Jacob Tolliver, Known For His Mesmerizing Piano Style, Releases Randy Travis Cover

He’s a singer, songwriter and performer with a strong social media following, thanks to viral videos showing his rapid-fire approach to playing the piano, in a style similar to the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis.

Jacob Tolliver was just 18 when he got the part to play Lewis in a Las Vegas production of Million Dollar Quartet, a show based on the legendary night Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee famously came together for an impromptu jam session at Sun Studio in Memphis.

When Lewis himself saw a video of Tolliver playing one of his songs, he invited him to Memphis so they could meet in person. It was the start of a special friendship that saw the two men play music and spend a lot of time together. Tolliver even traveled with Lewis on tour for a while. And many have seen the video of Tolliver, front and center, helping Lewis celebrate his 85^th birthday.

In recent years, even more so since the passing of Lewis in 2022, Tolliver has worked hard to carve out his own path in music, even while continuing to keep that one-of-a-kind Jerry Lee Lewis style alive.

It helps that Tolliver is a multi-talented artist, musician, and composer.

He’s constantly touring, performing, writing, or working on new music. He even has a full album of original music set aside for release sometime in the future.

He also occasionally joins the Randy Travis More Life Tour. The shows features singer James Dupre’ performing a host of songs recorded by the country music legend, as well as guest artists doing their version of a Travis song. (Travis can no longer sing following a stroke in 2013 stroke, but he appears on stage with wife, Mary, at every performance.)

When Tolliver takes the stage, he performs “Honky Tonk Side of Town.” It’s a more obscure Randy Travis album cut a lot of fans don’t know. It provided Tolliver with a way to honor Travis and reimagine one of his songs, while allowing Tolliver to add his own unique spin.

“When they asked me to be part of the show,” Toliver says, “I thought, I can’t go out and try to sing like Randy, in that deep velvet voice. So, I went through his whole discography. I listened to every sing track on every album, and out of hundreds of songs, I found this one from the 90s. I thought, I could put all of the bells and whistles on this one and really tear it up!”

And that’s exactly what he does. It’s been so well received people started asking where they could get a copy of Tolliver’s version. So, with Travis’ blessing, Tolliver went into the studio to cut it.

It turns out a couple of people who were for the original 90s recording, ended back for this one.

“We got Kyle Lehning on board to produce it,” Tolliver says, “and it took me a while to connect the dots, but I thought, wait a minute, he must have been the producer on the original track. And sure enough he was. Then, we had this legendary session drummer, Paul Leim, in the studio. He’s been on so many hits through the years, and he was also there for the original recording, too. You’ll see them in the music video. But it was incredible to have Randy, the original producer and the original drummer, all there. And the rest of the band was phenomenal.”

Tolliver says getting to record a Randy Travis song serves as a fantastic, full-circle moment for him.

“When I was three or four years old, I remember watching a Hey Arnold cartoon on Nickelodeon and Randy did a guest spot on an episode where he was the singing voice of one of the characters. He did a song called “Simple Things” and I asked my mom who was singing, and she said it was Randy Travis. Now, here I am all these years getting to record a Randy song with him involved. And we’ve also developed a friendship. It’s just so special.”

Just like his dynamic, high-energy presence on stage, Tolliver is always on the move. In the past year, he’s released two cinematic-type music videos of original music that are a departure from what he’s done in the past, with the promise of more to come.

He’s enjoying venturing down different creative paths and exploring where the music takes him.

“One thing that bothers me a lot about modern artists is they find something that works and keep beating a dead horse, without trying to find the next sound. I believe you can do that and still remain cohesive. So, when you ask what’s next for me, it’s had to say because it could be anything.”

Whatever he does next, you can bet it’ll be entertaining.

Tolliver has a handful of tour dates currently listed on his website with plans to add more in the weeks and months to come. And his version of “Honky Tonk Side Of Town” is available now on all streaming platforms.

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