A nearly full house at The Plaza Arts Center in Eatonton was transported back to 1958 in Memphis last Thursday night by Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Pressley, who were on hand to recreate their famous, magical Dec. 4 recording session that came to be known as “One Night in Memphis.”
The brainchild of John Mueller, who performs as Perkins in the show, “One Night …” is not meant to be a historically accurate rendition of that moment in time, but rather as a depiction of an era when four icons of early rock ‘n roll played together with a shared vision. The show played at The Plaza last year, too, as part of a busy touring schedule that sees the four lead musicians plus a drummer and bass player perform nearly 100 shows annually.
Mueller said that when booking the Eatonton show again this year, The Plaza's management asked if it could be more “Christmasy” this time around.
“Tonight, we’ll have a more Christmas feel to it here and there, and more Christmas banter, too,” Mueller said shortly before taking the stage. “Which is funny because the hit songs always get a better response than the Christmas songs, but the venue wanted a Christmas-oriented flavor, so we’re happy to oblige.”
Joining Mueller to fill out the famous quartet was Neil Morrow as Cash, Doug Cooke as Lewis, and Riley Jenkins as a young version of “The King.” All are longtime professional musicians and performers, often as soloists doing tribute shows nationwide as their famous alter egos.
“And then I just kind of cherry-pick the best people out of all those productions,” Mueller said. “To present a more concert type of a presentation.”
Jenkins, the troupe's youngest member, said he’s been fascinated by Elvis lore since he was three years old and heard “Blue Suede Shoes.”
“That was it; I was hooked,” Jenkins said. “I just started wanting to learn everything that I could about Elvis. I watched every single Elvis movie I could get my hands on. I watched the 1968 comeback special in black leather, the Aloha from Hawaii in white, and then I entered a talent show when I was in first grade at the age of six and got in front of all my classmates and their families and sang ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’ And now, here we are.”
Elvis would’ve been proud. Despite his youth, Jenkins played to the crowd, most of whom would have remembered the original in his prime.
At one point in the show, he even entered the audience, making a quick half-lap through The Plaza, stopping every couple of seats to have an Elvis-loving kiss planted firmly on his cheek.
Just another night in Eatonton, another night on the road to rock ‘n roll.