What do Lucas Leigh and a Clydesdale horse have in common?

They've both been in a Budweiser beer commercial.

Leigh, 25, is the piano player in the group of young musicians known as The Springwater Band in the TV ad. It's now only showing in the UK, but it can be seen on the Web at budweiser.co.uk.

"It was a pretty sweet little deal," said Leigh, a native of Hernando.

He auditioned for the part in Nashville, where he now lives. "I was really animated. If you're gonna be on TV, you can't just be sitting there and have this long face. I dance and stuff when I play. Not stand-up dance, but I dance in my seat."

Though he was told he looked too young to be in a beer commercial, a few days later Leigh was notified he got the part. "I was like, 'Yes!' I quit my job. I was working at an ice cream shop."

The commercial shows the musicians jamming in a basement and at the Springwater bar in Nashville.

"I've gotten some feedback on my shirt I had on and how my hair looks. They wanted us to be sort of eccentric and semi-grungy. I just had on a blue plaid Western shirt with pearl buttons and a black undershirt and jeans. I had on Wallabees."

As for his hair, he said, "The makeup girl flat-ironed it every morning so it was just really straight and really goofy."

Eric McConnell, the ad's music coordinator, was the engineer on Van Lear Rose, which Loretta Lynn recorded with Jack White. "I found (a Grammy award) in the corner of his little studio house with dust on it, like hidden. I was like, 'Is this a Grammy?' He's like, 'Yeah, that's one of them.' I was like, 'Dude. Here, let me clean this up for you.'"

When he was 5 years old, Leigh picked out another product's jingle on his family's old upright piano, purchased at a Boy Scout auction for $20.

"The first real song anybody ever noticed me playing by ear (was) the Folger's coffee commercial -- 'The best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup,'" he said.

His first gig was at age 10, playing for the Hernando Women's Club. The next year, he began playing at Oxford's Downtown Grill, where he continued to play through college at the University of Mississippi.

Little Richard, who was performing in 1994 at the Mid-South Fair, was the first musical celebrity Leigh met.

"I was in the Youth Talent Contest over at the fair. He called all the kids up on stage to dance to the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider.' I'm standing there and this white baby grand's right next to me. I was like, 'Man, I really want to play that piano.'"

Leigh saw his sister in the audience telling him to play. "I asked him if I could play his piano, and he sort of looked at me for a second. He's like, 'Shut UP. Yeah, you can play. This little boy's gonna play the piano.' I started playing 'Great Balls of Fire.' Soon as I went, 'Bum bum bum bum,' the band was right on it. I went back to his trailer and we hung out a little bit. Got his autograph."

When Jerry Lee Lewis heard he played with Little Richard, Leigh was invited to perform with Lewis at a gala at The Peabody celebrating the entertainer's 40 years in show business. Leigh chose the song "Lewis Boogie."

"I really didn't get any one-on-one, but my brother-in-law is his lawyer. He tells me Jerry Lee Lewis asks about me, and he's wanting me to send him some recordings of me doing his songs."

"Great Balls of Fire" -- the song and the 1989 movie starring Dennis Quaid -- were music inspirations for Leigh when he was a child. Like Lewis, Leigh can play piano with his foot. "I can do a little bit of a glitch with my heel."

He used to play with his elbows, too. "I could actually play a solo with my elbow and it would sound decent."

In high school, Leigh joined the Jack Straw Band. In college, he formed The Ward. "The drummer's name was Ward. We obviously were having a hard time coming up with a name."

After graduating with a journalism degree in 2005, Leigh worked for a trade magazine for the pizza industry. Last summer, he moved to Nashville to pursue music. He's currently working on a CD and trying to put a band together.

Since he was paid well for the Budweiser ad, Leigh now can pursue his music career without working at any more ice cream parlors.

And, he said, "They gave me three cases of beer. That was a bonus."

Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.

To hear music by this week's performer and view more pictures, go to commercialappeal. com and click on music. More information on the band can be found on myspace.com/ thespringwaterband.