminder of his love ‘for the feelings a song can make’ for a person. He would often say that he wanted his songs to be ‘what every man wants to say, and every woman wants to hear.’ I think there are a lot of those moments on this album. This is a very special record to me and our family because it really tells the story of our life together, and I feel his fans will also relate to it in a big way because it walks the listener through the seasons of life that we all experience in one way or another. There is joy, there is love, there is family, there is uncertainty, there is pain, there is faith… it’s emotional and real. This is the kind of music Kenny loved to make.”

Album opener “Love Is A Drug” is set to become a hard-driving country rock anthem, co-written by Rogers’ longtime musical partner and former bandmate in the New Christy Minstrels, Kim Carnes. The second song is the Temptations’ Motown classic of 1967, “I Wish It Would Rain,” written by Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, and Rodger Penzabene. Rogers’ version features new instrumentation by the celebrated producer Kyle Lehning and in-demand musician and producer Viktor Krauss, who together oversaw Rogers’ recording. Also from the sessions with Brown comes Rogers’ rendition of “Goodbye,” written by Richie, another good friend and frequent collaborator. It’s been a favorite with fans since first appearing in 2009, all the more so since a touching lyric video for the song was played at Rogers’ memorial in 2022.

His take on Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” contains a newly-recorded music bed, courtesy of Lehning, whose credits for Rogers go back more than 40 years, and Krauss. Singing to acoustic guitar, Rogers owns the ballad, while Lehning and Krauss supply gentle orchestration. Larry Keith and Jim Hurt’s “Am I Too Late” was, Rogers said, one of his all-time favorite songs, originally recorded for his 1977 hit album Daytime Friends. It’s now reimagined as a duet with Kim Keyes, whose vocal credits include work with Billy Joel, Amy Grant, and Peter Cetera. “That’s Love To Me,” written by Gary Burr and Jim Photoglo, stands as a quintessential Rogers love song, while the cinematic Legrand/Demy/Gimbel composition “I Will Wait For You,” features such lyrics as “Forevermore, I will wait for you/The clock will tick away the hours, one by one/Then the time will come when all the waiting’s done/The time when you return and find me here and run straight to my waiting arms.”

The centerpiece of Life Is Like A Song is the unreleased “Catchin’ Grasshoppers,” a highly personal ode to Rogers’ twin sons with his wife Wanda, Justin and Jordan. The song was composed by Laura McCall Torno and Earl Torno, with production work by Rogers and Randy Dorman, a member of his band, Bloodline, since the 1970s. The lyrics have Rogers reveling in quiet and precious memories made with his young children, now aged 18. “Years from now I won’t remember this day,” he sings. “I won’t recall the field/But I’ll remember my children’s eyes/Lighting up like stars when they were five/Yes, I’ll remember/Catchin’ grasshoppers.”

The album’s “Straight Into Love,” on which he duets with Australian country star Jamie O’Neal, is helmed by award-winning producer Brent Maher, who has previous credits with Rogers including writing his “Somewhere Between Lovers and Friends” with Randy Goodrum. The duet with his longtime friend, collaborator and fellow superstar Parton continues a recording relationship that began with 1983’s indelible “Islands In the Stream.” Their “Tell Me That You Love Me” was captured in the mid-2000s and helmed by esteemed Nashville producer and executive Tony Brown (George Strait, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire).