When Ryan Collingwood was a high-schooler, his parents made him start paying for his own haircuts. He asked around, found a place, and forked over $15 — roughly four hours of wages from his job at Carl’s Jr.
“It was the worst haircut I ever got,” says Collingwood, now 47.
The following payday he spent another $15 to buy his own scissors and clippers, and when he was due for another trim, he did it himself. It wasn’t perfect, but it was an improvement. His two best friends took notice and asked him to cut theirs for $5 apiece. He was in business.
Three decades later, Collingwood is still doing hair, but take one look around his Blue Suede Salon in downtown Franklin and it’s clear that hair is only half the story. Before Carl’s Jr., before he bought his own scissors, Ryan Collingwood was an Elvis Presley fan. The King passed away on Collingwood’s second birthday, forging a reverence that only crystallized with age. On the night of his 30th birthday, during a family trip to Hawaii, Collingwood requested they go see local Elvis tribute artist Ron Short perform in Waikiki. Wearing all denim, Short worked the stage until it was time for “Love Me Tender.” When the song came on, the faux Elvis stepped off the stage and began making his way around the small showroom. Arriving in front of Collingwood’s table, Short decided to outsource a few lines. He held the microphone in front of the birthday boy, who dutifully took over.
“You have made my life complete, and I love you so …”
The lyrics fell like the final petals from a stem. Beautiful, velvety, melodic. For several seconds the room was silent, then Short reclaimed the mic and spoke.
“Man, he’s taking my job soon.”
It was an awakening. The career hairdresser entered his first amateur Elvis tribute artist contest later that year and has been competing ever since.
Collingwood arrived in Tennessee last year with his wife and two children, settling in Franklin after 15 years in San Diego and seven in Eagle, Colo. Yet despite being new to town, he has already carved out a niche within both of his worlds. As a tribute artist, he has served as the resident Elvis of the Beale Street Hard Rock Cafe in Memphis. As a stylist, he has become the go-to guy among other Elvis tribute artists both locally and nationally. The night before Victor Trevino won last year’s Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest — the top competition in the field — Collingwood cut Trevino’s hair in a Memphis hotel room. Twenty-year-old Clarksville native Riley Jenkins, another top young “ETA,” drives two hours each way for his monthly cut at Blue Suede.
“It’s very hard to find people these days that can cut hair like how Elvis wore it,” Jenkins says one afternoon as Collingwood works on his bangs.
Jenkins was preparing for a multistate tour to celebrate Elvis’ birthday back in January. While Collingwood worked, the pair swapped stories and notes about their hero. The walls of Blue Suede are decorated with Elvis photos, posters and calendars. The television stays tuned to old Elvis movies. Collingwood insists that cutting hair comes first, but admits he gets something from performing, from being the King, that he can’t find anywhere else.
“You feel like you are just in it,” Collingwood says. “Then it’s just over, and you don’t even know, you’ve got to watch it to see what happened.”
Photographed by Eric England at Blue Suede Salon, cutting the hair of Elvis impersonator Ben King
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