Covered in Blues – A Memoir by James Buddy Rogers
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The long road of a blues musician who never chased fame — just the next honest gig.
James Buddy Rogers didn’t write this memoir to tell a success story. Because this isn’t one — not in the way most people define it. There were no platinum records, no limos, no sold-out arenas. Just court dates in the afternoon and gigs at night. Just the grind. The heartbreak. The staying power.
For over four decades, James carved out a life on the fringes of the spotlight — playing smoky bars, running side hustles, raising kids, fighting for parenting time, and never letting go of the music that held him together when everything else was falling apart.
Covered in Blues isn’t about celebrity. It’s about survival. It’s about what it means to keep showing up when there’s no promise of a payout. About the quiet wins — like a packed dance floor, a tight groove, or a hug from your kid after a long week of chaos.
Told with unflinching honesty, dark humor, and a deep respect for the road, this memoir walks you through the messy, beautiful, heartbreaking reality of a life spent in service to the blues — not as a genre, but as a truth. The truth of what it costs to stay in the game when the world never hands you a break.
Whether you’ve followed JBR for years or are just discovering his music now, this isn’t the story behind the songs — it’s the story behind the man. From loading gear through back alleys to back alley brawls, from street fights to courtroom fights just to see his kids, James never stopped doing the work. The emotional work. The musical work. The work of living.
This is Covered in Blues. And it’s as real as it gets.
A life in the shadows of the spotlight. A story that never needed a story.
James Buddy Rogers has been playing the blues for over forty years — not for fame, not for fortune, but because the music never let him walk away. He didn’t chase record deals or red carpets. He chased rent. Court orders. Quiet time with his kids. And still, he showed up to play.
This memoir isn’t some polished tale of industry success. It’s a brutally honest look at what it means to build a life around music when the world doesn’t roll out a stage for you. It’s about playing dive bars while your marriage crumbles. About laying down tracks between parenting battles. About hauling gear through alleys, squaring up in street fights, and walking into courtrooms alone just to keep being called “Dad.”
Covered in Blues is the story of the years most artists leave off their bios — the mistakes, the missed moments, the bad deals, the broken strings, the slow rebuilds. It’s about staying when everyone else would’ve quit. About loving something so deeply it breaks your heart — and still picking up the guitar the next night anyway.
Through every hard season, music stayed. It was there in the silence after custody hearings. It echoed through empty clubs and packed dance floors alike. And now, for the first time, James tells the whole story behind it all — not the songs, but the life that shaped them.
If you’ve followed him for decades or just found him today, this book will show you what most artists won’t: what it really looks like to live for your art — when no one’s looking, when no one’s clapping, when no one’s helping you but you.
This is Covered in Blues. And it’s not just a memoir. It’s a survival story — one note, one night, one fight at a time.