Sometimes it is the company you keep that takes you places.

For Charles Stone, who will host the Elvis Through the Ages show at Weldon Mills Theatre next Friday night, December 6 at 7 p.m., it was his next-door neighbors. 

Members of a 60s era one-hit-wonder rock band, needed help getting gigs and he was happy to make phone calls for them; the 10 percent cut provided a welcome cash injection to his forklift-driving day job.

His efforts led to his start in the music business, a promoter at a major record agency where he covered the Dallas-Fort Worth music scene. 

His company did more than 500 shows a year, working with rock artists of the day — Chicago, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin — and others whose names highlighted theater marquees across Texas.

Tickets can be purchased at this link

“Elvis Presley was not my first rodeo,” said Stone. “I was working on Frank Sinatra’s show when I got the call for Elvis. So, yeah, I started out with Little Richard and Fats Domino when I got out of high school.”

Stone landed his work with Elvis as a subcontractor, his company sent him to work with Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’s manager who never left his side, to produce shows across the country. Stone attributes his acumen in the music promotion business to the Colonel’s guidance.

“I learned not to take anything for granted,” said Stone. “In other words, just because he’s Elvis Presley, don't take for granted you’re gonna sell out a show. You still gotta buy the advertisements to fill the seats.”

Stone considered the Colonel a mentor, a colleague who taught him the finer points of the entertainment business.

“He told me if you tell someone you’re gonna do something — do it — make your word your bond,” said Stone. “And the way he handled people, that taught me a lot.”

Stone said producing shows in his early days — picking cities to perform, securing venues, coordinating security and managing lights and sound — required stamina and patience. 

As a tour manager, he said it was all payphones to handle planning for 20-30 upcoming shows across the country for at least six months out.

“I would get a stool and find the payphone in the lobby of the arena we were playing that night and I would advance, which means call for the next day, to make sure everything was still right for the upcoming show,” he said. “That was my office — a payphone and a stool — that’s what I had.”

He couldn’t even get tickets for his mom to see Elvis.

“Back then, don’t forget there were no computers,” he said. “People stood in line and camped out for two to three days ahead of time to get their seats. The front row went to the people in line.”

Stone added, “If Elvis gave you a seat, it was 18-19-20 rows back. The fans came first with Elvis, always. I’ve seen the old technology and the new technology so I can appreciate how far we’ve come.”

Stone, author of four books — and another in the works — about his life as Elvis Presley’s tour producer from 1970-1977, will lead a celebration of The King’s legacy in a show highlighting stories and music, featuring top tribute artists Moses Snow and Ted Torres who capture Elvis’s iconic eras, rockabilly to Vegas.

“This is just a good family show,” said Stone. “Even if you’re not an Elvis fan, come for the music. These artists are absolutely the best.”

Stone said live tribute shows have enduring appeal because they show admiration and respect to an artist by recreating music, sound and style to evoke good feelings of a past era.

He added the tribute shows often keep the work of a deceased or retired artist alive by providing a more accessible live music experience and connecting fans to memories and music of bygone days.

Stone would know. 

He has been in the business of Elvis tribute shows for more than 15 years. 

He started as a reluctant Elvis impersonator contest judge and then moved to managing Elvis impersonators, and he has never looked back.

“Elvis tribute shows are a whole industry in itself,” he said. “You’ll find artists from Canada, America, Germany and England. And they’re all very good.” 

Elvis tribute shows “are everywhere, just everywhere,” said Stone. “They grow their own fan bases. This is truly a life’s work for people.”

“It’s all one big family,” said Stone. “We all know and support each other, that’s the way it is."