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Kingston native Matt Rogers co-wrote a new country single, “We Went,” performed by Randy Houser.

Bill O’Boyle

WILKES-BARRE — For songwriters and performers, Nashville is often referred to as the “10-year town.”

In other words, if you move to Nashville to aspire to be a successful country songwriter or performer, you should have achieved success within 10 years.

In February, 2016, Kingston native Matt Rogers will celebrate his 10th year of residency in Nashville. But the 10-year time limit is off for Rogers.

On Monday, country sensation Randy Houser released his new single — “We Went” — and it is skyrocketing to the top of the charts and radio play lists. Rogers co-wrote the song with Justin Wilson and John King.

Rogers, 33, is living his dream. As excited as he is about the success of Houser’s release of “We Went,” Rogers is more excited about what it will mean.

“Sure I’m really excited about having the single out, but I’m even more excited about what the fallout will mean. Hopefully, this will open a lot more doors that were previously hard to open.”

That’s why the 10-year life expectancy means so much. Rogers has been toiling in Nashville since he arrived there in 2006. He moved there to take a job editing a health care magazine — a job he hated, but became a blessing because it got him to the city where his dream could come true.

Over the years, Rogers worked in a warehouse and was a bartender by night to earn money to pay the bills. He finally got a job in a music publishing house and built his resume.

Rogers now works for ole Music, a giant in the industry with offices in Toronto, Nashville and Los Angeles. It’s a long way from Kingston, where Rogers began his dream. After graduating from Wyoming Valley West High School, Rogers earned his bachelor’s degree at Misericordia University and then his master’s in journalism from Syracuse University.

His dad, Barry, is a school administrator at WVW, and he is an accomplished musician himself. Matt’s mom, Betsy, is a music lover and, as Matt says, she is probably more excited about her son’s success than anybody.

Rogers said he has always had a love of good old rock and roll and he incorporates those sensibilities, as he calls them, into his songs. “We Went” is about a carefree rebellious car chase a la Bonnie and Clyde, through corn fields and ditches with the cops in pursuit.

“The best way to describe the song is that it’s about an All-American innocent rebellion,” Rogers said.

When the song hit the country airwaves, it was getting tremendous airplay, second only to the country release by Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler called “Love Is Your Name.”

Rogers will have another one of his song’s released sometime next month by Lucas Hoge. It’s called “Power of Garth.” And there are other songs written or co-written by Rogers that appear on various country artists’ albums.

“In Nashville, you come here and write songs that you hope people will listen to,” Rogers said. “Once you get a song cut or a single released, you’re pretty much on your way.”

Rogers has learned that performers appreciate the original versions of songs. That’s what attracts them in the first place. So it’s rare that a performer will stray too far from the original version.

As far as Houser’s version of “We Went,” Rogers said it “far exceeded his expectations.” He said Houser has one of the “most authentic and believable” country voices around.

“You believe it when Randy sings it,” Rogers said.

So Rogers continues to live his dream. He understates that being a songwriter is “a really great job.” As Rogers said, he’s current life is a long way from that Kingston teenager’s hobby.

Rogers feels comfortable now. He knows his phone will ring and keep on ringing. His talents, which always were there, are now becoming evident to more and more of country music’s stars.

And like most accomplished songwriters, Rogers still likes to perform every now and then. You can catch him occasionally at The Bluebird on Music Row singing his heart out like so many of his peers and soon-to-be colleagues.

And Rogers feels compassion for those other songwriters still waiting for their big break — for their efforts to be recognized.

“I see guys in this town who are exceptional writers who just haven’t caught their break yet,” Rogers said.

He knows them because not that long ago, he was one of them.