If you've been

to any of the local fairs and festivals in the past few years, you most

likely have seen and heard Allen Goodman and his band.

Goodman is

a Starr's Mill senior who plays a mix of good old-fashioned rock-and-roll

and country music on the piano. He and his band have played at Brooks

Day, the Kiwanis Fair in Fayetteville, and, his biggest performance to

date, opening for legendary Grand Old Opry star Jim Ed Brown at the Ocean

Opry in Panama City, Fla.

The Allen Goodman

Band has two gigs this weekend and Amber Tucker, a junior at McIntosh

High School who has sung with the band on several occasions, will be performing

with them again.

Tucker's father,

Darwin Conort, is the lead guitarist for the Allen Goodman Band. He is

also who led Tucker to a possible career in music.

"I would

go with him when he performed with his previous band, The Stillstone Brothers,

and eventually would sing a song or two with them." Since then, Tucker

has performed a lot more, singing at Shadows, where she works, at Hapeville

Days, and now occasionally with the Allen Goodman Band.

The band also

features Lance Bowen, a coach at Whitewater Middle School who sings and

plays bass, and Kim Bowen, who plays drums. At the heart of it all is

Goodman, who was taught by his grandfather to play the piano in the style

of Jerry Lee Lewis and Old Country Gold Saturday Night. He has even been

described as "an old-time piano player in a young man's body."

Goodman has

a fine appreciation for all types of music and knows how to work a crowd.

The band plays a myriad of material, everything from "Rocky Top"

to "Brick House."

While Goodman

is a little bit rock-and-roll, Tucker is a little bit country. She is

an avid country music fan and began singing along with the songs of the

Dixie Chicks. As she has grown as a singer, she has developed her own

sound. She mainly sings cover songs of contemporary country music, but

is working with her father on writing some originals.

When not singing,

Tucker is a solid student at McIntosh and editor of the yearbook. She

is already looking at colleges and planning to major in pre-med.

This weekend,

the Allen Goodman Band, featuring Amber Tucker, will perform Friday at

Chattahoochee, a country music club in Newnan that has played host to

acts like Confederate Railroad and Hank Williams III, and Saturday at

Y-Knot Sports Bar in Peachtree City. Chattahoochee is a blossoming venue

for showcasing local talent.

Both acts will

perform May 12 at the Brooks Day Festival. Tucker will be performing at

Shadows with her father on Friday and Saturday evenings beginning in May.

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