Bluegrass in his Blood

12-year-old bluegrass guitar prodigy Presley Barker wows and charms the audience of 600 adults! Greatly influenced by the legendary Doc Watson and mentored by reigning national guitar champion Steve Lewis, Presley started his own musical career at age 7, and won first place in the prestigious Adult Guitar Competition at the Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention in Virginia at age 10. With style and personality that are both professional and engaging, he plays several favorites including “The Alabama Jubilee,” Elvis Presley’s “Mystery Train,” “The Nashville Pickin” by Doc Watson and a piece he’s played side-by-side with Wayne Henderson, “The Steel Guitar Rag.”

00.00

welcome to Naples and imagine solutions Presley the stage is yours Presley talk to the audience play to the audience thank y'all so much I'm so happy to be here imagine solutions conference 2017 thank y'all so much for having me first I'm gonna play is a tune I playing a lot to get to our competition I do a lot of them get to our competitions down am i naked was and this person right here is called the Alabama Jubilee [Music] the

01.04

you [Music] member [Music]

02.38

thank you so much y'all how many are Elvis Presley fans I believe I'm going to do a little Elvis song right here it's called Mystery Train I mean I ride

03.06

thank you treat our eyes Thanks Oh [Music] clean our eyes common I would assume a baby Oh [Music]

04.26

we train and down look miss me brain whole and down well always great for me great ray

05.02

hey brain well always great to my baby well always rain to my baby thank y'all so much I'm a big fan of Doc Watson he was from Boone North Carolina around where I live and he really influenced me a lot to play flatpicking guitar he was my first big influences

06.01

y'all know he is you sister from awesome remarkable guitar player and I just pledged all around the world North Carolina Virginia just everywhere and this is one of his Tunes right here it's called the Nashville pickin [Music] by [Music]

08.16

[Applause] [Music] thank you all so much now give a round of applause for everybody to spin up today they've been so great but uh Jana who Wayne Henderson is and you know Wayne Henderson from rugby rugby Virginia I thought he coming here last year along with my teacher and a lot of other great speakers to play it miss Americas Resort down there and and I think Wayne

09.01

Henderson was a is a big influence on me and we played this tune a lot together I go to his shop over there drug B Virginia and he teaches me a tune every time we go up there no no y'all was tuned is I'm a scientist or anything she like I like y'all oh but this one right here is called the Stewart RA [Music]

11.46

I know sir what can you play

12.05

the last 30 seconds of that again just the last part if I want to I want this audience to start to clap along with the beat okay go watch his foot [Music]

13.13

so now let's start with the important questions here Presley where did you get that Brooklyn accent you live in I live around the border of trap field I live on trap field for travel North Carolina for our Hill North Carolina right on the border from Galax yes round the border North Carolina Virginia yeah now where did this guitar come from tell me about the left arm why you chose to play this one today see I usually play a Wayne Henderson guitar a Wayne Hendrix Wayne whoreson guitar and there's with the scythe these papers cxeh it has Brazilian rosewood on it it's a dangerous species kind of wood yeah your other guitar yes yeah yes I know you didn't want to travel I didn't

14.00

want to take it away or something taken here yeah take a chance Saunders you know they're getting tough those customs agents these days they'll go after everything how long have you been playing guitar I've been playing about five years now about five years yeah self-taught or do you have teachers no I have a teacher Steve Louis season reigning national guitar champion right now oh is that right no yep Wow every year Winfield Kansas he's the reigning national guitar champion and also whiny Anderson is one of my mentors now your mom was telling me backstage that you have a little brother yeah Dave but that nobody in the family is musically inclined the way you are is that true well he wants to play the banjo oh yeah yeah he does and he's a pretty good drummer players all right well that's that's cool do you ever get nervous when you're up on stage not not really sometimes long doing stuff like here yeah well you don't that is you did not seem nervous at all that's good do

15.01

you think you will incorporate more singing into your performance as you as you continue or or what they all know from better flat picture a better singer I don't know well I'm pretty good at both oh thank you for that I've been seeing since I started I guess yeah yeah do you want to make music your life yeah I do you do why not yeah now what grade are you in I'm the 6th grade sixth grade and do you what kind of school do you go to regular public school public school what's your favorite subject in school probably social studies or language arts or language arts or write much of math I know y'all could help me with math do you take music classes in the school or not no I probably better you don't take me yeah well it's been really are you named after Elvis I wish I was you wish you were so you weren't Presley oh is it a family name or just a name that your parents Joe isn't like yeah my

16.00

parents has chosen lot because my dad was a high school principal yeah back in the day well somebody must have known that something was going to go on with you and music in choosing that name and I'm sure that name will serve you well as you as you move forward a round of applause for Thank You Presley now Presley and ladies and gentlemen we're going to we're going to move now to lunch and be back here I believe check your check your schedules I believe we have an hour so be back in your seats at 1:10 if you wouldn't mind take your evaluation forms with you you don't want to lose track of those and and get them mixed up but but pressing would you play us out to lunch yeah I love the song you could play I would love why don't you do that as people get ready to move out to lunch we'll see you look you want to have a lunch with us sure all right cool all right go ahead you're on [Music]