Jill Rogers and Crying Time play straight-up honky-tonk, 1970’s cross-over country, and elegiac originals. They’ve been packing dance floors, clubs, bars, and listening rooms for a decade in Northern California’s lively country scene. With a beautiful 70’s-era voice, Jill Rogers connects with audiences through her original songs, which are often about love at the edge of dissolution, or a look back at what might have been.

 

Backing her up, Crying Time is a musicians’ band, with a deep bench of accomplished players. Myles Boisen is an inventive guitarist who provides soulful, unpredictable, and sometimes blistering solos, reflecting decades of experience as a session player (Tom Waits) and record producer (California Honeydrops, Club Foot Orchestra). Western swing veteran Tony Marcus (Cheap Suit Serenaders) plays the whole of American music on fiddle. Russell Kiel (bass) and Tim Rowe (drums) work together to keep the grooves deep and swinging. Each musician brings a wealth of experience in performing and recording, and together they produce tightly woven, spry and energetic sets that turn heads and keep audiences enthralled. Crying Time is known for the variety and dynamism they bring to their interpretations of the classics and Jill’s beautiful, sad songs.

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Based in Oakland, CA, Crying Time has played throughout the Bay Area and Northern California, and on radio shows across the country. Crying Time has released four albums: Ten Golden Hits (2015), Linda (2016), Last Saturday Night (2018), and King George (2019). Each one captures a particular musical phase in the band’s journey and offers a superb set list of Jill Rogers’ originals and country classics by the likes of George Jones, Bob Wills, Lynn Anderson and Jeannie C. Riley, and surprising covers of works by Glen Campbell, the Bee Gees, Gordon Lightfoot, Elvis Costello, Linda Ronstadt and more. Their most recent release, Many Worlds Theory (2023), showcases nine new original songs, including California Waltz, Golden Hour, and the title track, along with interpretations of country classics by Willie Nelson, Roy Acuff and Johnny Cash.

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A stalwart of the Bay Area’s vibrant country music scene, Crying Time ran the celebrated Friday night  “Honky Tonk Heaven” series from 2017-2019 at Oakland’s Parkway Lounge, sharing the stage with Nashville Honeymoon, Bear Flag Trio, Maurice Tani, Moonshine Maybelline, and many other great bands.

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