Rogers and Nienhaus Play Wide Range of Covers and Originals

From playing with original members of The Byrds to writing and singing a song for a really bad science fiction movie, Terry Jones Rogers has done it all in a music career spanning 52 years.

So when Rogers and Scott Nienhaus perform as Rogers and Nienhaus Friday night at Smitty’s in Chesterfield, expect a wide-ranging blend of covers and originals with some pretty cool stories thrown in.

"Besides the original stuff, we do a lot of Byrds material from years doing that, and some Firefall--things that we’ve been personally involved with," Rogers said. "As well as some other stuff that we love from that era, from the ‘70s and ‘60s, which (includes) Crosby, Stills, Nash and Neil Young, The Beatles, Jackson Browne, that sort of thing. We also throw in a couple of Gregg Allman tunes."

Smitty’s owner Don Schmitt, who called Nienhaus "the best acoustic guitar player in the area," is pleased to have the duo play his restaurant.

"We used to do them once a month, and now we have them every other week--it’s that popular," Schmitt said. "I could probably stand to do them as a house band, and we’d probably still pack it."

Rogers has equally nice things to say about Smitty’s.

"It’s a very cool venue," he said. "It’s small, but we always have a great crowd there, one that’s very attentive and responsive to what we’re doing."

Rogers and Nienhaus have been playing together since 1993, when they were introduced by mutual friend Michael "Supe" Granda of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and moved to Nashville, TN.

Both musicians sing and play multiple instruments--Rogers plays guitar, acoustic bass, mandolin and harmonica. Nienhaus handles the guitar, mandolin, bass and piano. The pair have also had musical associations with some prominent bands and individuals over the years, playing with The Byrds Celebration, which featured some of the original members of The Byrds, plus Firefall and Nicolette Larson’s band.

Rogers and Nienhaus make beautiful music together.

"They complement each other real well, and they’ve written a lot of good music together," Schmitt said. "I don’t even know what’s Terry’s and what’s Scott’s, but whenever they do their own stuff, it’s really good."

Rogers, 57, started singing and playing at age 5 in his family’s gospel group. It has been a lifelong pursuit and love affair since then.

"Music is quite a healing state of mind to be in, for me personally, and it seems to be that way for most people," he said. "When you’re up there performing in front of people, and they’re appreciating what you’re doing, there’s an exchange of energy that really builds into something strong and powerful. I guess that’s what keeps me doing it, and it’s something that I enjoy and love to do. So I guess I’m pretty blessed to have something like that in my life that I do for a living."

Working on original tunes is an additional blessing.

"Songwriting, of course, is a constant way to keep fresh with music," he said. "I try to do a bit of that every day."

Rogers and Nienhaus have a 1995 CD, Empty Room, featuring The Rogers/Nienhaus Band with Skip Battin, who played with The Byrds from 1969-73. This year, the pair will join with drummer Tim Politte and bassist Michael Curtis to record a CD of originals as the group Younger Than Yesterday, featuring former members of The Byrds. Curtis, with his brother Rick Curtis, penned the Crosby, Stills and Nash hit "Southern Cross." He also wrote "Blue Leather," which Fleetwood Mac recorded.

Rogers and Nienhaus keep busy, as they also are members of bands The Real Macaws, plus 4&20, a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tribute band that played the Family Arena in St. Charles in December 2010. In addition, they play house concerts, where 40 or more people gather at someone’s home and kick in $20 or so each in addition to bringing food, like a potluck.

"It’s just a great concept--it works so well," Rogers said.

It gives Rogers and Nienhaus the chance to play in an intimate setting and share behind the scenes tales.

"There’s just a lot more storytelling involved," he said. "Usually the back stories behind the original songs and even the ones that are covers. The covers that we do, we have some sort of personal connection to. The audience becomes a part of the performance, as far as interaction. It’s just such a great relaxing and invigorating scene for a musician to be in. It’s just a perfect situation. As a songwriter, all you want is someone to listen and pay attention."

One of the songs that will be on Standing Alone, a soon-to-be-released Real Macaws CD, has a terrific back story. When Rogers was touring with Michael Clarke, the original drummer for The Byrds, they played a show in Arizona.

"We met a guy there who was in the film business, and he asked us if we’d be interested in working with him on some films as far as doing some music for them," Rogers said.

Rogers said yes, and heard back from the man a few months later.

"He was working on a science fiction movie which was a sequel to one called Hell Comes To Frogtown. I don’t know if you’ve heard of that movie or not, but at best you could call it a ‘B’ movie," he said. "Rowdy Roddy Piper, the wrestler, was the star."

The 1992 sequel, Frogtown II, featured bodybuilder-actor Lou Ferrigno and character actor Don Stroud. Rogers was sent a script and wrote and recorded a song called, "Hell Has Returned to Frogtown." He sent the producers a demo of the song, which they loved.

"I said, ‘I’d like to record it seriously now,’ and they said, ‘No, no, we like it just the way it is.’ So it’s in this movie, Frogtown II, which is so bad you can hardly make it through it. And my song is at the very end, over the credits. So very few people probably saw the movie, and the ones who did probably never made it to the end. So we figured we would re-record it and release it. In fact, Rusty Young of Poco is playing on that cut on the Real Macaws record."

Rogers was paid $300 for the song, which is what it cost him to record it. He has a copy of the movie on DVD.

"We’ll be having an official CD release party for the Real Macaws record here in the next month or so, and I’m hoping to be able to show that movie during the CD release party, just as a humorous sort of thing."

Rogers and Nienhaus will play 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday night at Smitty’s, 14876 Clayton Road, Chesterfield 63017. For more information, call Smitty’s at 636-391-1522. Rogers recommended arriving early for dinner to make sure you have a good place to hear the music.