Gary Henley

From January, 1980, to January, 1983, I spent three years criss-crossing the country and the globe playing music for American Entertainment Productions (AEP). It was a small company out of the northern suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. It might have been a tiny blip on the radar-screen of the entertainment industry, but it has been "performance school" for me and many other college-aged musicians and singers since 1973.

AEP was the place where I learned to perform for an audience. I also learned to lead others, not only as a front-person on stage, but as a road manager. My responsibilities were to get us from gig to gig, represent AEP to the agents and show producers, keep harmony (relational and musical) within the team, make sure the checks were deposited and to see that we had hotel rooms for the group. You can't put a price tag on that kind of an education!


(photo)First National Band in Turkey, summer,1982

Gary Henley was the owner and president of the company. Over the years he--along with Mark Sorensen, Wes Turner and arranger-extraordinaire, Stan Morse--staffed, outfitted, produced and transported hundreds of aspiring musicians to share stages with greats such as Dolly Parton, Jay Leno, Bob Hope, Tony Bennett and Pat Boone. My second year with AEP began with a newly launched rock group, the First National Band. We journeyed the US playing two to three shows per day for Jr. and Sr. high schools. We would do a short promo show and advertise that we'd be back for a big nighttime show in a few days. That added up to thirteen shows per week sometimes--often traveling two to three hours between performances. I remember crawling up to my hotel room one night in Nebraska and wondering if I would be alive when the alarm rang at three the next morning. How could a 21 year-old be so tired?

Gary has announced that he is selling the company after 37 years. This change makes turning the page on the past more difficult; it seems Gary Henley has always been there. I will forever be grateful to those guys at AEP who put up with me as I learned to adjust to road-life and being away from home for the first time. I grew up in AEP. Gary taught me some of the greatest lessons in life: don't give up; the show must go on; make it happen!