Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. How are you doing today, Ray? I'm doing good. How are you, Paul? I'm doing great.

Doing great. Doing great. Okay, that's three greats.

Yeah, I'm doing wonderful. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you very little. No, thank you very much.

Oh. Why? Are you doing Elvis? I am. I am.

I'm practicing for the competition. Are you really? Yes. We're at the home? No.

Yes. Yes. At the nursing home.

They're having an Elvis competition and I figured I'd join. Yeah. I think you should.

You do that. You do have that swagger. Yes.

Yeah. All right. Moving my hips, though.

It's a little tough. Yeah, a little bit tough. But so what songs are you going to do? You've been practicing some songs? Yeah, I'm going to do Rock the Hula.

Rock the Hula. Oh. Do you got a hula hoop, too? I do.

I do. Are you going to do it? I can hula hoop. You can hula hoop? Yeah.

You still got to use your hips. I know. I know.

But I kind of got that movement down. Or is it a battery-powered hula hoop? No, no, no, no. No? It's a real one.

And if you get that right sway going, you can get it down. I can't wait to see it. When are you doing that? I don't know.

It's coming up soon. Soon. Pretty soon.

Pretty soon, huh? Yeah. What are you going to do until then? I'm going to work on my Elvis. You're going to work by yourself? Is somebody training you? No, no.

I'm just doing it on my own. Okay. That's a good ambition to have.

Yeah. I figured I might as well go for it. You got outfits? I do.

Really? Yeah. Did you? Nothing that Elvis wore, but I have outfits. Oh, okay.

Not like his jumpsuits? No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no, let him out or let him in with whatever the case may be try it out and see what happens. Yep.

And I have to let him out I think. Yeah, he's put a little Sparkles on him, I apologize. Yeah, that's true.

Well good luck with that. Thank you. I'm very I'm very proud of you.

I mean, you're you're very very ambitious Thank you very much. Thank you. I don't think there's anybody else more ambitious out there than you.

Nope, nope. Okay, good. I'm glad.

But we're talking to another Elvis tribute artist today. Another so you consider yourself an Elvis tribute artist? Well I could be. Okay.

I'm working at it. All right. I got you.

Okay. But we've got a 17 year old phenom. Phenom.

That's right. He's won many awards and going to win more some more awards too. He's 17 years old.

His name is Landon James. He's from Lamont, Illinois, and he, he is an Elvis tribute artist. That is pretty cool.

Yes. And ETA, they call him. ETA.

That's right. Like taking care of business. TCB, Elvis's moniker.

That's right. He's taking care of business. So let's talk to Landon and see, see what he has to say for himself and what he has to say about, um, about his Elvis tribute.

Sounds good to me. Okay. Let's do it.

Welcome to the show, everyone. Today we're speaking with award-winning Elvis tribute artist, Landon James. Yes, sir.

Hello. How are you? Hey, Landon. How you doing? Good.

How are you doing, man? Good. Good. 17 year old Landon James.

Yes, sir. So, uh, so first of all, I have to ask you, how'd you get into Elvis? Yeah, people always ask me this question and it's very funny because my dad and my mom are metalheads. They're into Metallica, Guns N' Roses, et cetera, you know, and then I was There's nothing wrong with that.

Oh no, there's nothing wrong with that. But you know, then we, then I ended up watching the show Full House with John Stamos on it and he was Jesse in it and he was a big Elvis fan. So I heard that music and I was like, wow, who's Elvis Presley? Then I started listening and it sounds like Love Me, Don't Be Cruel, All Shook Up.

Then I got into it from there and then I started wearing like the $20 Walmart Elvis jumpsuits. I remember I used to sing Suspicious Minds to my parents on karaoke and stuff. Did you go as a Halloween costume when you were a kid? Yeah, sometimes.

I remember once I was like a biker or a pirate or something, you know, and then I was Elvis, you know. You could still get the jumpsuits for $20 at Walmart? Not anymore, man. Ray was going to run out and get one.

I was. I was going to run down the street, there's a Walmart. So I said award winning.

I understand you've recently won an award. Yeah, so 2021, I think it was in June, I won the title of the Tuplo Elvis Festival U Champion in Tuplo, Mississippi, and I also got to perform for Elvis's ex-fiancee, Linda Thompson at the time. So that was great.

Very cool. Thank you. Very cool.

So how did you get involved with that? So basically, they had something called the Becoming Experience. They let a bunch of youth ETAs be a part of this contest and they had some ultimate Elvis's. And so the ultimate Elvis tribute arts is like the biggest competition.

So they had people like Dean Zee, Cody DeNal, out there and they would do kind of like a workshop for these Elvis's, like the youth Elvis's like me and a handful of others. And after the day of doing that and doing the tour of Elvis's house in Tuplo, we did a competition and fortunately I won. So I was very happy with that.

And then I got to perform on a big stage in Bands Corp South Arena in Tuplo, Mississippi. Very cool. Congratulations.

