Randy Rogers Band returns to Columbia for the first time since 2020

The Texas country veterans bring their 2027 Songbook Tour to The Blue Note on Thursday, Feb. 4, two weeks after a new collaborations album lands.

The last time Randy Rogers Band played Columbia was April 4, 2020, on the stage at The Blue Note. Nearly seven years is a long time between visits for a band that built its name on the road, and the return comes with a new record attached.

Randy Rogers Band plays The Blue Note on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2027, with a 7:30 p.m. start. Tickets are $38.75 to $50.85 through Ticketmaster, and the date was announced Oct. 26.

It's a stop on the band's 2027 Songbook Tour. The Music Universe reported that the run opens with a Musicfest set in early January, then turns into a string of February headline dates in Lawrence, Columbia, Chicago, Nashville, Montgomery and San Antonio, with more dates to come. The band is also playing a New Year's Eve show at Regent Bank Amphitheater in Broken Arrow, Okla., billed as part of the same tour.

The tour is named for the album. Songbook, due Jan. 22 on Big Loud Texas, revisits 15 of the band's defining songs as collaborations with other artists, Saving Country Music reported. That means the Columbia crowd will hear the songs about two weeks after the new versions come out, and a headline night built around them is a natural fit. It also arrives as the band marks 25 years together, which they celebrated this year with a new song. Two years ago they reissued *Rollercoaster*, the album many Texas country fans still name first, for its 20th anniversary.

That catalog is the draw. Randy Rogers Band came up in San Marcos, Texas, in the Texas country and Red Dirt scene. A college town in the middle of Missouri, with a downtown room that books country, rock and everything in between, is exactly where a band like this keeps its fans.

A downtown room that books country, rock and everything in between is exactly where a band like this keeps its fans.

The Blue Note is worth the trip by itself. The building on Ninth Street opened in 1927 as the Varsity Theater, built by Tom C. Hall, and showed movies until 1960. It became the Film Arts Theatre in 1966 and the Comic Book Club in 1988. Then in 1990 Richard King, who had started The Blue Note with Phil Costello in 1980, moved the club into the old Varsity and restored the tiered balcony seating. Scott Leslie and Matt Gerding took over in 2014 and gave the interior a refresh. The Varsity went on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. It holds about 835, which puts the whole floor within shouting distance of the stage.

A Thursday in early February on Ninth Street means a cold walk from parking and a warm room once you're inside. A 7:30 start leaves time for dinner downtown first, and the $38.75 floor is fair for a band with 25 years of songs to choose from.

Seven years is long enough. Buy early, learn the new versions in the two weeks before, and expect the old ones to get the loudest response.

Sources: Randy Rogers Band kicks off 2027 Songbook Tour with New Year's Eve concert — The Music Universe (themusicuniverse.com); Randy Rogers Band announces new collaborative album 'Songbook' — Saving Country Music (savingcountrymusic.com); Randy Rogers Band celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new song — The Music Universe (themusicuniverse.com); Texas icons Randy Rogers Band to release 20th anniversary edition of Rollercoaster — randyrogersband.com (randyrogersband.com); About us — The Blue Note (thebluenote.com); The Blue Note (Columbia, Missouri) — Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org); A loud and lively legacy — COMO Magazine (comomag.com); Off the clock: new ownership, new changes at Columbia's Blue Note — KBIA (kbia.org); Randy Rogers Band tickets — Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.evyy.net); Randy Rogers Band - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)