The Gambler

The title track\'s captivating tale of leveraging your luck in life has plenty of powerful company here. Rebellious rocker \"Making Music for Money\" decries selling out to crass music execs. Sultry, swampy \"The Hoodooin\' of Miss Fannie Deberry\" drips with Tony Joe White-style country-soul, and Mickey Newbury\'s tearjerker \"San Francisco Mabel Joy\" gets an elegantly orchestrated interpretation. With *The Gambler*, Rogers shows just how many directions he can take his warm, rich voice and still sound completely at home.

Kenny Rogers took a bit of a chance in releasing this loosly based concept album at the time, but boy, did it pay off!