Congratulations. Awesome. Thank you so much.

I try. It's quite an honor. Oh, it is, man.

We've been, you know, telling people about it. That's what we do for advertising. We talk about it all the time.

We put it on our business cards. You know, my friend over here, Kevin, he's my manager and he does a lot of that regards to advertising. We always mention that win because it was very significant in my career and for all of us.

So it's awesome. So you're from LeMond. Yes, sir.

And you grew up in LeMond. You became an Elvis fan at an early age, obviously. I see you brought your guitar, too.

You can play a song for us a little bit, right? Yeah, for sure. Any song you guys want, really, you know. I watched some of your YouTube videos and you've got some moves.

You've got to have moves if you're going to be an Elvis guy, right? Yeah, you've got to shake the hips a little bit, man. So where'd you learn those moves? By watching Elvis movies? So one time this award winning tribute, Sean Clutch, actually one of my favorites in the business. So he told me, don't copy Elvis tribute artists, only copy the king himself.

And I took that very personally in a good way. And I only watch like Elvis footage. So I'll try to look up the movies I was in in the 70s, one called That's The Way It Is and one called Elvis on Tour.

And you can see all of his mannerisms and all of his moves in it to which, you know, that's how I learn a lot of my mannerisms, moves, etc. You learn from any of the past Elvis impersonators? Well, you know, I'm inspired by a lot of them. I could say like Bill Cherry is one of our good friends in the business.

My father and me talk to him a lot. He's a good guy. He's very authentic to his tribute for Elvis.

He's the 2009 Ultimate Elvis tribute artist winner. So to be friends with him and work with him is very, you know, award winning to me. I see.

Any local artists? Um, not really. Not, I don't know. I guess as soon as I go see Rick Cicino, he's been a big name in Chicago as an Elvis tribute.

So, you know, I'll go watch him sometimes. You know, I watch a few other handful of Elvis's. I don't know all the names on the top of my head, but they're pretty good friends.

Is it Elvis's or Elvi? In Britain, it's Elvi. Just wondering. No, no.

You know, it's funny because there's back in 2007, there was the world's greatest Elvis on BBC and Sean Clutch, one of my favorites, won that. And the guy would call him Elvi, you know, like that. I do it right, you know.

But yeah, so they say Elvis tribute artist, you know, there's a difference between Elvis tribute artist and Elvis impersonator and also with Elvi. So when and where was your first show you ever did outside? Oh, that's a good question. So actually, with my music school, I got to perform at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and I got to sing with, I was blonde hair at the time.

That's my natural hair color. Kind of how Elvis's was too. And I performed at the Ryman Auditorium.

I played with my acoustic guitar. I played California Love and then Blue Suede Shoes. And now it's kind of like the big first performance of mine that really, you know, meant a lot to me.

I was going to ask you about the Ryman. How was it to play the Ryman? Well, it's awesome. You know, it's really cool.

It's a big stage, you know, and we had about 300 people there watching. So I was nervous as heck, you know, kind of already shaking the leg on stage. But, you know, but actually a few years later, I realized Elvis actually did perform at the Ryman Auditorium.

I never knew that. But the audience wasn't a total big fan of him yet because they were more into pure country, kind of like Johnny Cash and other artists. They weren't per se the fan of the moves stuff there.

And Elvis recalled that at a time saying that at the time it was kind of, I guess you would say, a little awkward on that stage. But I went there and people liked it. I didn't have all the moves, though, yet.

You know, I was just playing the guitar. I was stiff as a stick, you know, just playing like this, you know, with a really high voice, you know. Now you said you played in other bands as well, right? Yeah.

So I was in a few rock bands a few years ago and I was in jazz bands with my middle school, with the high school. I did a lot with guitar. That's kind of how I started getting into music at first, at first.

And, you know, I really liked, well, really, since I was five years old, I got into guitar. I learned all music theory, guitar, etc. And I really liked it.

And I joined the school bands, like I said, playing actually saxophone, too. But I did guitar as well. And I knew all the chords right off hand, you know.

And I was, it was a very fun experience. Very cool. So you play guitar and saxophone? Yeah.

And drums, piano, baritone sax, a handful of stuff. A lot of stuff. Wow.

Very cool. And how old are you? 17. Okay.

I just turned 17 a few weeks ago on the 18th of January. So, you know, 16, 17, 17, you know. So are your parents, besides being the metalheads, are they musically inclined as well? They play instruments? Yeah, they really, no, they aren't at all.

No, that's the funny thing, because my dad always said how he always wanted to try guitar when he was a kid, but never got to it. And my mom, she played a little French horn in high school, but nothing really crazy musically. But the only person I could say is my grandpa, Papa Rick, which used to be in a Beatles cover band back in the 60s, and used to perform in his high school and stuff.

It was at St. Lawrence High School in Chicago, and he used to do that. So that's something that probably is in my blood of being a musician. Yeah, Ray knows a little bit about St. Lawrence, don't you, Ray? Yes, I do.

