2 Cannon County Natives featured in Million Dollar Quartet

The award winning Arts Center of Cannon County welcomes two Cannon County natives in starring roles in the blockbuster Broadway musical Million Dollar Quartet that opens September 15th. The musical is the story of the iconic day in Rock 'n' Roll history, December 4, 1956, where one man brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley to play together for the first and only time. The man was Sam Phillips and the place was Sun Records that still stands today as an historic shrine in Memphis, Tennessee.

Cannon County High School graduates of 2014, Daxton Patrick and Jacob Miller portray the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, respectively using their diverse musical talents to deliver many of these men's well known classics. Audiences will hear Patrick tear up the piano in "Jerry Lee" style on numbers such as "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lotta Shakin'." Miller's guitar and vocal skills will be featured in numbers like the Perkins hit "Blue Suede Shoes," the Chuck Berry hit "Brown Eyed Handsome Man ," and "See you Later Alligator"

Daxton Patrick is the son of Ray and Anita Patrick of the Woodland community. Ray Patrick is the pastor of Dillon Street Baptist Church where Daxton provides music. Daxton is currently a Junior at MTSU where he is majoring in Film and Video Production. Daxton began taking piano at age 10 and played and sang throughout his grammar and high school years. He began honing his Jerry Lee Lewis skills when he was a Junior in High School. Daxton has appeared at the Arts Center one previous time. He was in the children's chorus of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat when he was 8 years old.

Jacob Miller is the son of Brian and Joyce Miller of the Bradyville Community. The Millers both work at MTSU in the Biology Dept. Jacob is currently a Junior at MTSU where he is majoring in Recording Industry Management and Audio Production. Jacob has been interested in music from an early age and began taking piano in the 5th grade and guitar in the 6th grade. Jacob has been playing in Arts Center band and orchestras since he was a sophomore in High School as both a guitarist and a pianist. Jacob is glad to finally be appearing in front of the curtain while still providing the music for the show.

Local dentist and Arts Center Life Board member, Darryl Deason is directing Million Dollar Quartet. Deason admits that bringing Million Dollar Quartet to The Arts Center of Cannon County has been a dream for a long time and has been in the works with the idea of Daxton playing Jerry Lee Lewis since 2013. Deason first started hearing about this production that was playing to sold out houses in Chicago in 2009. It was rumored to be headed to Broadway and since it featured the hits of Lewis, Cash, Presley and Perkins, Deason knew it would be perfect for the Cannon County stage.

Deason and his wife, Terry traveled to Chicago to see the show prior to its Broadway transfer. Daxton came in to the picture in 2013 when he and Deason worked together with the Cannon County High School Beta Club on putting together a musical group talent for the TN State Beta Convention. Doing a medley of songs of the 50's & 60's they featured songs by Lewis, Presley and the legendary Chuck Berry. Daxton played Jerry Lee Lewis exemplifying his piano prowess complete with kicking the piano bench over.

Deason immediately began telling Daxton of his dream and they immediately set out to putting a cast together. That Cannon County Beta Club group talent went on to win both the TN Beta Club State and National Beta Club Group Talent competition. When the dream began, Deason knew immediately that Jacob Miller was another Cannon County musician that could easily do the show. It was when it became evident that the Carl Perkins role had the most difficult guitar playing requirements that Miller became Perkins. Deason states, "I have always known that Million Dollar Quartet would be a hit in Cannon County but the opportunity to put this amazing Cannon County talent onstage made it all the more important that we put this show in our season."

Deason scoured the state to find musicians to play Presley and Cash. Justin Foster, a Nashville musician originally from Cut and Shoot, Texas and a diehard Elvis fanatic will play Presley. Stephen Hardy, who is currently playing Johnny Cash in a production in Wytheville, Virginia. Hardy is originally from Brighton, TN. Chad McGee, a Warren County teacher, who has appeared in several Arts Center productions portrays Sam Phillips and 107.5 The River's Savannah Grimm portrays Dyanne. Savannah appears daily on iHeart Radio's Woody and Jim Show. Savannah has previously played the lead in the Arts Center's High School Musical 2. Rounding out the cast are professional drummer Michael Toman and professional and trick upright bass player, Dave Perry from Lyon, NY.

The Arts Center Million Dollar Quartet Cast will be featured on WSMV Channel 4's Today in Nashville on the Hard Rock Stage on Thursday, September 14th. The show will air at 11 p.m. The cast will be performing a medley of songs from the show.

Performances for The Arts Center of Cannon County's Million Dollar Quartet are Sept 15, 16, 22, 23, 29 & 30 @ 7:30 p.m. and Sunday September 17 & 24 @ 2 p.m. For tickets call 615 563-2787 or online at www.artscenterofcc.com Patrons are encouraged to buy their tickets soon as there has been an unprecedented amount of early ticket sales.