Listen Up: Landon Lane and the Stunning Cunning band

Listen Up: Landon Lane

Elvis sang, "If you can't find a partner, use a wooden chair."

Landon Lane's philosophy was, "If you can't find a piano, use a wooden table."

"I was in a bar one night and 'Great Balls of Fire' came on," said Lane, 34. "I started mimicking it. I was probably 17 or 18 years old. I just put on a 'show' and it became a weekly ritual there. They would play that song and I would play the table."

Lane, who has graduated to a real piano, will celebrate the release of his first CD, Back to the Basics, tonight at Neil's. He'll be backed by his group, Stunning Cunning Band, which features Brandon Cunning on guitar, Mark Hattley on bass and Gene Rackley on drums.

The CD was produced and recorded by Smoochy Smith, a staple of the Sun sound for several years who recorded "Last Night," an early smash on the Stax label with the Mar-Keys.

Growing up, Lane didn't play the piano; his parents couldn't afford lessons or a piano. He loved "blues boogie-woogie type rockabilly music and gospel. I studied Jerry Lee tremendously. That rocking style is what inspired me to play."

When he was 27, Lane bought a digital piano. "I started taking lessons every Sunday. Spending seven, eight hours a day on it. It cost me a divorce. I was playing the piano so much, and I just got infatuated with it."

He worked from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at his job in the engineering department at The Peabody. When he got home, he cooked dinner, then played piano the rest of the night. "I would go back and sit from probably 6 to 11:30 every night." His wife would watch TV.

"She told me she didn't really care for me playing music. She gave me an ultimatum to quit music or she wasn't gonna live with me. She's a good person. I don't think she really wanted to be married to a musician and that's what I was becoming."

Michael Donahue/The Commercial Appeal

Landon Lane

Lane met Smoochy Smith through his brother, and Smoochy invited Lane to his home. He played "You Win Again" during that visit. "I was just nervous as I could be playing in front of this legend. He said, 'You're pretty good. Now sit down and let me show you how to play that thing.'"

"When he heard me play, I guess I just blew his mind," Smith said. "In a week's time he came back to do a couple more songs and did my run. It just tickled me that he did that. I just really took an interest in him."

Smith recorded Lane on his Southern Music Studios label. The CD includes several Lewis standards, including "Great Balls of Fire." One of Lane's originals on the CD is a tribute to Smith -- "The Smoochy Smith Boogie."

Lane and his ex-wife are friends, and they have shared parenting of their daughter, Kayla Renee. "That song, 'I'll Always be There for You,' is about my daughter. (It) will bring you to tears."

Landon Lane and the Stunning Cunning Band play at 9 tonight at Neil's Music Room, 1835 Madison. Cover is $5.

-- Michael Donahue: 529-2797

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