The Reverend TJ

When you book The Reverend TJ, you’re getting a true professional entertainer who knows how to make your event successful. I offer two distinct show formats so you can choose exactly what fits your crowd and venue best:
Acoustic Solo Show
Intimate, engaging, and perfect for smaller gatherings, backyard parties, or more relaxed events. Just me, my guitar, and a carefully chosen mix of tropical rock, Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, 80s/90s hits, classic rock, and country. I read the room in real time, interact with your guests, and adjust the energy to keep everyone having a great time.
Full Band Experience
For larger parties or events that want more energy, I bring professional backing tracks that deliver the sound and power of a full band while still being just one guy on stage. This option gives you high-energy danceable music with the same great mix of tropical rock, Buffett, 80s/90s, classic rock, and more.
No matter which format you choose, here’s what you can count on:
• I read the room and adjust the set on the fly to create the perfect flow and energy for your crowd.
• Strong audience interaction — I make your guests feel like they’re part of the show, not just watching it.
• A professional, well-rehearsed performance with zero technical headaches. I bring everything I need.
• Experience that goes far beyond music. In the early 90s I worked as a nightclub DJ and Master of Ceremonies, training other DJs across the country on crowd control and energy management. I’ve performed in Nashville and regularly play at The Tiki House on Duval Street in Key West.
You don’t have to worry about creating set lists or figuring out what music will work. I handle all of that. My goal is simple: deliver a fun, memorable experience that makes your event better and leaves your guests talking about it long after it’s over.

The Reverend TJ-born TJ Hollingsworth in Cook County, Illinois, in the shadow of Chicago's south suburbs-was barely old enough to walk when his family moved south to Indianapolis. Raised in the hum of the Speedway, where race cars screamed louder than lullabies, he learned guitar as a teenager, fingers raw from strings and summer sweat. After high school, he slipped behind nightclub turntables-DJ by night, ear trained to read every flicker on the dancefloor. He learned which bassline kept the drinks coming, which chorus made strangers lock arms. That same instinct carried him through the late nineties and early two-thousands, playing guitar in cover bands, chasing soundchecks from bar to basement to festival stage-until life paused the playlist. Then came the post-COVID pilgrimage to Key West. Duval at Caroline: the Garden of Eden, clothing optional, where tipsy tourists belt choruses like prayers. He watched, he listened, he wrote. A song about last call at a sandbar. Another about that rooftop bar-literally called the Garden of Eden-where clothes drop faster than inhibitions. Before he knew it, he was in a studio, then on air: Last Call Sandbar and I Was High at the Garden of Eden spinning steady on Radio Trop Rock, Radio A1A, Gulf Coast Music Radio. In 2023 he quit the day job. No more weekend gigs for gas money-he turned the calling into the career. The guitar stays in tune, the rum stays poured, and the crowd? They stay. That's where we are now.

Today, he's taken every nightclub trick-reading when to drop the beat, when to let the silence do the talking-and fused it with Buffett's island escape, KISS's stadium thunder, Chesney's beach-heart grit, and the glossy synths of eighties glam. It's Gen-X music for a Gen-X wallet. But the show doesn't card your soul: kids know the hooks, grandparents know the harmony, and if you're under thirty-five, you still end up barefoot singing along. Disposable income optional-fun isn't.

Technical Requirements I bring everything-no venue surprises. Staging: 10X10ft flat space. Sound: my own PA (100W+ mains + monitor),plug it into a standard 15-amp circuit (20-amp preferred). Split load: one circuit for audio, one for lights. I carry LED pars-four on stands-plug those into the second outlet. Extension cords accepted. Load-in one hour early. A canopy for outdoor gigs. That's it-no rigging, no crew, no where's the house power? calls.