Coachella Valley native Tyler Hilton talks Elvis ahead of McCallum show

Before Austin Butler took on the role of Elvis Presley, desert native and La Quinta High School graduate Tyler Hilton played the role in the 2005 film "Walk the Line," which he described as a "dream come true."

But the 39-year-old actor, musician and enormous fan of the King of Rock 'n' Roll was uncertain about last year's "Elvis" film and watching Butler perform as Presley. He didn't expect to enjoy it and said he "didn't want to be bummed."

"I was on a plane and was like, 'Alright, I'll try five minutes of it.' I loved it," Hilton said. "I didn't expect to like Austin Butler and thought, 'This guy is going to suck' and was so down on the whole thing, but he did such a good job. I was really impressed. The music, story and acting were great."

"Elvis" is nominated for eight Oscars and it's no surprise the biopic boosted Presley's popularity.

On March 14, Hilton will perform a celebration of Presley's music with the Hot Club of Cowtown at the McCallum Theatre. Even though Hilton performed there during high school, playing guitar in some of the orchestras and during the final round of a local acting competition, he has never headlined the theater.

The show will focus on Presley's early years with Sun Studios from 1953 to 1955 and songs such as "That's All Right," "I Got A Woman," "Mystery Train" and more.

"The rest of Elvis' music is pop and rock 'n' roll but the Sun Records stuff is so stripped down. It's bluesy, country and my favorite stuff with standard bass on acoustic and electric. It's totally Hot Club of Cowtown's vibe. We put together a show and my agent was like, 'Let's do a few for fun.' We were getting so many requests for this thing and then got one for the McCallum. It's a place where I saw many shows when I was a kid and it's so cool."

He turned down the offer to play Elvis at first

When Hilton tried out for the role of a backing musician in "Walk the Line" ― which starred Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter ― and was offered the opportunity to play Presley, he turned it down because he considered himself more of a musician and had just put out his second album, "The Tracks of Tyler Hilton" on Maverick Records

But when Hilton bumped into Phoenix in a bar and told him he turned down the job thinking the casting department made a mistake, Phoenix told him he watched his audition tapes and said, "You have to do this movie."

"I was like, 'I'm not even an actor' and Joaquin said 'Reese and I have never played guitar.' (Casting) was uncomfortable with the situation and trying to cast musicians to be the surrounding characters for authenticity," Hilton said. "I called my agent and said, 'If that part is still available, I want to do this.' It was the time of my life. Here's this Elvis fan from the Coachella Valley getting to be in this movie and they had the guy who made Elvis' clothes make my costume."

When Hilton was growing up, he and his mother would take car trips across the country. One of those trips when he was nine included a stop at Presley's Memphis residence, Graceland. Even though Hilton enjoyed '50s music during his childhood, which he attributes to the retro atmosphere of Palm Springs, he wasn't familiar with Presley's music. But he was enamored with Elvis after listening to a cassette his mother bought him at Graceland.

"I felt like (Presley's) music meant a lot to me," Hilton said. "I think some people get infected with Elvis disease and I thought he was cool. That next year at school at James Monroe Elementary School (in Bermuda Dunes), I was all about combing my hair like that and I was doing the talent shows trying to sing songs just like Elvis in a white t-shirt and jeans."

After "Walk the Line," he continued to appear as the musician Chris Keller on the TV show "One Tree Hill," had a recurring role on the sci-fi series "Extant" and released more albums. When asked how he feels about his early hits such as "Someone Like You," "It's Only Love" and "When It Comes," he said, "The coolest stuff happens when you're young and don't know better."

"Rock 'n' roll is a young man's game because you don't know what you don't know, and you're running headlong into craziness. You're guessing and there's beauty in that. There's stuff I did in some of those songs that I would never do now because I know or think too much," Hilton said. "Art, music or writing is like a sailboat, you never know which direction the wind is going to come from. I'm sure at that time, it was chasing girls or trying to get them to like me. That becomes the wind and that's the purpose."

Hilton is married to actress Megan Park, who is the writer and director of the HBO series "The Fallout." The couple met on the set of the 2006 film "Charlie Bartlett" and reside in Canada and Los Angeles. Even though he's been scoring music for "The Fallout" and other film projects, Hilton enjoyed hanging out at home in "total dad mode" with his daughter during the pandemic and isn't in a hurry to record new material since his 2019 album ,"City on Fire."

"It worked out for me because I was preparing to not tour for a couple of years anyway. But my daughter is at the age where she's tired of me, wants to do things and go to school. So I'll probably so another record here soon," Hilton said.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Local musician and actor Tyler Hilton talks Elvis ahead of McCallum show