Popular Elvis show returns to Bigfork, tracing star's rise to fame

Ryan Pelton didn’t set out to be a superstar.

In fact, he had never performed or sang before he won a 1998 Elvis impersonator competition in Columbus, Ohio, that propelled him into the spotlight as one of the nation’s top performers who looks — and sings — like the late Elvis Presley.

Pelton returns to Bigfork this Saturday, April 5, for a matinee show at the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts at 2 p.m.

Pelton will be performing a show that parallels the story line in the new movie “The Identical,” which stars Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta.

“This show is really unique and close to the heart,” Pelton said in a phone interview Tuesday.

In the movie “The Identical,” which releases Sept. 26, Pelton (also known in the film industry as Blake Rayne) plays a rock star who just happens to look like Elvis.  

Pelton had the life of a performer thrust on him. Around the age of 12 people began remarking how much he looked like the late Presley, who died in 1977. Even in the Marine Corps, his drill sergeants nicknamed him “Elvis,” Pelton said. In his late 20s, Pelton’s mother dared him to enter an Elvis contest in Ohio.

“Growing up, I knew nothing about Elvis,” Pelton said. “We didn’t listen to music. We were very poor.

“After I won the contest it was crazy. Things just took off. Within a year I had to make a decision to either be this guy — an Elvis entertainer — or stick to building web sites. I didn’t want to be 90-years-old one day and say ‘what if?’

“I’m so thankful that I did. It opened a whole new world of music to me. Not just Elvis music, but music in general.”

For the 1998 contest, Pelton had only one week to prepare, after he decided to do it. With what he called “zero background” in music, he rented a VHS tape from the local Blockbuster store and studied it. He wrote the lyrics to “Jailhouse Rock” on his hand in an ink marker.

“That was all I had,” he said. It was a hot, humid day for the performance and the lyrics sweated off his hands. “I didn’t realize it until I was on stage,” he said. “I sang the same verse of Jailhouse Rock five times.”

The show in Bigfork tells the story of Pelton’s path from a website designer to performer and lead actor in a Hollywood movie.

“The credit goes to Elvis. He spawned an entire generation of fans, who spawned another generation of fans,” Pelton said. “His music is still relevant and reaching.”

Because of a short time frame (again) that Pelton had to prepare for the Bigfork show, he won’t have his band with him here. He’ll use a music track instead and will sing with collaborator D’Arcy Park.

Tickets are available at the door for $26 or at bigforktheater.org.

Watch a trailer of Pelton at facebook.com/bigforkeagle.