We know their public personas, but what do Louisiana’s statewide elected officials do when they’re off the clock?
Attorney General Buddy Caldwell does Elvis.
Louisiana’s top lawyer actually puts on the bedazzled jumpsuit and performs as an Elvis impersonator in his spare time. It’s not a new gig for him: Caldwell says music has always been a part of his life.
“My father sang with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and my brother is a studio musician,” Caldwell says.
As for Elvis, Buddy says he always liked the guy.
“Yes, I was a fan,” Caldwell admits. “When I was 13, that’s when Hound Dog and Don’t Be Cruel came out.”
He didn’t start out imitating the “King of Rock & Roll”. When he first took to the stage, he covered the songs of a wide variety of artists.
“I started out with Peter, Paul and Mary; Bob Dylan; Nat King Cole. I used to do that a little bit in New Orleans, in college,” Caldwell reminisces. “And then the only thing anybody really kept after me for was Elvis.”
These days, the A.G. has less time to perform on a stage, as he’s performing his lawyering duties for the state. But he keeps his guitar close at hand all the time.
“I can sit down when I’ve gone through a transcript and got a headache, and pull my guitar out—and it takes me to another zone,” Caldwell says, his love for music shining from his eyes. “I forget all my troubles for just a little while.”
Yet when he does Elvis, Caldwell says sunglasses are a must.
“When I put those glasses on, I can do it. I’m a different person then,” he states confidently.
Then he slips on his shades, and…
“Wise men say
Only fools rush in.
But I can’t help
Falling in love with you.”
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