Country star Chris Stapleton will join several other country singers in a special tribute to the late Kenny Rogers. The special, called “Kenny Rogers: All In For The Gambler,” will air on Thursday, Sept. 23 at 9 p.m. EST on both CBS and Paramount+.
Rogers passed away in March 2020 of natural causes. He spent 60 years making incredible music, including 25 Top 10 albums and 11 No.1 albums. Twelve of his singles also topped the country charts on Billboard.
The special will feature live musical performances from Chris Stapleton as well as Idina Menzel, Lady A, Lionel Richie, Little Big Town, and Reba McEntire. Folks will also see Rogers’ close friend Dolly Parton at the performance.
To promote the event, Stapleton took to Twitter to post a special moment on stage with Rogers. He also invited fans to tune into Thursday night’s broadcast.
“Thanks for the music, Mr. Rogers,” Chris Stapleton wrote. “Watch the broadcast premiere of KENNY ROGERS: ALL IN FOR THE GAMBLER September 23rd at 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT on @CBS.”
The event will take place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The live show will feature musical acts plus stories about Rogers’ life and career.
Last year, Chris Stapleton spoke about Rogers’ legacy as a musician to Taste of Country. “Kenny Rogers is obviously a huge influence,” Stapleton said.
“We lost a lot of people this year, we lost a lot of wisdom in them, and there’s no amount of tributing on a television show that can fully give back to them and their families what they’ve given to us — just a wealth of music and joy,” he continued. “That being said, how lucky are we that we have their music still?”
Chris Stapleton Discusses How Musicians Like Kenny Rogers ‘Live On’ After Death
That “wisdom” Chris Stapleton talked about doesn’t just come from country stars. It’s something every day people lose too, along with their loved ones.
“I was speaking to somebody about this, and they were like, ‘Are you sad about all the wisdom that was lost?’ Well, you know, my dad’s no longer around,” Stapleton said. “I lost wisdom there. But there’s no recordings of my dad talking about things and singing songs. My grandparents aren’t around, you know — lost wisdom there. There’s not recordings of that wisdom anywhere.”
But with musicians, that wisdom is recorded, in a sense, through their incredible music. And every time a fan plays that music, that person comes alive again.
“But we as musicians, a little bit…they get to live on,” Stapleton said. “I think that’s the thing: While we miss them in body, their spirits get to hang out a little bit more than other people who weren’t musicians. And what a wonderful thing, or notion, that is, that they get to live on in that way.”
