Houston Episode #31 with guest Don Ellis Gatlin

Singer/songwriter Don Gatlin grew up in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and he and his brother, Darryl, played at the Ponderosa Park in Ellsworth as teens. They recorded their first album in the early 1980s in Nashville after finishing second in a nationwide Seagram’s 7 Battle of the Bands. Don also won the Nashville networks, “You Can Be a Star,” in 1986. This was an early American Idol-type reality show and it won him a deal with Capitol Records. The brothers later signed with Epic Records under the name Darryl and Don Ellis, and they released two albums. Their singles went nowhere, as Gatlin remembers. “We were nominated for the duo of the year seven times. We lost seven times to Brooks and Dunn.”

After the brothers were dropped by Epic, Gatlin worked as a songwriter, co-writing songs with Ricky Van Shelton, Blake Shelton, and others. He started Savannah Jack in 2003 because he just loved working with a band. They played Nashville and then moved on to Las Vegas, where they were regulars at The Sahara and The Tropicana.

Don Gatlin, knows a lot about Kenny Rogers, too. He had his dream of having one of his songs recorded by a superstar when Kenny Rogers recorded “I Won’t Forget.” Kenny was also a fan of Don’s voice and he asked Don and his band, Savannah Jack, to join him on the road. This led to 66 performances opening for Rogers.

(by The Lyric Theatre)