The beat-up guitar, a gift from Dad when he was 9, came with extra strings attached: Learn how to play it and he could get a new one.
So Kevin Sterner practiced and practiced until he could play a Beatles song convincingly enough to land him that new guitar.
Little did Sterner's father know that the gesture would turn into a lifelong passion that took his son from barrooms to ballrooms, honky tonks to concert halls.
Sterner and his latest project, the year-old George Strait tribute band Strait Country, will play three shows next month, starting with Friday's concert at DesertView Performing Arts Center.
"It's a two-hour show, nothing but George Strait. I just show up with my guitar and we play," the 52-year-old father of four said.
Sterner has played music as a part-time job since he graduated from Canyon del Oro High School in 1976.
He moved to San Diego, where he spent four years playing in rock bands.
He came home and got a day job and continued weekend gigging, migrating to country - the music of his youth - after he stumbled on the then-newcomer Strait on an FM country station.
"I thought, 'Wow this is refreshing.' He had a whole new sound," Sterner remembers thinking. "That's what brought me back to country music. That's where my heart is anyway, so I started playing country."
Sterner, a quiet, unassuming man, would sing along to Strait, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings while driving alone in his car, but he never considered himself a singer. Until the day the lead singer of his band, Tequila Rose, quit and Sterner was shoved to the mic.
"I kinda got a late start," he said recently.
Before long, Sterner, dressed in pressed Wranglers, cowboy hat and Western shirt, was causing more than a few heads to turn when he played with Tequila Rose at the C-Note Lounge on weekends.
Not only did he bear a remarkable resemblance to Strait, he also had the vocal chops.
"That's how I've always sang so that was why it was such a good fit for me to sing Strait," he said. "I don't have the greatest range or professional training. Back when I started singing he was the perfect fit for me. I didn't have to try to adjust to sing like that."
In November 2009, Rich Brennion called Sterner with an enticing offer. He wanted to form a George Strait tribute act to play at Brennion's regular haunt, the Gaslight Theatre; Brennion is a longtime guitarist with the Gaslight band. The theater had long hosted a popular Elvis tribute act, and Brennion thought a country night would be just as popular.
Sterner called the opportunity "a dream come true for me." So far they've done nine shows at the Gaslight and made the rounds at venues in Green Valley, Vail and SaddleBrooke. The shows survey Strait's greatest hits from his start in the early 1980s to present day.
"We cover the whole history of his 30 years," he said. "We have a hard time narrowing it down. Two hours goes by so fast."
If you go
• What: Kevin Sterner and Strait Country.
• DesertView - 7:30 p.m. Friday at DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive, SaddleBrooke; $21 in advance at tickets.saddlebrooketwo.com, $25 at the door.
• Heritage Highlands - 7 p.m. April 14 at Heritage Highlands Ballroom, 4949 W. Heritage Club Blvd., Marana;$18 at the clubhouse or the door (cash only).
• Gaslight Theatre - 7 p.m. April 18 at Gaslight Theatre, 7010 E. Broadway; $19.58, $13.04 for kids by calling 886-9428.
