If you have 10 songs by that artist, you get a chance to hear what other kinds of things he or she is interested in.” Nowadays, you just download the song you like, and you don’t really get to know the artist as well.

“In my era, if you will, you had to buy an entire album to get the song you like. In an era of streaming and downloads, Rogers sounds glad that his career started earlier. He’s also been witness to changes in the music industry as a whole. Rogers announced his retirement from touring on “The Today Show” in 2015. On Friday, the Grammy Award-winning artist will share his music during a sold-out show at the Shipshewana Event Center, a stop on his farewell tour. Over a six-decade recording and performing career, Rogers has notched an enviable number of hits - “Lucille,” “The Gambler,” “Coward of the County,” “Lady,” “She Believes in Me” and “Through the Years,” to name a few. It would not be the last time Rogers was on the radio. She said, ‘Isn’t that you?’ I had to listen - ‘I think it is!’ It was really shocking. He says that he was with his sister “and she heard it before I did. “I was in Houston, and I had what was considered a hit record at the time,” Rogers says during a recent phone interview with reporters.

And, as with all his fellow listeners, there was a first time. Millions of people have heard Kenny Rogers’ music on the radio.

Kenny rogers through the years listen