The tribute concert comes to CityStage in Springfield on Thursday and Friday.
Ted Vigil as John Denver in "Rocky Mountain High." Although he doesn’t consider himself to be an impersonator, Ted Vigil, who bears a passing resemblance to the late John Denver, will bring his Rocky Mountain High Tribute concert to CityStage on Thursday and Friday.
And, he’s bringing a special friend along.
Vigil will be accompanied in the concert by Steve Weisberg, Denver’s lead guitarist.
“For this show, it’s just going to be Steve and me singing John’s songs and telling stories. There will be a lot of good music and a little bit of comedy, too,” said Vigil.
“Steve will be playing lead guitar and dobro, as well as performing all those signature licks and solos you’ve heard on John’s records. He’ll also be sharing his stories about working with John and I’ll be telling my own stories. What we’re trying to do is to have the audience get to know us and to feel like they’re part of the show,” he added.
Prior to joining up with Weisberg, Vigil has been doing the tribute show alone for about seven year.
“I started out doing some small casino gigs and fairs. It wasn’t a full-time thing at first, but it really took off. People miss John and his music, and there are thousands of Elvis impersonators, but only a handful of John Denver tribute artists,” said Vigil.
Denver’s music evokes memories of an era which was both inspiring and influential. His music was a combination of romance such as “Annie’s Song,” folk including “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane,” country with “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” and environmentalism for his song “Calypso.”
The popular singer/songwriter grew up in the military where his father was a U.S. Air Force officer. His musical career got an early nudge when at the age of 11 he was given his grandmother’s guitar. Guitar lessons followed next, as well as joining a boys’ choir, which led him a decade later to pursue his dream of a career in music.
He recorded nearly 300 songs, 200 of which he composed, which led to 12 gold albums and four platinum albums, as well as an Emmy and two Grammy Awards.
Among his accomplishments in spreading the message of peace, Denver toured the USSR in 1986, the first performances by an American performer since the start of the Cold War. He was also the first artist from the West to tour mainland China back in October 1992.
His life and music career came to an untimely end when on Oct. 12, 1997, he died tragically in a plane crash, leaving three children, Zak, Anna Kate and Jesse Belle behind.
“We’re going to try very hard to play all of John’s big hits, because if we don’t, there is always someone who will come up to us and say they were very disappointed that we didn’t play their favorite song, like ‘Sunshine on My Shoulders,’ for example. So, we’ll be playing all the hits and even some obscure songs by John,” said Vigil.
Vigil has been writing, recording and performing his original compositions, leading to winning the national title for Talent Quest in Laughlin, Nevada in 2006. After his win, he began to plan a John Denver tribute show. He began singing his way across the United State and in 2005 shared the stage with Keith Anderson, Jeff Bates and Kevin Sharp on the annual Traveling Kountry Kruz with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. That same year he won the Komo TV Northwest Afternoon “Celebrity Look-alike” contest, and in 2010 he performed with Weisberg and Eddie Kilgallon, keyboard player for award-winning bands Ricochet and Montgomery Gentry. Vigil and Kilgallon have written songs together which they have recorded in Nashville on their compact disc project called “Sing My Songs,” produced by Kilgallon.