American Story Master James Gamble Rogers III
Gamble Rogers (1937-1991):
Florida’s “Troubadour Aristocrat”
by Jamie Jobb
After his great-uncle and father erected reputations as architects, they expected their namesake Gamble Rogers III to follow them. But by chance, young Gamble became a builder of stories instead. From the piney woods and backwaters of Northern Florida, his reputation slowly developed until his fame surpassed his namesakes as he became a nationally-renowned “troubadour aristocrat” who appeared on “Ed Sullivan” and “The Tonight Show”.
Oh yes, and the beach where he died a hero is now dedicated to his memory.
Rogers was named after two prominent architects in his family - great-uncle James Gamble Rogers and his father James Gamble Rogers II. But on his way to an interview for his first architectural job, Gamble Rogers III wandered into on a Serendipity Singers audition with a borrowed guitar. Instead of keeping his occupation secure within the family, Gamble came home with an insecure “job” as a folksinger. Two days later he was on The Today Show.
Gamble Rogers built his folksinging reputation around Florida in the 1960s, performing with local music heroes Will McLean, Jim Bellew and Paul Champion. In high school and college, I saw Gamble when he was developing his storytelling chops at The Flick coffeehouse in Coral Gables. In those days, he was singing more than storytelling and his unique stage presence had yet to fully mature.
In the next decade, Rogers was headlining the Florida Folk Festival and expanding his regional reputation. He performed his on-stage comic monologue and “Black Label Blues” in James Szalapski's classic Texas-based country music documentary “Heartworn Highways” (see below).
Rogers was a superb Southern story master whose “Oklawaha County” became Florida’s fictional cousin of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Woebegone in the North Country. With his guitar punctuating his storylines, Gamble was widely known for his Mearle Travis country finger-picking style where the thumb plays a steady bass pattern while the other fingers work the treble strings.
As he matured on stage, Rogers began to elaborate his stories between songs. Soon, his shows were more story than song and Gamble’s name began to get mentioned with Pete Seeger, Mark Twain, Will Rogers. His words carried that much weight.
By the 1980s, Rogers was regularly featured on NPR and PBS, and his presence influenced many musicians including Jimmy Buffett and David Bromberg, who dedicated his Fruitcakes album to Gamble. Fellow songwriters Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen said Rogers "had the gift of innocence, and a fondness for the key of E."
Gamble claimed his stories were true "except for a few that are obvious whimsy. The characters may tend to be outlandish, but their statements resonate with a certain amount of horse sense."
Rogers' story-songs are full of recurring characters and backwood locations in Florida’s fictional “Oklawaha County” -- based around Lake Ocklawaha near Palatka. After years of performing at coffeehouses and folk festivals, Rogers began refining his one-man show into a single storyline - “The Oklawaha County Laissez-Faire” -- which he was eventually fashioning into a two-act play. Unfortunately the play was never finished.
* * *
Taking a break from a Texas to Pennsylvania tour, Rogers and his wife Nancy were camped at Flagler Beach on October 10, 1991, when a frightened young Canadian girl ran to them for help. Her father was in trouble in rough surf and she begged Gamble to rescue him.
Although his health had been compromised by spinal arthritis since childhood, Rogers headed into the roiling Atlantic with an air mattress. Lifeguards soon joined in the rescue attempt. But the surf was tough and quickly battered the plastic mattress. Rogers, 53, was unable to stay afloat and both men died in the undertow.
To honor Rogers’ heroism, the Florida Legislature renamed Flagler Beach the “Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area”. St. Augustine named a middle school after him.
Shortly after Gamble’s passing, Rogers' agent/manager Charles Steadham acquired the rights to the songwriter’s intellectual property and founded Oklawaha Records. Steadham remastered and re-released most of Rogers' albums, making them available through the website of the not-for-profit Gamble Rogers Memorial Foundation (see below).
Gamble Rogers Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble_Rogers
http://www.gamblerogers.org/
https://www.floridastateparks.org/park-history/Gamble-Rogers
http://www.panamaredmusic.com/essays/gamblerogers.htm
https://youtu.be/0RDa_jkrEaI
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=“Heartworn+Highways”+by+James+Szalapsk
Listen to Gamble Rogers on Line
Gamble Rogers Music has slowly been releasing his works and now they are all available on line through the Foundation. Listen to his songs here: http://www.gamblerogers.org/
Catalog Number
|
Album/CD
|
Year
|
Originally published by
|
Original Year
|
OK1001
|
1996
|
1977
| ||
OK1002
|
1996
|
1980
| ||
OK1003
|
2001
|
1986
| ||
OK1004
|
1996
|
Oklawaha Records
|
1996
| |
OK1005
|
1999
|
Oklawaha Records
|
1999
| |
OK1006
|
2003
|
Oklawaha Records
|
2003
|
Here's a 1980 interview with Gamble by Rolly Brown:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/Cdk65AXKgMI
(28 minutes)