Ricky and the Roadrunners? No. No, no, not that, not that far back. So, well, what were some of the bands that you played in before doing this? You said you had some bands you played in.

Yes. What kind of music? So, actually, it was a lot of like hard rock. So Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Black Sabbath.

So I used to sing all the, you know, high stuff. Like... Are you the singer and guitar player or both? I played rhythm guitar and vocals in that band, lead singer, yeah. I see.

So it was really fun, you know, and, you know, it killed my voice at the time, because I had to scream real high those ACDC songs, man, and they're crazy, you know, but... Has your voice changed over the years? Funny enough you say that, yeah, because a long time ago I used to complain on how high I used to... Well, not high, but, you know, I used to sing high, but, you know, now I sing really low. So, you know, like I have a more lower register, I guess you would say, and I used to complain about it, but happily not. My dad could even say how a long time ago I used to complain of having a very high voice.

Even still I do, but I can still sing really low. How the king would sing lower, you know. So you're not doing any of those other bands anymore? No, but actually at my show sometimes I'll throw out a couple tunes, sometimes even some Dave Matthews, actually.

My dad's a big fan of Dave Matthews, but sometimes I'll throw out some Paranoid by Black Sabbath or Dave Matthews, So Much to Say, or stuff like that. You know, even besides doing Elvis, I'm still into other types of music. While you're in an Elvis costume, you're doing some Black Sabbath? Yeah.

I bet that throws some people off. Surprisingly, it doesn't throw people off. Actually, I almost want to say they're liking it more than doing it.

I think they like to see someone that, besides Elvis, can do an arrangement of different stuff. Because, you know, there's like over 40,000 Elvis tribute artists these days. A lot of them are doing the same thing.

I think they like to see someone that's doing it a little different adding their own twist on their own tribute. I think that's what the crowd always liked about me. I kind of do my own thing, but at the same time, I stay true to the King in certain aspects.

Do you think there might be a market out there for Elvis biting the head off a dove? You know what? I'm not sure. I couldn't say that. That would be something new, though.

That was good. I can't even talk now. Ozzy Osbourne.

We pause for a word from our sponsor. When you play your shows, I see you've got some shows coming up. You're pretty well booked.

Actually, I have a few shows I can mention. On my website, landonjameseta.com L-A-N-D-O-N-J-A-M-E-S E-T-A dot com It stands for Elvis Tribute Artists. I'm actually having a show this Saturday at Paddy B's in Orland February 25th at Clayton's Tap in Morris.

Then on March 6th, I've been practicing for a while preparing for this. There's the Windy City Elvis competition, which is at Des Plaines Theatre. That's what I've been really preparing for for this.

You can see all the other days, like Fremont Bargrove, Mama Luigi's Blue Note Lounge, Palm Corps, Home Town Tap, Jussie's Tavern, Bailey's Bar & Grill, Bellagio Ristorante and Bally Doyle's. I've been getting a lot of shows that are getting very popular here in Chicago. Now at your shows, do you just play guitar? Do you sing the tracks or do you have a band? For these types of shows, I'm performing to tracks because I try to offer the best price I can for my show for performing around.

Especially with everything going on lately with the pandemic, I try to keep my price as low as possible. I played these backing tracks, which are by a company named EP Project. They are a full-life band that makes these tracks and I can download them and use them for my shows.

Sometimes I'll use different tracks from different companies if they don't have all the tracks, but I mainly use them because, sorry, it sounds like a main band is performing like a real band. I'm looking in the possible next few months to hire or work with a few bands I've been looking into that I've been talking to for the past few months. Would you prefer to play with a band? Oh yeah, totally, because when you're performing with tracks, you have to follow the tracks.

The band isn't following you, you're following them. In the case of tracks, with a band, they can follow you more. That's why sometimes I'll add my guitar stuff to the shows because it just shows a little bit more of my talent and also I don't have to follow a track for that.

It's just something to do on a little side that people enjoy, so I really like it. So did you rent a bunch of Elvis movies over the years? Yeah, I used to watch, one of my favorite Elvis movies is called, it's one that's probably one of the less popular maybe, but it's called It Happened at the World's Fair. It was in 1960, I think, 1963 or 64, I forget, because he had like 31 movies he did through 1956 with Love Me Tender then his last movie besides the on tour stuff was Change of Habit was his last movie in 1969 so from 1956 to 1969 he did movies.

Besides that one though, I like Jailhouse Rock as well as one of his more popular movies. I really like that or King Creole. What about The Blue Hawaii? That's one of my favorites too.

I love the scene when he gets off the plane making out with the girl and then his girlfriend sees and she's real pissed off. I'm just kidding, but it's funny as heck, man. It's just a good movie.

Rock the Hula is one of my favorites. Oh, yeah. Actually, I could probably play that one for you in a little bit.

I love that song. Alright, let's pick up the guitar. We're gonna get a little concert here.

