SPECIAL TO THE PVT Local musician, Rick Scanlan, is scheduled to play two gigs at Saddle West in the showroom from 6 to 8 p.m., tomorrow and again Feb. 13. Advertisement

Long-time Pahrump resident Rick Scanlan will play the showroom at Saddle West from 6 to 8 p.m. tomorrow evening.

Scanlan said his show will be a walk through country music with tunes from Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, John Denver, George Strait, Alan Jackson and a few songs of his own.

Scanlan has had a strong act for the past 10 years, although he's been a musician and a songwriter since he was "just a kid." He said he's just recently started recording those childhood songs and is continuing to write new ones. One song, well-known to most locals, is the Pahrump song, "New Old West."

Countyline, the duo with Scanlan and Dave Yoder, frequently played at the Pahrump Nugget. On his own, Scanlan said he's been playing mostly private parties around town, recently at the Pahrump Senior Center and he will be playing for the Elks Feb. 20.

Scanlan has his own record label under Ditto Productions and his original music can be heard locally on KNYE radio, and on a station with two bandwidths out of Fallon, 101 FM and 96.7 FM. Karen Jackson owns KNYE and Keily Miller, of local Channels 30 and 62, owns the station in Fallon.

Scanlan gets around -- sometimes even he doesn't know how far.

He recently took a trip to Los Angeles, Calif., to audition for "America's Got Talent." The opportunity came thanks to his wife, Dorothy, who, unbeknownst to Rick, signed the singer to audition for the show by going online.

Scanlan didn't know anything about it until he got a call from his wife saying, "You've been accepted to audition for America's Got Talent. There's an e-mail confirmation for you to go to L.A."

He made the trip, along with 12,000 other hopefuls, but says he doesn't know if he will be "put though to the next round" until the end of March or the beginning of April.

If he gets another confirmation letter via e-mail, the next step is to audition for Howie Mandel, Pearce Morgan and Sharon Osbourne in Las Vegas.

Only 2 percent, or 1,800 to 2,000, of the total auditions actually make it to Las Vegas. The PVT will keep readers in the loop.

Scanlan has a following from his days as a local performer and the show at Saddle West should be fun.

He will play again Feb. 13 in the showroom. Call 727-1111 for more information.