My first gig with Nervous Presley and Walking in Memphis!

I've been doing the solo thing for quite a long time, so my keys gig with Nervous Presley this past week was a pretty new experience for me.

Nervous Presley is a band out of Nashville that plays mostly 80s rock. Think lots of Toto, some AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac, even throw in some Michael Jackson. If you know me well, you'll know that that's almost all pretty new music for me! It was absolutely wonderful though. I've known all the guys from Nashville for several years (Danny Archer on guitar and vocals, Link Detten on guitar and vocals, RK Brown on bass and vocals, and Bobo on drums and vocals. We met Manda - another vocalist - there in Tunica which is where she lives, and she was awesome to hang out with and be on stage with!

We played for 5 nights (Tuesday - Saturday) at the Gold Strike in Tunica, MS, and it was a great time. I played almost all keys, and guitar on maybe 6 or 7 tunes. We all traded vocals and everybody in the whole bands takes turns singing leads. They're an amazing band and an amazing group of people! We had SO much fun, and I don't think I've laughed that much this year!! Starting up again in March, this will become a regular gig (we're already booked for March, April, and May) so I'm pretty excited!! It was pretty interesting, but since I am on the road for 7 weeks, I had my travel trailer with me - but nowhere to really park it since casinos down there don't have RV facilities. It was a daily race from my trailer to my room on the casino and back again. Of course I had to sleep in my trailer every night even though I had a king-sized bed in my room - I couldn't leave my little Sierra to sleep alone!! ;)

Tunica is very close to Memphis, and while I was in Tunica, I went to the Hollywood Cafe. If you've every heard the song "Walking in Memphis" by March Cohn ("put on my blue suede shoes and I boarded the plane..."), then you've probably heard the line in the last verse that says "Muriel plays piano every Friday at the Hollywood". That's the Hollywood I went to, and after some cajoling, I got up and played Muriel's actual piano! I thought they'd be sick of hearing "Walking in Memphis", but I played it anyway, and they loved it! All the staff came out of the kitchen and watched, and long story short... they are booking me for every Friday that I'm back in Tunica! It was a great compliment and just a wonderful experience...

This coming week I will be in Georgia for 3 nights (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) at Crooked Creek Marina's Bone Island Grill on Lake Sinclair and for 1 night (Thursday) at Mellow Mushroom in Milledgeville, GA. I hope to see all of the wonderful Georgia folks out!

After this week of shows, I'll be headed to Virginia, where I have shows lined up all the way through the New Year! I'm very excited to see all the Virginia folks again, and look forward to the holidays!