Can you hear that? I'm not... Yeah. The way she moves her hips I feel like heaven bound But when she starts to swing I've got to say She really moves the grass around Rock A hula baby, rock A hula baby got a hula move from high to low That's the rock hula baby of mine Something like that. Very nice.

I like Rock the Hula. Yeah, me too, man. Here, I could show you another song real quick.

There's one, Suspicious Minds. It's one of the real popular ones. Let's hear it.

When you don't believe a word I'm saying We can go on together with Suspicious Minds And we can build our dreams on Suspicious Minds Something like that. Oh, there you go. A crowd.

Wow, huge crowd. Landon has left the building. So, what about your outfits? Yeah, that's... Do you get them custom made? Yeah, so I get them from a company... Not Walmart anymore? Oh, definitely not, man.

You know, the one thing I didn't realize in this business is outfits, rings and stuff are very expensive but they are really good quality. And Pro Elvis and BK Enterprises are my two main companies I purchase rings or suits from and for any other Elvis tribute artists out there, those are definitely the best two places to get them. So when you do a live show, do you come out as like early Elvis and then middle Elvis or late Elvis or how does it work? It depends on the show because sometimes I'll do like a two hour show and I just stay to one jumpsuit but like a few days ago I had a three hour show and I wanted to do more songs obviously.

So you took a break? Yeah, so I did like an hour and a half of 50s and I did about two hours actually worth of 70s so I came out and one of my suits is the chain suit, Elvis worn in 1970. So, I have a few different suits, I'm purchasing a few more right now actually, I didn't purchase one yesterday. It's that cheap is it, Dan? He's shaking his head no right now.

They could be anywhere up to $700 to $4,500 depending on the suit. Dan's not even including belts no, I'm kidding and rings and stuff but you know, I try to stay to the more simpler suits for now until I make some money. You know, obviously with the shows though it's been doing very well for me.

Hopefully in the future when we have really big productions, you know with the live band and stuff, I can definitely afford the $4,500 suit. Right now, if we did, I'd be bankrupt. I'd be in debt, I'd be in debt, man.

I'd be in debt. You'd still be out there performing though, right? Yeah, you know, Elvis always joked about it, but they are really hot. The suits, man.

You know, when I'm standing outside, it feels good. It feels good standing outside, especially now in the cold you know, well besides today, it's kind of warm today, but you know, like when it's really cold, you know, in those jumpsuits, it's nice. But when you're in the room, and it's heated up, it totally is not fun.

But I love doing it though, you know, so I have a little fan next to me. I thought that was Kevin. Kevin waves his hand a little bit, trying to give me some air.

Just a little fan. I'm sure you've got lots of big fans too. Oh yeah, man.

I could name a few names, man. There's one, she's a nice girl, but you know, I had some history with some of these fans, man. I used to do Facebook Lives, and my dad's going to kill me for saying this, but I used to unbutton my shirt a little bit, kind of because Elvis did a little bit too.

I'm not going to say the story, but you know. You got to show a little skin once in a while. Skin to win, right? Exactly, skin to win.

Yeah, but you know, man, I even forget the question, because I was thinking about that one fan, man. What was the question again? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Let's get back to some of the Facebook Live stuff.

How did you survive through COVID? I did Facebook Lives when COVID started in early 2020-ish. I think that was around March at the time when it started. I did Facebook Lives from then until June of 2021.

That's when I went to Tupelo, actually, and won that contest. For that year and a half, I practiced and studied a lot more of Elvis. I think that's what really helped me to win those competitions.

After, I came back and did a few more competitions. After that, I decided to start going into more doing shows and starting doing local shows. That's when I found Kevin, my manager.

Kevin Quinney helps me a lot with getting these shows. My father and Kevin and me work all together doing these shows. Your outfits are limited right now? Unlimited? Unlimited.

I have about five jumpsuits right now, I think. I have a fringe, but it needs a lot of repairs. It's used a lot, man.

It's used a lot. I have a chain, a concho, one called the Red Lion suit. That's about it.

I have a few suit coats sometimes I'll wear if I'm doing the 50s. I'm purchasing right now it's called the Black Matador suit. It's just like the Red Lion, but it's black and it has eyelets on it.

It goes down the suit and it has red. It's a really cool suit. Hopefully, I can lose a few pounds so I can fit in the suit.

That's the one thing about these jumpsuits, man. You got to fit in them. They get tight, huh? They get too tight.

That's what Elvis sang in the song. Later in his career, he kind of filled them suits in. Pretty well.

That's probably where I am right now. Well, not that bad. I'm losing a few pounds so I can look like the Elvis in 1970, 72 when he was at his prime, I guess you would say, with jumpsuits.

So I can move a little easier in the suits. Look a little better in suits. So you've got this competition coming up in Chicago, correct? Oh yeah.

So that is the Windy City Elvis competition at the Des Plaines Theater. It's at March 6th. It's on a Sunday, I think 1pm.

