Randy Rogers Band raises money in honor of a fallen music legend

Randy Rogers & Geoff Hill play at the Seekatz Opera House in New Braunfels on December 9th

If there hadn’t been a Kent Finlay, there wouldn’t have been a Randy Rogers Band, says Texas country music star and Texas State University alumnus Randy Rogers.

An Evening with Randy Rogers & Geoff Hill, a benefit at the Seekatz Opera House in conjunction with Krause’s Cafe in New Braunfels on Dec. 9, garnered $17,500 for the Kent Finlay Legacy Memorial Endowed Scholarship in Texas Music History. 

Rogers and his band, along with Darcy and Rick Hardy and the Cheatham Street Partners, LLC have come together to establish a permanent endowment at Texas State to honor and memorialize the legacy of Texas State alumnus Kent Finlay whose musical influence still resonates today with many successful Texas musicians. The endowment will be used to provide scholarships to Texas State students enrolled in graduate and undergraduate courses offered through the Center for Texas Music History. The scholarship will be open to students of any major as long as they have a demonstrated interest in Texas music.

“If there wasn’t a Kent Finlay, there wouldn’t be a Randy Rogers Band, and I believe that — I do,” Rogers said at the event. “This (fundraiser) is bigger than me. There are a bunch of people Kent Finlay touched…I wrote songs with him. He was just the best guy there was.” 

Kent Finlay

Finlay graduated from then Southwest Texas State College in 1961 with a Bachelor of Sciences in education and completed his master of education in 1964. A talented musician and songwriter, he nurtured many up-and-coming musicians and songwriters for decades. Finlay opened a live music venue, Cheatham Street Warehouse, in San Marcos in 1974. Open mic nights at the venue served as an early training ground for young Texas State students who would go on to become country music legends, including George Strait and Rogers.

Born in Fife in 1938, Finlay died in 2015 in Martindale. He taught Country Music History in the history department in the 70s and 80s, and again in the 2000s. He was instrumental in the development of the Texas State Center for Texas Music History. Another program bearing Finlay’s name presents a scholarship to an outstanding history student each year. He also established the Cheatham Street Music Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to developing, promoting and preserving Texas music.