• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Tallan's got talent

ELKHORN — Tallan Latz could almost pass as a regular 9-year-old boy.

Almost.

Like most kids his age, Tallan talks excitedly about fishing and riding his bike with school friends, a reminder that he’s about to enter fourth grade.

When he picks up his electric guitar, however, it is hard to believe that such musicianship could come from a 9-year-old.

On Friday, he sat down for an hour of conversation filled with explosive licks from his blues guitar.

When Tallan’s fingers slide across his practice Tradition guitar, he looks and sounds like a pro, his slim fingers improvising over a pre-recorded practice track. He is suddenly lost in his own musical dimension where Tallan is king and his guitar is an extension of his body.

“It’s a different world when I play my guitar,” Tallan said after an improvised five-minute set in his parents’ garage.

The Elkhorn boy has performed with guitar legend Les Paul and co-headlined a show in memory of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Most recently, he was on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” where his performance was highly touted by judges and the roaring crowd.

Tallan passed the preliminary phase of “Talent” and now heads to the Las Vegas bootcamp, the show’s semifinal phase. The Las Vegas phase is yet to be aired. America’s Got Talent is on NBC at 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Tallan, known around Walworth County as “T-Man,” also has his own band, the Tallan Noble Latz Band.

The main question: How does Tallan have time to play at guitar concerts, carve animals out of wood, perform magic tricks, work with ceramics and ride his bike in Elkhorn while, perhaps most important, being a 9-year-old boy.

“You make time,” Tallan said. “Whenever I have time, I manage to fit it in.”

Tallan’s passion for playing guitar started at age 3, when a family member gave him a miniature guitar. He would imitate country star Toby Keith, singing along—or trying to—while strumming on his mini-guitar.

“I’m trying to say the exact same words as Toby Keith, looking over at the TV and playing along,” Tallan said with a laugh.

“It was OK,” he added, “I was trying.”

At age 5, Tallan got his first real guitar from his parents and began taking lessons. As he put it, by age 6, he was already “rippin’ into the blues.”

“He started out playing, and it created a life of its own,” said Carl Latz, Tallan’s father and manager.

Tallan’s influences range from Eric Clapton to Buddy Guy, B.B. King to Joe Satriani. His favorite song is “Voodoo Child,” by Jimi Hendrix.

And he has plans. He isn’t quite sure where or how, but Tallan knows exactly what he will be doing.

“I’ll be a blues star,” he said decidedly.