And there's a bunch of Elvises here from Chicago and doing it. And also from different states, but most of them are here from Chicago or Wisconsin. That's Ron Onesti's new place.

Actually, yeah, Ron Onesti. And he runs the Arcada and then he's doing the Des Plaines. So I've been kind of working on for that competition.

I'm kind of taking a few days right now to relax though because I had a few shows and my voice has been very worn out from the shows. So I'm kind of taking a little break and I'm going to start getting back on the train of practicing and getting mentally and physically fit for this competition so I can win it. So what happens when a bunch of Elvises get together? Y'all talk like his voice or are you just talking your own voices? Depends on the guy, you know.

If he's a cocky guy, you know, he's going to be like, hey baby, how are you? No, no, no. A lot of the guys try to talk like themselves. I never really some people say they experience it but I don't really.

I never experienced where an Elvis tries to go up to me and tries to do all the hand gesture stuff or talks like him. I try not to. I try to sing like him but that's kind of what the difference, like I was saying earlier is between an Elvis Tribute Artist and an Elvis Impersonator.

Elvis Impersonators walk around like they're Elvis. They think they're Elvis. Elvis Tribute Artist keeps it on stage, keeps it off when you're off stage.

And that's what I do. And I think even though some of the Elvis Tribute Artists still keep it a little bit off or on when they're off stage. No, I try just to wear my own stuff off stage.

Even though I wear leather jackets and stuff, that's just my style. I do my hair though like Elvis but I don't walk around with the glasses and every single ring he wore and stuff like that. There's only one Elvis.

There's not 40,000 of them. Well, yes there are. Yes there are.

Sometimes, yeah. There's actually a quote Elvis said and he said I hope they don't think they're me regarding to Elvis Tribute. So I always try to just keep it on the stage and I do this mainly to keep his legacy.

I try to let people experience his music and have fun with it and remember it for more generations to come. So my kids my kids' kids will one day be able to know his name and listen to his music and love it. I'm just trying to spread the Elvis music to the world, I guess.

I would say. So you've been to Graceland, I take it. How was that trip for you? Oh, it's awesome.

My favorite part actually is either the TCB room because there's like the 12, 14 TVs or his airplanes were really cool. You know, you get to see his big airplane. I think it's called the Lisa Marie and then there's across the street from there.

And then there's the jet, which was really cool. I was like, man, I wish I could have one of those, man. I would have to be like the president to do something like that, man, or something, you know, to have a jet like that, you know.

I'd love to one day so I could travel the shows. That would be fun. But Graceland was a wonderful experience.

I love it there. So the thing in Tupelo was all teenagers, right? Or young entertainers? Yeah, when I did that competition, it was I guess, yeah, 17 below, you know. But there's no one there younger than five, but yeah.

Five? Yeah, no, but no, but the offices I was up against, the ones that got second and third, they were closer to my age. Are there age categories? No, it's all within the same. And you know, I always said maybe possibly there should be a kid, teenager and adult because kids are a little different than a teenager, you know, and then because teenager, you're going to do a voice change.

And I'm just being honest, you know, but that's why in that competition the three that won were the oldest of the competition. One was 13, one was older than me at the time. 17, I was 16 at the time.

You know, so you can kind of see that, you know. How many songs did you have to do? So in that competition, I opened up with one of my best songs. It's called Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Simon and Garfunkel sang it, but Elvis did. That's my favorite version, obviously, you know, being an Elvis fan and Elvis tribute artist. But I did that song and I think that song is definitely what people said what did it for me to win that competition.

Then I came out for the second round when I got into the finals and I did Polk Salad Annie. I did all the moves and stuff like Elvis and people enjoyed it, but the big, I guess you would say, song of that day was Bridge Over Troubled Water, which won over the crowd, won over my mom and dad when they were there, and won over everybody. ... ... ... ... The judges, their eyes lit up and everyone's eyes lit up when they heard me, so I took that as a compliment and was very happy to take home that award to Illinois from Mississippi, you know.

It's awesome. You know, I made my parents really proud. That's what matters to me too.

That's very good, very important. Oh yeah, it's important to make my dad and mom proud, you know. They've been very supportive of this.

They support me going traveling to do the shows and every show my dad comes to help doing the lights, the sound, he does my music and the strobe stuff and my friend Kevin helps me out with the jumpsuits and makes sure everything's all organized for the events, etc. You have to have a support staff with you. Yeah, Kevin's definitely the support and also my dad, but my dad does the sound and music and Kevin's the guy, I call him my Charlie Hodge sometimes or my Colonel Parker but it's more of a Charlie Hodge thing where Elvis is right hand man.

He's my right hand man and also my mom lately has been not able to make the shows because she's been sick with thyroid cancer. It's been a very hard time for the family, but she always supports me when I'm at the house singing my songs and she'll just give me words of wisdom from her and good advice, so that's what I really appreciate the most from her. I see.

