DUNCAN — Jason Smith, originally of Empire, will be one of the lucky people attending this year’s Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. But his reason for being there isn’t purely to watch the game. He, along with his band “The Dustin Perkins Band,” will be performing Sunday in the Owner’s Club for the NFL team owners.

The Owner’s Club is a far cry from the halftime performance, but that doesn’t mean a thing to Smith.

“There’s definitely bigger shows, but there’s not a bigger venue that anybody plays on,” Smith said. “It shows that something we’re doing is paying off.”

The Dustin Perkins Band has only been together for 10-11 months, which is great, Smith said.

“We’ve only been together these 10 months and already getting gigs like this,” Smith said. “So, it shows we’re doing something right.”

Originally, Smith worked with lead singer Dustin Perkins as a solo, acoustic act. Perkins wanted to put together a band, and Smith found two other artists, Colton Gilbreath for lead guitar, and Nathan Brown on drums, to fill the necessary spots. Perkins continued with lead vocals and rhythm guitar while Smith joined the band on bass.

“We put a single out to the Metroplex radio stations,” Smith said. “It was more of an underground promotion kind of deal, but it’s taken off really well for us.”

Recently, the band signed with NVRDUL, LLC Exceptional Entertainment, who got the band their gig at the Super Bowl.

“They are the ones that do a lot of the stadium shows across the country,” Smith said. “This is just one of the ones that they hooked us up with.”

When the initial call came that they might get this performance, Smith said he and the other band members had to sit on the announcement and not tell anyone until they heard for sure.

“It was really hard to do,” Smith said. “We wanted to tell everyone but couldn’t for a couple of days. But we got the 100 percent sure call (Wednesday) so, now we can tell everyone.”

Even for just a short period of being able to tell their good news, Smith said more and more family and friends have come out of the woodwork every day.

“I’ve found I have a lot of family in Wisconsin and a cousin I haven’t physically seen in 15 years hitting me up for tickets,” Smith said. “It’s kinda cool, though.”

Smith said despite their new “celebrity” status, they are still attempting to go on with their normal routine of performances, however recent weather has hindered that as well.

“We had to cancel three shows this past week, but our show (Thursday) and our show Saturday are still scheduled,” Smith said.

Their show Saturday will be an interesting one according to Smith. Because of the number and magnitude of security checks the band must go through for their performance at the Super Bowl, the band must leave their equipment at the stadium Saturday night and cannot take anything with them for their Saturday night show scheduled elsewhere.

“We know another band that’s playing that night before us at the same place and they use a lot of similar equipment,” Smith said. “So, we’re gonna use their stuff that night for that show, then head back to our hotel.”

The Dustin Perkins Band hails from Sherman, Texas, which is normally only a short drive to Arlington, but because of the strictness of the security, they must stay within a certain distance of the stadium Saturday night.

Sunday, the band will load up and head to the stadium to perform in the Owner’s Club for all of the NFL owners in attendance. Smith said their performance will last from 1-3 p.m., then they will be escorted to their seats for the game.

Band members say they are ready to be a part of the Super Bowl experience, and can’t wait for the experience.

“We haven’t had time to think about the people we might see yet,” Smith said. “But to say we’re excited is a big understatement.”



— Kevin Kerr is a reporter for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 164, or via e-mail at kevin.kerr@duncanbanner.com.