The Pemaquid Cowboy

Rusty Rogers

 Career Summary

Rusty Rogers is in the ME, MA, RI and CT Country Music Halls of Fame. He is also a Down East Country Music Association Pioneer. For seven years Rusty was a member of the famous cowboy quintet, The Down Homers. They were the eastcoast version of the nationally known "Sons of the Pioneers". The Down Homers were winners on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Show, which led to their own NBC Network show for five years. This show was broadcast over 230 stations. At this time Rusty was NE Yodeling Champion. Rusty went on to have his own show on the N.E. Regional Network. He did three live shows per week, one in Portland ME.(WCSH), one in Burlington VT.(WCAX), and one in Providence RI.(WJAR). The show was called "The Rusty Rogers Show" and featured Rusty Rogers, lead guitarist Bill King, and Andy Bator on upright base.

In 1993 Rusty's cable TV show, "Rusty Rogers Tribute to the American Cowboy" was awarded the best show on local TV, as voted by Cablevision, Arts and Entertainment and Bravo. The show was then featured on the Cable TV Network. Rusty's lead guitarist on this show is Jimmy Spellman: recipient of the prestigious Lenny Breau Award. The show has assorted pioneers in the business as guests from all over N.E., NY. and AZ.

Rusty Rogers has recorded for the following labels: King, Cool, Lamb, Down Home, My Country and Travelers. 

Rusty's Music

"Yesterday and Today"

CD Format

Side A: Introduction, Out Where The West Wind Blows, White Waterfall, Yodel Polka, Happy Go Lucky and Free, A Western Melody, Yodelin Fool, Roly Poly, Until It's Time For You To Go.
Side B: Me and Willies on the Road Again, Cattle Call, Way Out There, Yodeling Trio, Columbus Stockade Blues, Springtime in The Rockies, Just a Closer Walk With Thee, I can't Stop Loving You, Cold Cold Heart, How Can I Thank You

"Tribute to the American Cowboy" 

CD Format Only!

Side One:Introduction, When Payday Rolls Around, I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes, Yellow Roses, Happy Cowboy, Cowboy Sweetheart
Side Two: Song of The Bandit, Mountain Dew, Guitar Breakdown Boogie, Old Shep, Skyball Paint

NEW RELEASE!!
"Tribute to the American Cowboy TV Show DVD" 
Featuring Jimmy Spellman and Special guest Dick Curless

$20.00 (including shipping and handling)

"Two Old Friends, Two Guitars & Old Standards"

CD Format

Side One: I Can't Stop Loving You, Right or Wrong, Phoenix, Summertime, How Can I Thank You, Danny Boy
Side Two:  Autumn Leaves, I Love You Because, I'll Hold You In My Heart, Blues Since You're Gone, Dawn

 CD's of Rusty's "Tribute to the American Cowboy" or  "Two Old Friends, Two Guitars & Old Standards" are available for $15.00 each.  Video's of Rusty's T.V. shows are available for $20.00 (p.p.).  Contact Patty Kempton Rogers, Mgr. for Rusty Rogers at P.O. Box 309 New Harbor ME. 04554 

Live at The Bradley Inn

Drinkin' Champagne, Bill King Blues, The Night Life, Bill King Polka, Funny How Time Slips Away, Autumn Leaves, I Can't Stop Loving You, Dawn, Summertime, Iron Curtain, Phoenix, How Can I Thank You

Cost for Rusty's CD is $15.00, This price includes shipping and handling.  Contact Patty Kempton Rogers, Mgr. for Rusty Rogers at P.O. Box 309 New Harbor ME. 04554

Rusty Rogers Remembers
The Down Homers

2 CD Set

The Down Homers were the east coast version of the "Sons Of The Pioneers".  The group was formed by Shorty Cook in 1935, he later brought Guy Campbell aboard as his partner.  These cuts were recorded from the mid 40's to 1954. Included here are two cuts by King of the Yodelers Kenny Roberts as well as 2 numbers by Bill Haley before his Rock Around the Clock fame. Bill Joined the group to fill the position vacated when Kenny Roberts went into the service during WWII. Bill of course was exempt due to being blind in one eye from birth. Rusty Rogers Joined the Down Homers and filled the position vacated by Bill Haley in 1947. Rusty remained with the group through 1954. Other members of the Down Homers included; Bob Mason, Don Crenshaw, Bill Stallard (heard here on 2 numbers), Lloyd Cornell, Slim Coxx (fiddle solo cuts 15 & 17 disc #1), Rocky Coxx(bass), Hank Gunder (vocal cut 2 disc #2), and Rusty Wellington. One prerequisite of being a Down Homer was that you needed to be able to sing everyone's part, thus being very versatile. The Down Homers performed Radio and Television and toured world wide. In 1950 alone they had over 500,000 paid admissions. Billboard magazine had 8 of their songs on the chart at one time with one song at # 1. Over a 20 year span, The Down Homers could be found on five record labels such as Vogue, Decca, King, Lamb, & Down Home. The Group was booked on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1954, but chose to take an overseas tour, as it paid $5,000 per week. (The Ed Sullivan Show at that time was paying $150 per man). Rusty Rogers left the group at this time to pursue a career in professional wrestling, he could sometimes be seen lifting a band member over his head with one hand.

The Down Homers appeared with some of the top names in show business such as Eddy Arnold, Patsy Montana, Arthur Godfrey, Roy Rogers, Sons of the Pioneers, Yodeling Slim Clark, Dick Curless and on mixed venues with Gene Krupa, and Charlie Barnet just to name a few.  Their radio show was aired coast to coast on the NBC network over 230 stations. In the early 90's Shorty Cook gave Rusty Rogers the rights and all the tapes of the Down Homers in appreciation for his efforts keeping the spirit of the Down Homers as well as traditional western music alive all these years. Rusty went on to be inducted into the Country Music Halls of Fame in CT, MA, ME, and RI.
 

Two CD Set

CD One: All Through the Years (Shorty & Trio), Blue Shadows on the trail (Trio), In My Arms (Trio), We Won't Say Goodbye (Shorty Cook), There's Nothin' Clickin' Chicken (Rusty Rogers), White Waterfall (Trio), Yodel Polka (Kenny Roberts), Hillbilly Style (Kenny Roberts), Counting Tears (Bill Stallard), I Wasted a Nickle (Bill Stallard), San Antonio Polka (Rusty Rogers), Square Dance Polka (Rusty Rogers), Yodel Polka (Rusty Rogers), Holiday Cruise (Trio), Fiddle Tune (Slim Cox), I Got a Girl in the Mountains (Rusty Rogers), Sailor's Hornpipe (Slim Coxx), Slew Foot Jane (Trio), Far Out on the Mountains (Trio).

CD Two:   Square Dance (Shorty Cook), You'll Be Sorry (Hank Gunder), Twenty One Foggies (Trio), Won't You Come Back to Me Annabelle (Trio), Happy-go-lucky & Free (Rusty Rogers), All Through the Years (Trio), Lazy River Winding (Rusty Rogers), Introduce Downhomers, Following the SUN (Bill Haley)-She Taught Me To Yodel (Bill Haley), Heading for Heaven (Shorty Cook), Yodeling Fool (Rusty Rogers), Cool Water, Old Shep (Rusty Rogers), Sign Off Radio Show, Epiloque (Rusty Rogers)

Cost for the 2 CD SET of the Down Homers remembered is $24.99, This price includes shipping and handling.  Contact Patty Kempton Rogers, Mgr. for Rusty Rogers at P.O. Box 309 New Harbor ME. 04554