Yeah, your dad sitting over here with a big smile on his face. Yeah, no, because my mom makes me and him really happy and we care about her a lot. You know, I think if it wasn't for my mom, I think I wouldn't probably be doing this because she's a big motivation and why I keep doing this for her and for my dad.

Yeah. Even though she's a metalhead, right? Well, to be honest, if you guys know Bret Michaels, tell my mom that. Try to get her to meet him.

My mom loves Bret Michaels from Poison and Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose. She loves that stuff, but actually though, ever since I got into Elvis at first it was a little weird but then later, now every day we're singing Elvis songs in the house. My mom will sit and be like I just can't help believing you know, something like that.

You know, sometimes I'll see him like Elvis, I'll joke with her, I'll say like talk in everlasting words and then he'll go, I'll go talk and she'll go talk. So she'll sing the backups for me. She's like the backup singer.

She's kind of like what Elvis was. She's kind of like my Kathy Westmoreland. That was Elvis' backup singer in the 70s.

So my mom's always been kind of like my backup singer, I guess you'd say. You know, just for fun and me and my mom always have fun with it. It's awesome.

You know, I play my guitar in my house a lot for her and our dog Cooper. We had two dogs, Cooper and Carly, but now it's just Cooper and I always play Elvis songs for her and the dog or even my dad, he always tries to make me sing like Never Been to Spain. You know, he loves that song by Three Dog Nights.

Yeah, see at first I didn't like the song. But I kind of like the Beatles. No, but at first I didn't like the song, but actually now I love the song.

It's a hard song because it's a very high song in Elvis' voice range and so is my voice range. It's a very high song when you have to sing it with the Elvis voice. It's a pain in the butt.

So did you take voice lessons or anything? Or guitar lessons? I took guitar lessons since I was five. I stopped about two years ago because I've been busy with everything just going on with my career and stuff, but also I did voice lessons for a while. That was where the music school I went to Ryman Auditorium with and I was taught probably since 2016 to 2019 early 2020 maybe.

Yeah, it was around the start of the pandemic I think I actually stopped because I felt like I knew what I was doing with my voice. I felt like I was doing good to where I don't think I needed I hear the motorcycle outside but I just felt like I didn't need any more lessons. I felt like I just needed to train myself and make sure I keep practicing what I'm doing.

There's really no such thing as an Elvis tribute artist teacher out there if that makes sense. Besides I talk to a few guys for advice but there's no one that I can go to each week and they're going to tell me how to sing more like the king. I've never heard of that before.

Right, you just have to pick it up on your own. Yeah, and I think it helps for me a lot more than a couple more of these people that do it because I've been a musician my whole life and I've been singing my whole life, playing guitar my whole life since I was 5, 17 now but I think that helps when even if the band like I'm not saying the band ever messed up, I'm just saying if I perform with a band like for a competition and if they change a key or something, I can do it right away. I can change the key.

