One warm Houston evening 65 years ago, a teenage girl ran to answer the doorbell as her mother yelled after her. Mrs Rogers reminded her to take her brother along on her date. The disgruntled girl obeyed. Kenny Rogers, then 12, stopped feeling like a third wheel once the trio got to the show, by Ray Charles. After seeing the legendary soulman, Rogers knew that there was only one thing he wanted to do with his life.  Now 77, Rogers is bringing the curtain down on his massively successful career in country music – he’s sold 120m records, while hits like The Gambler are now part of the fabric of American culture. Currently on tour, and with an album out called Once Again It’s Christmas, he spoke to the Guardian about beards, the theme park he’s planning, and Donald Trump.  What does Christmas mean to you?  For 35 years I’ve done a 40-day Christmas tour. We start the day after Halloween and we work literally every night. The people who come to Christmas shows have a different mindset than people who want to hear the hits. They are looking for someone to help re-enforce the importance of Christmas to them. I encourage them to not lose Christmas. I bought some clothes the other day, and the young kid said: “Have a happy holiday,” and I said: “Have a merry Christmas,” and he said: “We aren’t allowed to say that in here,” and I said: “Well, I can.” It’s so easy to be politically correct and pretty soon everything gets sterilised.  I get tired being out here. I’m gone a lot, I don’t see my family. In my book (1) I wrote “There is a fine line between being driven and selfish,” and I think I was selfish a when I was younger. I’ve done everything there is, accomplished everything I want to accomplish, and now I want to be a good father (2). I don’t know how many more years I have, so I have to take them now.  So you want to do things differently for your sons?  This sounds horrible, but I want to be the father to these boys that my father wasn’t to me. I had four brothers and three sisters, so he probably couldn’t, but he didn’t seem to kinda care about ... even with the First Edition’s (3) success, he only came to one show – it was in Huntsville, Texas. You do a lot of things to please your parents, whether you know it or not, and when he didn’t show me that he appreciated my success, it took part of the fun out of it. So I want to go back and share this stuff with my boys.  What’s your favorite song on your new Christmas album and why?  I did a song with Allison Krauss called Some Children See Him and she has a chilling voice. I’ve never been overtly religious, but I’ve always been deeply spiritual. Music touches me. I feel more depth in myself at this time of year than any other time.  What are some of the highs and lows of your career?  My mother had a third-grade education, but she gave me the greatest piece of advice: “Son, always be happy where you are. Never be content to be there, but if you’re not happy where you are, you will never be happy.” So even when I was at the bottom portions of my career, I made it a point to be happy, because I was making music, and that was all I set out to do. I didn’t set out to be successful and a star, I set out to sing songs. I think you approach success a lot differently when you don’t put serious expectations on yourself.  Are you only retiring from touring?  I’ll be completely gone. No, 40 miles north of Atlanta, on an island, [will be] Kennyland or Kenny World. It’s going to be something really special.  Yeah, but more high-tech. Dollywood’s strength is she has her family working with her. My boys would rather go to Dollywood than Disneyland because the people are so nice. We are doing a SXSW theme, where singers and songwriters will want to come here. We have an avatar of me on the stage.  How do you feel about Donald Trump?  I really like him. I think his problem is that he says what everyone wants to hear, but he doesn’t say it well. I love what he says, I have to admit. He can be president and not owe anybody anything; he’s one of the few people has the money to do it, and has the guts to do it. You’re biting off a lot by doing that. He believes everything he says: whether he’s right or not, he says what everybody fears. My older sons laugh at me when I tell them that. They are Democrats that live in California – there’s no hope for them. They’ll vote for Hillary no matter what she does. She’s a friend of mine, I’m not trashing her.  How do you feel about country music today?  Country music is what country people will buy. When it ceases to be country they won’t buy it. I think whether anyone my age likes it or not, it’s very healthy. There’s a lot of money coming in: the TV show Nashville is helping. I’ll predict this, somebody’s gonna come along and sound like Hank Williams and get country music back. Chris Stapleton is one of the freshest things I’ve heard in a while. The business has changed. I used to go out and do concerts to promote record sales, now you cut records to promote concerts. It’s a different world.  Yeah, don’t cut ’em! I was in First Edition and was trying to do something different, so I grew a beard and have had one my whole life.
On the cusp of retirement, the country legend talks about his plans for a theme park, his prediction for the next Hank Williams and why he admires Trump