Rick Brooks returns with new Elvis show on Nov. 7

ASHEBORO — Elvis tribute artist Rick Brooks is returning to the Sunset Theatre, this year offering a simulated rehearsal by The King before the actual Las Vegas performance.

Brooks said his Nov. 7 appearance will be based on Elvis rehearsing his act before saying, “OK guys, that’s it. I’ll see you tomorrow and we’ll do it like that at the International.”

Elvis performed at the International Hotel during his Las Vegas years.

This will be the third consecutive year Brooks has performed his Elvis act at the Sunset Theatre. He’ll be accompanied by the Steam Roller Band with the Sweet Neapolitans providing backup.

Always refining his act, Brooks said this year will show “what it would have been like to walk in on an Elvis rehearsal, then come back the next night for the performance.”

Brooks, who now lives in Sophia and has his own construction business, has been replicating Elvis since he was a boy listening to his mother’s records from the 1960s.

“Elvis was the coolest to me. I learned his music, how to sing like him,” Brooks said. “I loved his fast songs, all those songs from the ‘50s to the ‘70s.”

Brooks even began dressing like Elvis, combing his hair like the King and taking on the way he talked.

Then in 1980 when Brooks was attending Lee University in Cleveland, TN, the school held a Sadie Hawkins Day in which students dressed up as characters and put together skits.

“A friend squealed on me and said, ‘This man can do Elvis.’ So I got together with some musicians and did three songs — ‘That’s Alright Mama,’ ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Love Me Tender.’ Everybody went wild. They loved it.”

After graduation, Brooks put Elvis aside to concentrate on starting his own business and raising a family. Then in 2025, with encouragement from a friend, Brooks retrieved the jumpsuit from mothballs and again began paying tribute to his idol. He’s entered Elvis competitions and frequently performs at Midway Music Hall near Winston-Salem.

“The show is high energy, very much the atmosphere in Vegas when Elvis did his show,” said Brooks, who strives to impersonate Elvis’ “voice, antics, expressions, everything he did. It’s family oriented. We keep it fun and exciting.

“It’s an opportunity for people to let their hair down and forget the problems of the day,” he said. “It’s some of the best music, a chance to enjoy the best entertainer in the world. No one can hold a candle to Elvis.”

Tickets to the concert are available at Brightside Gallery, 170 Worth St., Asheboro. You can also order them by emailing at brightsidegallery@gmail.com or by calling 336-736-8714.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the excitement begins at 7.