INTERVIEW: Charlie Rogers Does What Only He Can Do: Be Himself
Nashville's Charlie Rogers details the turmoil, chaos, and perseverance that went into his new single "Missed Calls"
Charlie Rogers embraces the chaos on his new song, "Missed Calls." It leans more pop than country, but that Nashville knack for storytelling and evoking difficult emotions shines through. Rogers explains all of the turmoil that went into the new track – and how he came out the other side.
Tell us about the first song you wrote.
Funny enough, I remember writing a piano composition for my sister around the age of eight or nine. It was written on scoring paper that I got from Mars Music (RIP) & I think I only got a couple of bars into it before my, at the time, undiagnosed childhood ADHD got the better of me & the dopamine ran out. The first song that I can recall ever writing was a complete work with lyrics, and all was a song called “It’s You,” which was written for my girlfriend at the time. I think I was sixteen-ish at the time. It unfortunately still exists out there on the internet under “The Charlie Rogers Band” in an EP that I put out way back in 2010 called “Laugh… Love… Sing…” How very millennial of me.
Name a perfect song and tell us why you feel that way.
Oof, that’s a tough question. The perfect song. Gah, I have so many that come to mind. To me, the perfect song isn’t necessarily the song that everyone raves & rants about, it’s the song that is deeply personal & strikes at the heart. It’s something that makes you feel seen or heard. The first song that immediately came to mind for me was “Turning Home” by David Nail, a song that I have covered live for years & years. It’s just such great bittersweet melancholy & remembrance. It’s a song that perfectly encapsulates what it is to grow up in The Middle Of Nowhere, America & has always been a song that feels (ironically) like home. It’s a song I love to sing & that still, to this day, makes me feel the warm & fuzzies every time I run through it.
Tell us about your favorite show you've ever played.
Gotta be Brothers Osborne. Back in 2017 or maybe 2018, I opened for TJ & John in Kansas City at the KC Live Stage in the Power & Light District. Kansas City every summer puts on a weekly, free country concert where they bring in what I would probably quantify as a starting/medium-range country act & the whole courtyard of the facility becomes the venue. I opened for them to a crowd of between two thousand and three thousand people. The show was engaging, the crowd was into it, we got to do a full hour set & really go through the ebb & flow of a proper show in the proper setting. We then hung out with the band til, I think, around 3 or 4 AM, when their tour manager kicked us off because they had to go on to the next show. Still see the Bros Os from time to time, lovely gents!
What words did you need to hear as you explored your identity? What would you like to say to people who are currently questioning their identities?
There’s a guy in Nashville, Rick Barker, whose whole schtick is helping up-and-coming artists succeed or giving them the tools to launch themselves & build an audience. His claim to fame is that he was Taylor Swift’s first manager; he got her on radio tours and helped her build herself from the ground up. He often talks about how many people come to him asking him to make them the next Taylor Swift. His response is, “There’s already a Taylor Swift, and that Taylor Swift is doing the best Taylor Swift that anyone is ever going to do. You know what’s not out there? The best you that you can do. You’re never going to be the next Taylor Swift, she’s already dominating the market for ‘Taylor Swifts’, you have to go out & do you, as you are, because that’s what people attach to.”
That was something that I really struggled with for years, that I still fight daily in this industry because everyone wants to pigeonhole you. I’m a bisexual, ADHD riddled, seasonally depressed, thirty-something-year-old who weaves willy-nilly in & out of genres. I understand that to the current industry model, I’ve struck out ten times over just in that sentence alone. It’s hard to stand up, plant your feet, and say, “This is who I am, take it or leave it,” when often it seems like the industry is simply looking to fill a particular spot, but I think the authenticity is worth it, the art of you is worth it. Everything else is just a cheap knockoff compared to presenting as the genuine, no-holds-barred version of you. It will turn people off, good. Those are not the people you want in your life anyway.
Be niche, take risks, make mistakes, learn; because that’s the only way you’re going to grow, the only way you’re going to find the people who have genuine care for you, and the only way you’re going to find that beautiful, expressive, authentic version of yourself.
“Missed Calls" centers on mental health. What do you do to care for yourself while you're on tour? What advice would you give to others?
Yes! “Missed Calls” does center on mental health, specifically seasonal affective disorder (SADs)/depression. I am someone who has struggled with depression since my late teens though mine typically comes & goes with the winter months. I typically don’t find myself having as many issues with depression when I am touring or when I am traveling. I don’t know if it’s because I’m in “go, go, go” mode or if it’s because I’m out doing what I love.
It may also be because I typically am running to do shows in the spring/summer, which are times in which the depressive side of my mental health gives me a bit of a respite. I think my advice to others would be to be mindful of yourself and your needs and to surround yourself with people who are respectful and understanding of that. Each of us was born with a different brain, with different levels of the same chemicals rushing through it, so while we may share similar experiences, your mental health is uniquely your own. Only you know what you need.
That being said, there shouldn’t be any shame in asking for help or grace when you need it, the unfortunate stigma we live with is that asking for help in any form is some kind of weakness when in reality I think it’s the opposite. Having the level of understanding of self, looking at that and saying, “I’ve reached my limit,” and then reaching out to someone else to ask for their assistance takes an immense amount of strength and self-awareness, and that should be applauded and celebrated.
