Nashville, Tenn – Roger Marshall is hoping to achieve now what he wanted to accomplish more than 20 years ago. Country music stardom.

  The Warsaw resident called from Nashville, Tenn. Monday to talk about where he hopes his career is heading and what led to this point for the 53-year old.  It also gave him a chance to plug his new single “Hiding in the Wide Open,” and his upcoming CD with his band Roger Marshall & The Law.

  Marshall was born in Floyd County, Ky.  He was raised in Albion, Mich., moving to Bluffton and around Fort Wayne in 1964.  His current residence is in Warsaw near the 18^th hole of Stonehenge Golf Course.

  His interest in music began in the eighth grade, playing out even then with a band.  He joined several bands along the way, playing with the Silver Dollar Band in Fort Wayne and all over out West from 1978 to 1984, he said.

 Though he played country, he knew his audiences still wanted to hear classic rock like Creedence Clearwater Revival.  “I had a mixture,” Marshall said of the music they played then.  “I always played for the people, I always liked to mix it up.”

 Marshall and his band eventually opened for nationally known acts like The Byrds, Loretta Lynn, Tanya Tucker, and others, drawing the attention of noted country music producer Harold Shedd, with whom Marshall eventually cut an album.

 Shedd moved on to Mercury Records and hooked Marshall up with a producer and publisher.  Before the first single hit the stores, though, Marshall’s backers pulled out and country music audiences never got to hear Marshall’s version of “Achy Breaky Heart,” which was recorded by Billy Ray Cyrus.

That was the first blow to Marshall’s career.

 “That’s what happened,” said Marshall.  “I missed it.  I had the No. 1 song and I missed it.”

 Then in the mid-1980s, Marshall’s career was hit with a second blow.  He discovered he had testicular cancer.  He received radiation treatment five days a week and had to give up music.  Eventually, doctors took out seven feet of his intestines.

 But Marshall recovered and wanted to get back to what he loved – the music.

  And got back to it he did.

 His first single off his band’s upcoming CD is “Hiding in the Wide Open.”  Two weeks ago, Roger Marshall & The Law finished their video for the single.  The video is dedicated to the older crowd.  “It’s really good,” said Marshall, and it may be on the country music video stations.

 The full CD will be released in June.

 “I just wanted to get back into it and have my shot again,” he said.

  “Hiding in the Wide Open” was written by Bobby Pinson and Tony Haselden.  Marshall said Pinson is now on RCA Records and has songs of his own hitting the charts.  Pinson gave Marshall and his band the song.  Another song, “Satisfied Mind,” was written by the same song writer, Marshall said, who wrote “The Dance” for Garth Brooks.

 “We’re working with top people,” Marshall said.  The CD may be sold at Wal-Mart and other music stores, he said.  “This is something we always wanted to do.”

 It’s also something he said he wishes he could have done, and have succeeded at, 20 to 25 years ago.  “But maybe it wasn’t the right time,” he said.

  After the first two singles are released from the album, Marshall said, they will see how well they do before going out to tour alone and maybe as an opening act for another artist.

 Members of Marshall’s band include his son Jesse Marshall on drums and vocals; his son Brandon Marshall on acoustic guitar, drums, and vocals; Jeff Ude, keyboards and vocals; and Rob Van Ryn, bass and vocals.

 Regardless of where the road takes them, Marshall is more than happy that he’s back on the road at all.

 “We have done something and it’s national and I’m proud of that,” he said.

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