Remembering When Kenny Rogers Crossed Over From Psychedelic Rocker—Later Uncovered in ‘The Big Lebowski’—to Country Legend

By the late 1960s, Kenny Rogers was more of a hippie rocker than a country icon with his psychedelic rock group, The First Edition. Donning colored shades, a pierced ear, and longer locks, Rogers was joined by guitarist Terry Williams and Mike Settle—all previously played together in the folk-rock group The New Christy Minstrels—and rounded out the band with drummer Mickey Jones, who played in Bob Dylan‘s band, and opera-trained vocalist Thelma Camacho, also a former member of the New Christy Minstrels.

Formed in California in 1967, the First Edition broke out with their first hit, “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In),” written by Mickey Newbury. First recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis and released on his album Soul My Way, then by Teddy Hill & the Southern Soul, the song was originally written for Sammy Davis Jr., before making its way to Rogers and the band.

The First Edition’s “Just Dropped In” had a different groove with Glen Campbell playing “backward” electric guitar, and Williams’ experimental riffs, which received praise from Jimi Hendrix, who told Rogers that it was his favorite song.

Newbury first played “Just Dropped In” for Rogers, who had known him since high school, while he was still in the New Christy Minstrels. “I told him [Newbury] I would love to do it,” recalled Rogers in 2013. “He said, ‘I’d love to give it to you, but Sammy Davis Jr. has it on hold.’ I said, I’d like to hear his version. As it turned out, he didn’t use it. When I went with the First Edition, we did it because it didn’t have any boundaries. It was so off the wall, it appealed to just about everybody.”

The band’s next single, “But You Know I Love You,” in 1968, written by Settle, peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, and later became a bigger hit for Bill Anderson in 1969, who went to No. 2 on the Country chart, and Dolly Parton, who topped the chart with her rendition in 1980. A year after the First Edition formed, Camacho also parted ways with the band and was replaced by her roommate, singer Mary Arnold, who beat out a then-unknown Karen Carpenter for the spot.

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Along with touring, the First Edition made appearances on television, including performances on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Johnny Cash Show, The Dean Martin Show, The Midnight Special, and The Ed Sullivan Show.

“I remember when I was 28 years old, I did ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ with the First Edition,” said Rogers. “I remember we walked out on that stage and started singing, and I remembered thinking, ‘Wow, this is where all the big stars were when I watched television.’ I really felt like I had done something with my life when I did that show.”

Thee First Edition released more hits, including country rockers like Mel Tillis-penned “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town” in 1969, along with “Something’s Burning,” “Heed The Call,” and “Tell It All Brother” from 1970, and a cover of Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens’ “Today I Started Loving You Again” in 1972.

By the fall of 1971, Rogers and the First Edition also hosted their own television series, Rollin’ on the River, featuring musical guests Kris Kristofferson, The Beach Boys, Ike and Tina Turner, B.B. King, the Carpenters, and more; the show aired through 1973.

The band released 12 albums, from their eponymous debut in 1967 through I’m Not Making Music for Money in 1974—along with a television movie that year, The Dream Makers—before Rogers left the group to pursue a solo career.

[RELATED: 3 Kenny Rogers Songs That Launched Richard Marx’s Career in 1984]

‘The Big Lebowski’

Rogers later said that writing his 1977 hit, “Sweet Music Man,” made him cut his hair and lose the earring for a more polished look. Throughout the remainder of the 1970s, Rogers started building a legendary career in country music, breaking out with the 1977 hit “Lucille,” a Country No. 1, followed by his iconic “The Gambler” in 1978—later inspiring the 1980 Dick Lowry-helmed film series of the same name, starring Rogers—and his third chart-topping hit “Coward of the County” in 1979.

Throughout the ’80s, Rogers continued to dominate the country and pop charts with “Lady” in 1980, “Through the Years” in 1981, his 1983 duet with Parton, “Islands in the Stream,” “We’ve Got Tonight” with Sheena Easton, and more.

For those unaware of Rogers’ psychedelic rock past, it was revealed later in the next decade when the First Edition version of “Just Dropped In” was featured in the Coen Brothers’ 1998 dark comedy The Big Lebowski.

The song plays during the LSD-induced Gutterballs dream sequence, after the Dude’s (Jeff Bridges) White Russian is drugged by Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara). Even the lyrics fit the Dude’s hallucinatory trip—I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole, and then I followed it in / I watched myself crawling out as I was a-crawling in.

Rogers later lauded the use of the song in The Big Lebowski, saying, “I thought it was a perfect use of that song.”

On April 10, 2010, Rogers, along with the First Edition bandmates, reunited for a performance on the Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years TV special and again briefly, in 2014 and 2015.

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images