Randy Rogers goes acoustic for Portland's Christmas on the Coast

The Texas country frontman headlines the city's holiday concert at Fifth & Elm on Friday, Dec. 18, a stripped-down night across the bay from Corpus Christi.

There are worse ways to start the last weekend before Christmas than a lawn chair, a coat you don't quite need, and one of Texas country's best-known voices singing with just a guitar. Randy Rogers headlines the City of Portland's Christmas on the Coast Concert at Fifth & Elm on Friday, Dec. 18, 2026, and it's billed as an acoustic show.

That's worth saying up front. The City of Portland's event page and Fifth & Elm's own listing both present this as "Randy Rogers Acoustic," not a full Randy Rogers Band production. If you're expecting the fiddle and steel of a dance-hall Saturday night, adjust accordingly. If you've always wanted to hear how those songs hold up with nothing around them, this is your night.

The details: Fifth & Elm is at 201 5th St. in Portland. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are through the "Buy Tickets" link on fifthandelm.com and the city's Christmas on the Coast page.

Rogers doesn't need much introduction on this side of the state. According to the band's own biography, the Randy Rogers Band formed in 2000 and came up on the Texas honky-tonk circuit before *Rollercoaster*, produced by Radney Foster, broke them through in 2004. They marked its 20th anniversary with a reissue in 2024. The band also prides itself on rarely changing its lineup. Rogers has kept recording with them, including a Dave Cobb–produced album, *Hellbent*.

Strip a Randy Rogers song down to one guitar and you find out what it's really made of.

He's also one of the scene's builders. Rogers co-owns Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, the venue where a lot of Texas musicians got their start, and in late 2025 he and Elic Goicoechea launched an Austin-based management company, Dreamer Management. That's someone who knows what a room like Fifth & Elm is trying to do.

And Fifth & Elm is trying to do quite a bit. It sits in Portland's new entertainment district, and the venue describes itself as a home for national tours, Texas acts and outdoor movies on the Great Lawn. It's still new enough that a holiday headliner of this caliber counts as a real moment for the city, and for anyone in Corpus Christi, Gregory or Ingleside who's used to driving to San Antonio or Austin for this kind of show. Here, the drive is a hop across the Harbor Bridge or around the bay.

A city-run Christmas concert comes with its own atmosphere: families, neighbors, people who came for the season as much as the set list. An acoustic set suits that. It leaves space for the stories between songs, and a Randy Rogers crowd will sing the choruses whether or not there's a band behind him.

So bring a blanket, check the forecast, and get there when the doors open. Dec. 18 is a Friday, and that's a good excuse to start the holidays early.

Sources: Christmas on the Coast 2026 — City of Portland, TX (portlandtx.com); Fifth & Elm — home (fifthandelm.com); Fifth & Elm — Event Calendar (fifthandelm.com); Randy Rogers Band — About Us (randyrogersband.com); Randy Rogers Band release 20th anniversary edition of Rollercoaster (randyrogersband.com); Randy Rogers and Elic Goicoechea launch Dreamer Management (randyrogersband.com); Randy Rogers Band — Band (randyrogersband.com); Cheatham Street Warehouse - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)