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Concert to keep commerce humming

James Rogers is said to deliver a feel-good show. This one's a Seminole chamber fundraiser.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published March 16, 2005

SEMINOLE - The last time singer James Rogers was in town, he packed the house, despite a hurricane.

This time, officials from the Seminole Chamber of Commerce are hoping the weather is a bit better. But they're hoping Rogers again packs the house for this first-time chamber fundraiser.

"It's one of those feel-good concerts," said Jimmy Johnson, chamber executive director and Seminole City Council member. "When you walk out of there, you will feel good." The money will help the chamber pay its operational expenses.

"A chamber does not live by dues alone, membership dues," Johnson said. "He's a great vocalist, a comedian. He does a lot of the patriotic music."

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Seminole High School Auditorium. Tickets for the three-hour show are $10, available at the chamber or the box office.

Rogers, a Tennessee native who grew up in Georgia, began singing in front of the PTA as a child and received his first guitar at 11.

His career took off in the 1970s and 1980s and he now is one of the star attractions at Dollywood, the Pigeon Forge, Tenn., theme park founded by country singer Dolly Parton. The Army and Air National Guard adopted I Guard America , which Rogers wrote, as its anthem in 1999.

Other Rogers songs have been honored. Where Eagles Fly was adopted as the theme song for the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Save the Eagle was sung to raise money for the American Eagle Foundation. And Fly, Eagle, Fly was selected as the bicentennial song for Tennessee.

[Last modified March 16, 2005, 01:32:17]