Ed Rogers uses the same grit and wit to craft a song that he used to weather his days building oil rigs on Corpus Christi Bay. He reaches into his unique bag of spunky guitar licks, spins a tale of life as a young East Texan, and dusts it with his infectious sense of humor. Somewhere between blue-collar sweat and hanging out with the hippies at the Kerrville Music Festival, Rogers' mission to his debut CD Misery and Gold began. Rogers' songs "Señorita" and "Graveyards and Fireworks Stands" bring both poignant sobriety and good-timin' bar choruses to this collection of tie-dyed honky tonk. Six of the eight songs on Misery and Gold were penned by Bain Ennis, Larry Martin and John Williams. These musicians are long-time friends of Rogers' who have played together in incarnations known as The Tone Deaf Cowboys and The Gypsy Troubadours, in Texas and Oklahoma, since the early 1980s. Co-produced by Curtis Box and Ed Rogers, the disc also features Larry Martin on guitar, Rodger Harrison on bass, Matthew Williams on drums, Ken Halford on keyboards, David Norris on pedal steel guitar, Amanda Hutchins, Curtis Box and Katie Kechnie on backup vocals, Christian Dozzler on accordion, and Danny Gabbert on banjo.