Shyness struggles long gone for Summerlin country singer

Don't tell Jim Wise, "You can't." Wise knows it takes hard work to fulfill one's dreams.

"Whatever I try, I like to excel at it," he said.

Wise, a Summerlin resident, tried his hand at country music. He has opened concerts for stars such as Collin Raye, Joe Diffie, Waylon Jennings and Alan Jackson.

Before he got into country music, hard work also took Wise from a baseball jock in college, where he helped pitch the University of Iowa into the 1972 College World Series, to being signed by the St. Louis Cardinals. An injury ended his playing days while he was still in the Cardinals' minor-league system.

Although he had bought an $89 guitar at 14 and played in high school garage bands, he never stepped up to the mic to sing, something he attributed to shyness. That changed at a Waylon Jennings concert.

"I thought, 'Man, I want to do that,' " he said.

Forget the shyness. Suddenly the 27-year-old wanted to be on stage, in front of thousands. Everyone told him he was crazy. They'd forgotten his "can do" attitude.

Wise began small, performing with his acoustic guitar in coffeehouses around Chicago. He cut a record, a song he wrote called "C.B. Radio." It got a lot of radio airplay in the Midwest but not the level of success he sought.

"It took me 13 years of playing six nights a week to get to Nashville," he said.

Wise actually moved there three times -- in 1985, 1987 and 1989. The third time was the charm. He was 38.

"I was told I was too old for Nashville," he said. "I had a record deal two weeks later."

He signed his first deal with CBS.

Since then, Wise has performed before crowds of more than 25,000. It wouldn't have happened without his dogged determination to get a record deal.

Bobby Randall, one of the founders of Sawyer Brown and now with Confederate Railroad, has worked with Wise. Randall said country music is going through a change.

"Now it's downloads and iPods ... so it makes it a little easier to get heard," he said. "In another 20 years there probably will be no more record labels."

Wise now refers to well-known country stars by their first names. He was at the home of Garth Brooks one day and learned that Brooks had just had a new doorbell installed. Brooks instructed Wise to press the button.

"He was all excited about this doorbell ... it played 'The Dance,' " Wise said. "The Dance" was one of Brooks' biggest hits.

Wise's CDs include "She Wants to Drive My Truck," "Cowboy Cadillac" and "Nashville Tracks." Locally, he and his band, Route 66, play at Station Casinos, Jerry's Nugget, The Orleans, Arizona Charlie's, the South Point and Buffalo Bill's in Primm.

"He's very approachable and interacts with the audiences," said Nelson Valdes of Las Vegas Entertainment, who books Wise locally. "He gets people to two-step."

Wise's "can-do" attitude affects his life in other ways. He has earned his third degree black belt in Shito-ryu, a style of karate. A fear of flying led him to earn his pilot's license, and he's now a multi-engine instrument-rated pilot and flies out of North Las Vegas Airport.

Most recently, he wrote a Stephen King-type sci-fi thriller, "Catfish." It's available at amazon.com (search for Jim Wise Catfish) or at wisecountry.com. It took a year to complete and eight years to find a publisher.

"Don't let people tell you, 'You can't do it,' " Wise said.

Wise and Route 66 are slated to appear from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Dec. 9 and 10 in the lounge at Jokers Wild, 920 N. Boulder Highway. For more information, call 564-8100.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.