"Ruby" made them stars, and during the next two years, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition had five hits. A man Rogers at first took to be a rude fan first pitched "Reuben James" to Rogers at a golf match. The man, who turned out to be a song pitcher for American songwriter Alex Harvey, followed him around the greens singing the song until Rogers listened. Rogers loved the song's look at a black man raising a white boy and agreed to record it. "Reuben James" turned out to be another daring record; though not as big a hit as "Ruby", it made a big impact on the First Edition's now sizable fan base. "Reuben James" came out at the end of 1969, by which time Mike Settle had been gone for several months, in an effort to save his ultimately doomed marriage. During his absence he was replaced by Kin Vassy. Vassy's style was a little more edgy than Settle's, allowing the band to explore different areas. It was now that Kenny and Terry, by default, became the leaders of the band. Kenny was in charge of the records, and Terry would take control of their stage presentation. The group continued to record country, rock, and folk by fairly equal measures, blurring the lines among the genres. Along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, their records in the late 1960s brought country music to the city and rock and roll to the country. Even if Jones had not also discovered Don Henley, the First Edition should get credit for being pioneers of a more modern blend of rockabilly called country rock.