As some of these Elvis tribute artists never started off as singers, they started off as Elvis tribute artists so they weren't able to change the keys or so a lot of these guys are more Elvis tribute artists they never were a singer or musician before that so that's I guess you would say the advantage I have over not all but a couple of these guys because some of these guys have been musicians as well their whole lives. Do a lot of these competitions have bands or do they just you with them? So the Windy City, I did it first one was in 2020 pre-Covid and I had weird looks average, very short hair, I didn't do the greatest but it was a starting point. Everyone has a starting point in anything so I grew so much since then if you see my videos online but now the Windy City competition did have a band at the time and I was able to perform with them even though I wasn't at my greatest now I feel like to be honest I'm probably more at my greatest right now and I think when I perform with a band it's going to be very easy because I've been playing with bands my whole life so it comes natural to me but there's a contest I did in Springfield which didn't have a band and used tracks and that's the hard thing because when I was in the competition actually the track actually stopped on stage and I had to just stand there which that is the sound guy's fault, not my fault Do you use your own tracks for these competitions? Yeah so I brought my own tracks like I was saying from the company that makes professional Elvis tracks and a lot of the guys will do that but when there's a competition with tracks it's hard because you don't have the interaction with the band like Elvis did and that's one of the downsides of that competition that I did and you know I don't really I'm not going to speak bad about anyone or anything but you know they're not you know the competition though was it's just You just walk over to the computer Yeah exactly Point at it, computer nice job Yeah because they accidentally actually put another track on I was singing Proud Mary you know Left a good job in the city then they actually put The Wonder of You on top of it so it sounded like two tracks just intertwined and I was singing on stage but then next thing scorecards say that I got less points because of that I was like okay that's the sound guy's fault not my fault you know so sometimes when you perform with tracks it's a difference it's a difference between performing with tracks you know and or with a band I've always said a sound guy can make or break a band or make or break an Elvis tribute artist as well Oh they really do man and you know besides you know when I did in Tupelo because the sound was really well in Tupelo when I won the competition for everyone it seemed like the sound guy did all the tracks good but in Springfield not at all but you know that's why I'm trying to stick only for competitions with bands because you know that's the most professional So Chicago has a band The Windy City Elves competition is the best competition I've ever been in and they run it awesome Joe Dorito awesome guy runs it perfect and he has the Change of Habit band they're a wonderful band they run Nat Conscious really well and anyone any other Elvis tribute you would ask that is the best contest I've ever been in even though you know I didn't win it at the time you know that doesn't matter to me it only matters if it's fair Nat Conscious was so fair and very good to everybody very nice guy Now if you tell them I do this song in A or something they'll change the key for you Bands usually no see that's the downside of they do it in the original key that Elvis did it and they expect you to stay in that key you can't change keys with a band unless you're doing a show in competition they wouldn't let you do that but per se in like Springfield you could change your track key and they wouldn't but you know personally you should be docked points for that because you want to do it originally how Elvis did it it's not authentic you know and you know I just believe in fairness and authenticity you know and that's why I love the Windy City Elves competition I love that competition they've always been very awesome to all of us guys and that's my favorite competition by far Will there be just teenagers in that as well? No this is against anyone adults or even a little younger than me probably 13 so you know it's going to be a challenging contest you know especially being 17 performing against adults but we'll just see what happens you know it is what it is you know lose or win it's still an awesome experience performing with them I very have big respect for Ronald Nestey and Des Plains Cedar in the Arcada and Joe Trito himself they run an awesome contest Why do you ask Paul? Are you thinking of jumping on the Elvis train? Yeah I might I'll sell you a jumpsuit So are you planning on getting into other competitions throughout the country? So actually yeah I might be going again last year I had to step out of that competition for Images of the King in Memphis because my mom wasn't doing good at the time and I wanted to stay and care for her other you know family comes first to me before anything else this year I'm probably planning on doing Images of the King in Memphis that's a bigger big competition I'm still deciding on what to do for that and also there's one called Dad's Rockin' Oldies they're not doing a competition this year but they're just doing a show I'm getting involved with them and sorry the company that runs that stuff and then sorry man I ate McDonald's on the way here but Did the King eat that when he was there? I'm not sure but I know he liked hamburgers but yeah and then obviously the Windy City French fries baby no but you know the Windy City is the one I'm really looking forward to and that's in the next two weeks and that's going to be my it's just my favorite competition and what are the dates on that the 5th and 6th I think? It's on March 6th there's a before party on the 5th so we're going me and my manager are going the night before just say hi to everyone and meet some fans and then the next day is going to be the contest Pay off the judges I don't know man that's what Kevin does I'm just joking but you know I just always had respect for those people that ran that contest and you know win or lose that is the best contest I've ever done you know even though I won in two but I just really like Windy City because Joe Torito is an awesome guy to work with.

