Bowen, Rogers join to 'Hold My Beer'

You might think there would have to be a beer sponsorship behind Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers' "Hold My Beer & Watch This Tour," but you would be wrong.

"No, we thought there might be some interest from some company's marketing department, but nope," says Bowen with a laugh. He's out on the road with his pal Rogers, doing what they like to do best: play music and hang out. Well, maybe they might add drink a beer or three to the list.

The two Texas musicians have been friends since the days they were still struggling to establish themselves as new young roadhouse favorites in their home state, writing songs, playing guitar and leading their own bands.

"It was back when we were both just basically begging for gigs," Bowen says. "We just really became best buddies as soon as we met, and we now both live in New Braunfels [Texas], about five minutes from each other's houses.

"We've gone around on this tour for the past nine years, officially, but unofficially, it's been 14. I think Little Rock has been a stop for three or four years, as it's a place where both Randy and I have long done shows there with our own separate bands."

To make things even more "official," Rogers and Bowen released a CD, Hold My Beer Vol. 1 on April 20. The 10-song collection opens with "In the Next Life," the men's genial declaration that "I guess what they say is true/All you need is one good friend/And in the next life/We wanna be ourselves again."

Another wry observation comes in the song "Standards," with its line, "I don't have hits -- I've got standards."

The album also includes some choice cover songs: Joe Ely's "I Had My Hopes Up High," Merle Haggard's "It's Been a Great Afternoon" and the album's closing song, "Reasons to Quit," in which they elaborate on the ample reasons to "not" quit.

"We started off intending to make a live album," Bowen says, "but we got in the studio and had so much fun together there, we just kept going and made the whole thing there. The album is really just a great reflection of our friendship.

"And we are still doing our normal touring, where we each have our own bands and gigs and so on. So it's really like three tours at one time are going on. We wrap up our 'Hold My Beer Tour' on Sept. 17."

Bowen says that the format of the "Hold My Beer Tour" shows involves some of the members of both men's bands, and that the shows start off acoustic and band members join in as things gradually become electric.

"There's an old country theme behind it," Bowen says. "The sort of '70s and '80s beer-drinking thing. It's a change of pace, kind of an alter ego and a show that's very different from what we do with our own bands."

Style on 08/18/2015