DD: Zebb Rogers! Welcome to the Texas Tailgate. We’re talking about your new single Check. Tell me what inspired that song. How did that come about?
ZR: Well, actually, one of my co-writers that I’ve written a lot of songs with. I was reaching out to him to see if he had anything in a particular style and he actually reached back out to me and he said he didn’t have anything exactly like what you asked for. He said, “but I do have this song and I think it fits you great with your style. So whenever I heard the song, I immediately knew that I wanted to record it. So this is actually the first release that I put out that I wasn’t a writer on.
DD: So who is the songwriter on that?
ZR: It’s actually three of them. It’s Steve Smentek, who signed with Vibe City Publishing. And then Jeff Roe. He has had a couple of number ones in Texas. And then another co-writer is Kyle Jackson-Rachky.
DD: Excellent, excellent. So what stood out to you with this song? What made you decide that you just had to record it?
ZR: Well, I just thought it was very catchy and cleverly written. It was kind of a unique title, not necessarily subject matter wise, but I just love the Jam of the song. And the last one I did was kind of a tribute to my wife and it was more of a slow R&B type song. So I wanted to do something a little more upbeat and just fun to end the year out with.
DD: Yeah. So you recorded this at Steel Records, correct?
ZR: Yes sir. Yes sir, I did.
DD: Tell me about that recording process. How was going in the studio and building this out. How did that evolve?
ZR: Yeah, I’ve got a great working relationship with them. I’ve done several songs with them in the past and then when they heard this one, we all three kind of had ideas for it. It’s really easy working with Kyle [Roop] and Leif [Shively] because I can throw stuff out and say, Hey man, can you play this? And Kyle can play just about anything with strings and Leif’s pretty much in the same boat. So, we just kind of played back and forth off of each other and just wanted to build a rock and country track. But we also wanted to not just go straight pop country with it. We wanted to stay close to Southern/Roots and put some banjos and some dobro in there. Kind of keep it down home with us too. So
DD: How did you end up getting connected with Kyle and Leif?
ZR: Well, I’ve known Kyle for a few years and kind of met Leif through him, but Kyle, after we moved to where we did out close to where their studio is, he was just right down the road from me and I knew he did some recording. I started to use him for a few demos back when he was just recording in his house. During the process of us doing this, they bought a studio and they’ve gotten better at recording and we’ve gotten better at songwriting. Things have kind of just kind of built up from there. So we’ve kind of just come up together and
DD: I dig it. And then they’re not too far from you, I dig that.
ZR: Yeah, they’re about four miles down the road from me, so that works out. Yeah.
DD: I love it. The song’s been on Texas Radio for a couple weeks now. How has the reaction been? Have you gotten anybody hitting you up about it?
ZR: Yeah, it’s actually been added to a few radio stations and had some people reaching out say they love the song. We’ve had a couple of playlists reviewed the song and said, yeah man, we love it. It’s right up our alley. Everybody that I’ve heard respond to it so far has been positive. They’ve enjoyed it and said, yeah, one that just peps me up when it comes on. They love listening to it so far. So I hope that keeps being the case.
DD: Yeah, it’s a killer too, man. And those Steel Records guys. We had ’em on the [Texas Tailgate Podcast]. I’m really digging this. What do you guys have coming down the pipeline? What do you have going on for the future?
ZR: Man, we’ve already got about four songs cut that we’re working on release dates for right now. We’re kind of working on promotional things of when to put ’em out and put ’em out at the right time. Cause I’ve got some good songs and holiday seasons coming up, so it’s getting time for Christmas music. So I hate to release the next one. So we’re probably gonna wait until right after the first of the year to release our next one to radio. But it’s gonna be a banger that they’ve really knocked out of the park there at the studio. We’re helping bring it to life. It’s a great song in itself, but I’m really excited for the next chapter too. But we wanna finish the year strong on the momentum here
DD: When you get that out, we’ll have to have you back.
ZR: That would be awesome, man.
DD: Where can people find you out on the web?
ZR: Well, just about anywhere there’s social media. You can find me on Instagram under Zebb Rogers. TikTok and Facebook and all those others. I’m Zebb Rogers music spells with two Bs.
DD: Tell me about your name. You have a very unique name. How’d that come around? Actually, that’s short for something, right?
ZR: Yeah. Zebbulon is my first name and it’s actually biblical. It’s outta the Bible and it’s also, I dunno if you remember the TV show, the Waltons that used to be on. You had Grandpa Walton on that show. So my mom said a choice of either Caleb or Zebb and she went with Zebb.
DD: Well you’re definitely not gonna have an issue with another artist out there with the same name coming up on your profile.