So that's on March 6th at the Displayed Theater and how do people get tickets for that? Just go on their website you can search up Windy City Elvis competition and you'll see it on the browser it'll take you to the website then it's like on etix.com so then they can go on there and purchase tickets and how do people find out about you? Go on landonjameseta.com and you'll actually see the link for the Windy City on there and I really recommend to people if you like Elvis and want to see a bunch of Elvis tribute artists perform and award winning as well like Timmy Hendry there I very recommend you guys to come to that event and go online and purchase tickets right away for that. Do they have special performers that aren't in the competition? Yeah so they have the winner that won Timmy Hendry an awesome Elvis he's one of my favorites as well and he's performing that day as well and Joe Trito's performing the day before at the before party so that's going to be fun to watch as well you know they put a really well show in contest I really like it you know I think when everyone goes there they'll see so many different varieties of Elvi Elvi there you go and the feminine is Elvi Ra yeah but you'll see him just with the live band she's our next interview well you know you'll see just a bunch of variety of Elvises with a band with one of the best bands in the business and I think people enjoy it so I think they should the change of habit band they're a very good band I know them really well is that that band that's made up of former nuns the change of habits no so funny enough I think the movie's actually about Elvis Elvis I think it's actually about Elvis being in like being a doctor if I'm right I think that's the movie change of habit I never watched that I haven't watched that movie before I watch most of the Elvis movies I need to get to them I've just been busy with shows but you know I yeah change of habit Elvis was a doctor and it's all you know that's why there's the four nuns one last question here from me are you going to college there's probably an answer I was supposed to say around my dad yes I am going to college no so right now I'm planning to get a GED or a diploma and then I'm gonna probably go to college at DuPage or JJC or Vandercook College of Music cause you know I always like to have a backup plan besides you know doing Elvis you know I try to be into business like my dad is he's a salesman for Raymond Lift Trucks awesome company and you know just maybe I'll be a music teacher on the side or be maybe an orchestra director cause I've been into music my whole life so if the Elvis thing does work out I'll have my backup plan of being into the music field are you still in school now yeah I do Penn Foster it's an online high school but I've been I'm studying right now possibly to take a GED test because we're traveling a lot with shows so we're gonna get that sooner then we're gonna travel around the Mississippi, Wisconsin, Iowa Michigan maybe Louisiana and Texas and a couple other states so that's our plan for the next few months to a year after after seeing what's going on with this pandemic you know we'll see what's gonna be in store for us next regarding shows in different states and stuff like that so what about Facebook are you on Facebook too or yeah so you can check me out on Facebook it's Landon James my profile but then I have my fan club which is well not really a fan club just yet we're getting into that but it's called Landon James ETA it's a Facebook page also I have Instagram for any really young fans out there you know like kids my age always have Instagram so Landon James 977 on Instagram and Snapchat I think it just goes under Landon James ETA so you know I try to I'm trying to get to every generation of fans you know young, old, middle age whatever you know I just try to spread it out to every single person no matter what so our generation you're using stone tablets or no no no papyrus scrolls for you maybe yeah nah but yeah we're just trying to spread the love for Elvis music and you know just to put a smile on people's faces if they're having a bad day and they come to my show and they just smile from loving more of my songs I give them a scarf or a teddy bear or sing a song they love I was going to ask you if you hand out scarves oh yes I do yeah but you know as long as I make them happy that's what really matters to me besides contests or anything with other Elvis anything with them or anything I don't really care about that the only thing I care about is putting smiles on people's faces spreading Elvis' music around to the world do you get a lot of senior crowd coming to see you? yeah mostly yeah but surprisingly we've been going to a young generation too and I think it's because of the song choices I do I try to do more of the classics like more popular sides so Burning Love, Proud Mary Never Been to Spain because that's more rockish for even an older younger crowd so you know I try to just get everyone involved you know and I think by the looks of it with our shows lately I think people have been loving it so that's what makes me, my manager Kevin really happy and my father and my mother really happy that's important that's important sometimes yeah it is well we thank you for joining us today Landon and continued success yes good luck thank you very much well I should do thank you, thank you very much you know they always tell me to do that nah but I very thank you guys for letting me be on here today I very appreciate it no problem we'll see you soon out and about somewhere we enjoyed having you yeah thank you very much have a good rest of your day guys Landon has left the building alright that was Landon James he's a fine young man isn't he? no kidding boy for a young guy man he knows his Elvis yes he does and he sounds really good kind of makes me wonder about what I'm going to do yeah you thinking you're still going to go through with this? I don't know no he whipped out that guitar and played a couple songs for us, played Rock the Hula which is my favorite and Suspicious Minds and he's a very talented young man very I mean for being so young and everything that he's accomplished not too many young people out there that are like Elvis fans no but he's taking it he's going to run with it man I think he's going to do very well he's already won one award there in Tupelo so what's to say he's not going to win some more that's right he's very talented and he's kind of making me think twice about my career well I'm sorry to hear that Paul it's I mean you seem to be very excited about doing that but maybe you could do like a Freddie Mercury tribute yeah no I can't do Freddie Mercury I don't have a gap in my teeth well yeah you know we could fix that you do you do have to have yeah you're right I was going to go out as the bald Elvis the bald Elvis would be good yeah yeah that's right I remember there were some lyrics about something like that so I forget what those lyrics were I'm trying to think of them but I can't remember the one that goes do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair yes but there's a lot of other personalities that you contribute I guess I contribute you can tribute not contribute can tribute I don't know maybe how about Waylon Jennings Johnny Cash you could do you could be there is a plethora of people you can tribute maybe Willie Willie Nelson that's the one I'm going to work out on the road again I mean even what about like Reba McIntyre no I can't do Reba oh okay Dolly no yeah she's got too much hair so does Reba Reba she's got this weird thing camping with her mouth I don't know what it is but that was Landon James and Landon is probably going to be at a venue near you somewhere check out his website he's got a bunch of gigs booked already all over the place he's got to be somewhere close to your house yes he's racking it he's racking it it was nice having him out here at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 in beautiful downtown Jolie Illinois where our studio just happens to be yes indeed there's a lot going on here they're hoping to open up very soon and you need to become a charter member so go to their website and sign up to be a charter member don't forget there's a event coming up across the street across the street at the forge it's the Women of Rock with Lindsey Kent and Behind the Blind and Chasing Amy we've had all those on our podcast yep we've had a lot of the people so they're going to have a fundraising benefit over there coming up on March 4th at the forge right across the street from the museum is the first annual Women Who Rock you're going to have Beyond the Blind Donna Rice in the Wild Blue Band Lindsey Kent of Gen Fuse formerly of the Millennials same band different name Karen Hart in Vinyl Vixens Lucara and Chasing Amy it's only $15 general admission $25 for a premium balcony admission and you get 5 bucks off if you're a charter member so what other reason is there not to become a charter member also if you're a charter member the nominations are out for this year's Hall of Fame Illinois Rock and Roll Museum's Hall of Fame that's right you can vote you can vote if you're a charter member so become a charter member today become one today, vote and then we'll find out if the election was fixed and go to what's the website it's the rotorock.org sign up to be a charter member bye folks thanks for listening as always thank you very much Landon has left the building yes see you next week