Old hat? NO hat Thanks, Shania, but Eric Heatherly did his own thing

Jack Guy/(copyright)Mercury Records Nashville

Railroad Days

TOPEKA RAILROAD DAYS returns to Forbes Field for its 15th year. An admission button, which sells for $8 in advance and $12 at the gate, includes admission to this year's main stage concerts:

> Today, Sept. 1 --- Blutonium with Dan Bliss at 8 p.m., followed at 9:15 p.m. by The Frank Ace Blues Band. Festival hours today are 5:30 to 11 p.m.

> Saturday, Sept. 2 --- Crow Canyon at 7 p.m., followed at 8:30 p.m. by Pam Tillis. Festival hours Saturday are 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

> Sunday, Sept. 3 --- Southern Drawl at 7 p.m., followed at 8:30 p.m. by Eric Heatherly. Festival hours Sunday are 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

> Monday, Sept. 4 --- Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Children 6 and younger are admitted free to the festival, which includes a carnival, other live entertainment, a petting zoo, food vendors, railroad memorabilia and much more.

Railroad Days Buttons can be purchased in advance at:

> Commerce Bank & Trust, 3035 S.W. Topeka Blvd., 9th and Kansas Avenue, 2050 N.W. Topeka Blvd. and the food court of West Ridge Mall.

> Petro Deli, 3603 N.W. 46th.

> Super Chief Credit Union, 2120 S.W. Belle and 501 N. Lake.

> Walgreen Drug Stores, all locations except S.W. 29th and Gage.

> Dillons Stores in Topeka, Lawrence, Manhattan and Emporia.

> Buttons also are being sold at Peppe Roni's Pizzeria and Osage Ace Hardware in Osage City and the banks of Osage City and Burlingame.

"Just because you're different doesn't mean that you can't fit

and that you can't bring something to the table that people like."

--- ERIC HEATHERLY

By JIM PATTERSON

The Associated Press

Country singer Eric Heatherly thrusts out his hands. They are rough with calluses from 10 years of landscaping and painting houses while pursuing his dream of stardom.

"I knew that the Lord would find some way to make this happen for me," the 30-year-old singer-songwriter said. "I just kept trudging through it."

Things are happening in a big way for Heatherly, who looks like Elvis Presley, writes songs like Tom Petty and John Mellencamp, and plays Telecaster guitar like a surf rocker.

His reworking of the Statler Brothers' "Flowers on the Wall" is a hit, and his first album "Swimming in Champagne" is out on the Mercury Records Nashville label.

"Just because you're different doesn't mean that you can't fit and that you can't bring something to the table that people like," Heatherly said.

After three years of playing Tuesday nights at the legendary Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, Heatherly is regularly packing the house. College students and truck drivers sing along to his songs, while music industry spies and journalists lurk about to check him out.

The police, however, aren't impressed. Heatherly said they cite him for double-parking on nights when there is an event at the new Gaylord Entertainment Center, across the street from Tootsie's, where Willie Nelson and Roger Miller once drank and tried out new material.

"It's irritating, man," he said, looking and sounding much like Elvis with his light Southern drawl, black sideburns and wraparound yellow-tinted sunglasses. "So what? My equipment is magically supposed to appear into the club?"

Heatherly turned down a high-profile job playing guitar for country music superstar Shania Twain on her last tour.

"It was the toughest decision of my life," he said. "I did the 1997 CMA Awards with Shania and then was offered the guitar spot for the 18-month tour."

Luke Lewis, head of Mercury Records, recommended Heatherly to Twain. After Heatherly turned down the job, Lewis signed him to a recording contract.

"I think Luke really respected the fact that I was committing so hard to my own thing," he said.

Heatherly, the son of a truck driver and postal worker, was the hot guitar player in Chattanooga as a teenager. He spent one year in college to please his mother, then quit and moved to Nashville.

He arrived in the heat of the Garth Brooks era and didn't fit the mold of copycat acts being pushed at the time.

"I knocked on every door in Nashville," he said. "They'd say, 'Put a hat on. Put your big belt buckle and your boots and your starched shirt on, and then we'll talk.'

"That drove me nuts, man."

At a recent Tootsie's show, Heatherly proved he wasn't about to fit into any mold.

He opened the show with a Ventures-style instrumental that showcased his guitar prowess. He did original numbers reminiscent of Midwestern rockers like Mellencamp. The show culminated with "Flowers on the Wall," which he has transformed from a fiddle-and-banjo singalong to an electric guitar-centered tour de force.

"It's just one of those songs that never left me from when I was a kid," Heatherly said. "My dad had the 1965 vinyl record version, back when the Statlers were dressed up like the Beatles, with their pointed patent leather shoes and their striped ties. As I got older, I started integrating it into my style with more guitar riff stuff."

Copyright 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.