Country Confidential: Rogers Makes More History With "rose'

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF: This issue, Kenny Rogers' single "Buy Me A Rose" gains 326 detections to replace George Strait's "The Best Day" (MCA Nashville) atop our country airplay chart. Making more history along the way, Rogers is now the oldest country artist to score a solo No. 1 song, a title previously held by the late Hank Snow, who was about two weeks shy of his 60th birthday when "Hello Love" peaked at No. 1 in April '74.
When Rogers moved into the top five two weeks ago with "Buy Me A Rose," he broke a 33-year-old record for being the oldest artist to score a top five solo entry on Billboard's country charts since the publication began its country chart-keeping in 1944. Rogers, who turned 61 last August, is a year older than Buddy Starcher was when he took "History Repeats Itself" to No. 2 in May '66. Starcher, a singer/songwriter and TV/radio host from Ripley, W.Va., wrote and recorded a recitation about the similarities between presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Starcher is also well-known in bluegrass music circles and was an early influence on the late Keith Whitley's career.
Speaking of interesting parallels, Starcher's single was issued on the tiny independent Boone, while Rogers' song is also an independent release on his Dreamcatcher label.
Once common on the country charts, an independent release hasn't reached the No. 1 summit since Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet (also known as SKO) put "Baby's Got A New Baby" there in March '87 on Mary Tyler Moore's MTM imprint.

ONLY ON TV: Several stations, including Tampa, Fla.'s WQYK and WRBQ, WSM-FM Nashville, and KIKK Houston, have taped the audio of the new Garth Brooks video, "When You Come Back To Me Again," and are playing it on the air, despite the fact that Capitol Records had previously announced it had no plans to make it a single (Country Airplay Monitor, April 14 and 28). Consequently, the song bows at No. 59 with Hot Shot Debut honors on our Country Airplay chart. Brooks wrote and recorded the song for the new film "Frequency," and it plays over the final credits. The video is airing on CMT, GAC, and VH1.
Capitol promo chief Bill Catino tells Country Confidential that the label is fielding inquiries about the song but contends that no promo single will be serviced, and there will be no soundtrack for "Frequency." But, as history has shown, the Brooks camp is famous for surprises, so don't be too shocked if the song eventually finds its way onto the label's promo agenda.
A similar phenomenon has occurred several times on the pop chart. In 1985, Madonna's "Into The Groove," from "Desperately Seeking Susan," was recorded off MTV by PDs but not worked by the label at the time. Meanwhile, Lauryn Hill's cover of "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" from "Conspiracy Theory" got unsolicited pop and R&B play. It finally became a bonus cut on Hill's debut solo album.

EFFECTIVE this issue, we're temporarily removing KATM Modesto, Calif., and Springfield, Mo., stations KGMY and KTTS from our panel due to technical difficulties.