VAN WERT — Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and now Jerry Lee Lewis are gone, but that is not stopping one group of performers from keeping their memory alive with “One Night in Memphis,” coming to Van Wert with a show at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center.
“Well, we played the Buckeye State before and it seems like they’re pretty raucous fans of that era of music, so it’s always fun to play there and feel that from the crowd,” said John Mueller, who plays Perkins. “We like that during live performances, so it’s fun to get that response. It seems like, too, a new generation of fans are coming out for this music maybe it’s because of that Elvis movie that came out recently or something.”
Mueller, who also performs as Buddy Holly in his Winter Dance Party show, featuring music from him, Ritchie Valens and Big Bopper, said that he enjoys playing both the renowned Holly and the lesser known but just as important Perkins, as he gets to use Perkins to tell the story and inform the audience of his history.
“He only had one major hit with ‘Blue Suede Shoes,’ but he was very instrumental in the whole rockabilly movement in the early ’50s,” said Mueller. “And he was just a great guitar player, too. What I like about performing his music is just kind of filling in the audience on some of the history behind him. A lot of people don’t know that he had three of his songs covered by the Beatles. They were big Carl Perkins fans. They recorded three of his songs, met up with him later and stuff. They just loved them and so that’s fun and then sometimes people don’t even know that Elvis recorded ‘Blue Suede Shoes,’ as well. Everything Elvis recorded at the time was a hit record so he had a hit with it, as well but Carl’s was before his and I think sold a million records, a little bit more than Elvis’s maybe or maybe they both sold a million I’m not sure but Carl, of course, wrote it.”
The entire story that inspired this show would not have been possible without Perkins.
“This evening that has gone down in history as what’s known as the Million Dollar Quartet would never have happened, because he’d booked the recording session in Memphis, Tennessee, with Sam Phillips’ Sun Studios, and the rest of the guys just kind of came by because they heard he was in town recording and they thought they’d step in and see what was going on,” said Mueller. “And so it’s kind of cool that he was instrumental in making that whole evening happen and it was really cool that Sam Phillips kept the recording button pressed even when they were just goofing around and stuff. So it’s a really great microcosm of what rock-and-roll was happening back then. You had those elements of country and blues and western music and even dating or doing some gospel music that night, so that’s really cool.”
Mueller thinks that fans should be excited to see much of that represented in their show.
“It’s a very high-energy show that you’ll get a great taste of all that kind of music,” he said. “Jerry Lee Lewis’ very first record he put out was ‘Crazy Arms,’ which was a country hit for Ray Price, but Lewis did it with more rock-and-roll stylings. And so they’re gonna get a good taste of that. And I think you’ll really get a great feeling for is just how unique each one of these performers were. Carl was very dynamic with a guitar and Jerry Lee Lewis was just a madman on the piano, kicking the chair out from underneath him really getting people riled up. And of course, Elvis was just kind of like a Greek god-type character that comes out. All fancy looking and beautiful voice and then Johnny Cash was just that great country beat that’s just hard to beat. So it’s a great variety of music. One of the things I think is strong about the show is that many times when you go to a concert, maybe you’re stuck with one performer and you might like them a lot, but it’s kind of a one-note thing for the whole evening. And kind of a cool thing about the show is there are four different artists and they have four unique and different styles and I think that’s the strong suit of the show.”
And Mueller thinks that the recent passing of Lewis, who died Oct. 28 at age 87, will make the upcoming shows all the more special.
“It will make for some special shows,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll make some kind of announcement and/or dedication. He was the last man standing as Elvis, Carl and Johnny have long been gone. It’s amazing he was still around so much longer than the others as he wasn’t exactly living a healthy lifestyle for many years. He had immense talent and ability to perform music in many genres, country, gospel, rock and roll, and blues. His live album, ‘Jerry Lee Lewis Live at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany’ is one of the greatest live rock and roll albums ever recorded. He played so fast the band could barely keep up. Him, Elvis and Chuck Berry have no peers. They truly were the kings of rock and roll.”
The cast of “One Night in Memphis,” in addition to Mueller as Perkins, will include Blair Carman as Lewis, Shawn Barker as Johnny Cash and Brandon Bennett as Elvis. Barker and Bennett both previously performed in the Broadway musical “Million Dollar Quartet” as Cash and Presley, while Mueller toured as the star of the musical “Buddy… the Buddly Holly Story.” Carman, a Cincinnati-based musician, performed at Jerry Lee Lewis’ 75th birthday party.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “One Night in Memphis”
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Niswonger Performing Arts Center, 10700 state Route 118, Van Wert.
Tickets start at $25 and are available at https://bit.ly/3UeyzlI.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
