GRAVETTE — GRAVETTE - It began when a Gravette father, Willard Mullen, handed his 9-year-old son a cheap department-store guitar and told him, “You’re our lead player.”
And play the young man did.
He became a crowd pleaser in “Ozark Opry,” Branson-type shows in the old gymnasium in nearby Maysville with his dad, Willard, and his brother and sisters.
Levi Mullen - his schoolmates at Gravette remember him as Wayne - played with the Mullen family country/western band all through his school years until he graduated from Gravette High School in 1980. He has had a varied, challenging and rewarding musical career since that graduation day.
Levi now plays 10 instruments. He produces his own “real country albums” as well as albums and singles for other musicians who enjoy playing and want to preserve that traditional musical sound.
Levi did a hitch in Branson. He has played in Tulsa and in Texas. And most recently he played and sang with “Bar-D Chuckwagon,” a band headquartered in Durango, Colo., which played gigs throughout the Southwest.
While in Branson, Levi even played the part of “Eddie” in a Broadway musical, “Pump Boys and Dinettes.” Last year he was in the cast of a movie, “AMA: The Cherokee Word For Water.”The movie was filmed at Tahlequah, Okla. It is expected to be released later this year.
He is often called the “Human Jukebox” by fellow musicians, who say “he seems to know every country song ever sung.”
His bio notes he has laid down guitar tracks behind such singers as Merle Haggard, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Ray Price and Willie Nelson and he has backed the likes of Mel Tillis, Mickey Gilley, Moe Bandy, Rex Allen, Jr. and Sr., and the late Leon McAuliffe.
Several years ago he even authored a self-help book, the title of which says it all: “You Can Count To Eight, Can’t You? The Easiest Music Theory Ever Written.”
Mullen has his own recording label, Cowboy Capital Records, and together with Gary P. Nunn, producer of Bar-Nunn Records, is plugging a just-released and timely single, “Winning In Tebow Time.” Its words and musical beat, to the tune of “Tulsa, Tulsa Time,” capture the personality of Denver Bronco quarterback Tim Tebow. The song was written and recorded by a fellow musician from Durango, Tim Craig.
Mullen has returned, for now, back to his home area.
He noted he has performed benefits for school groups, clubs and organizations as fundraisers and “I would be available to do a fundraiser locally,” he said.
He can be reached through his website, LeviMullen.com, or by writing him at 12868 Wet Prairie Road, Maysville, AR 72747.
News, Pages 12 on 02/22/2012