Few gambles in Rogers' long career

Kenny Rogers' problem is one that any singer would love to have: too much good stuff to cram into one show.

When he hits the road at Christmastime, Rogers likes to do the season's classics, "Silent Night" and "White Christmas" among them. But fans won't be satisfied unless they hear about the four hungry children and the crop in the field.

"One of the problems I've had is finding a way to juxtapose 'Lucille' with 'O Holy Night,'" said Rogers, laughing. "It's not as easy as it sounds."

So when Rogers, 70, comes to Durham next week, he'll perform two distinct sets. The first will be crammed full of the stuff you know you love: "The Gambler," "Islands in the Stream," and "Lady."

After a short break, Rogers returns to a Christmas-themed stage for holiday tunes.

"Christmas, at the end, is kind of a palette cleanser for me, to get to do songs I don't get to do the rest of the year," says Rogers, speaking from his tour bus in Canada.

Rogers, whose hit-making streak began in the late '60s with the psychedelic-tinged First Edition, has had a remarkable career by any measure. Songs like "The Gambler" and "Islands in the Stream" infiltrated the American consciousness in ways that pop songs rarely do anymore.

In a business where only a tiny percentage of performers have even one career-making song, Rogers has had a half dozen. And people want to hear them, so Rogers keeps on traveling.

"I've never felt I was a particularly good singer, but I've always had a knack for picking great songs," he said.

Long ago, Rogers decided he wanted a long-lasting career. It worked out better than he could've imagined.

"When we first got started, we decided it wasn't how much money I could make this year, but how many years can I make good money."

That meant being careful about the kinds of things he attached his name to.

"You can prostitute yourself very easily in this business, and then you lose all your credibility if you just do everything that's thrown at you," he said.

Rogers, though, did have an unsuccessful stint as a roasted-chicken magnate. "Kenny Rogers Roasters," a restaurant chain he started in the early '90s with a former Kentucky Fried Chicken executive, went bankrupt by the end of the decade.

"It really should've been a huge, huge thing," he said.

Rogers blames a poor business model for its failure in America. In Asia, the brand is still going strong. A store opened this year in the Beijing airport, a pretty long hike from Rogers' home in Georgia.

"I miss the chicken," he said. "I miss some of the side dishes. You know we had those little corn muffins that actually had corn in them. I miss that."

Rogers knows better than anyone: You've got to know when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em.