Kenny Rogers, "Lucille" and the Mobsters Who Whacked Jimmy Hoffa
The strange origins of a Houstonian's career-altering smash hit
Yet another viewing of Goodfellas today sent me down a Mafia rabbithole that ended in an odd place — me again reviewing the life and career of Kenny Rogers, likely the biggest native Houstonian musical star this side of Beyonce. No, Rogers himself wasn’t mobbed up. His connection came at a distant remove — “Lucille,” the song that firmly established him as a country superstar, was inspired by a brief sad scene witnessed by Nashville songwriter Hal Bynum at the Country Palace, a mob-owned “bar in Toledo across from the depot.”
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