He loves his country

Friday, Sept. 21, 2007 | 7:09 a.m.

It's a long way from the battlefields of Iraq to the stage at Fitzgeralds.

It took country music singer and Marine Dave Hoover, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm in 1990, about 15 years to make the journey.

Now, instead of snipers with rifles he has to watch out for critics with pens.

"It's been a little rough start because of the slow season, but we believe in the show and I love the family environment we have with the cast and crew," Hoover said. "I feel blessed and grateful and I'm hoping this is a stepping stone. This is a growing process for us."

Hoover portrays Tim McGraw in the Country Superstars Tribute production that debuted this summer in the small showroom at the casino on Fremont Street, a fun show that's capitalizing on the nation's renewed interest in country music.

He comes by his love of country naturally. Born in Chicago, he was raised in Ashland, Ky., former hometown of the Judds. Growing up, he was surrounded by country music - George Jones, Waylon Jennings - and by Elvis.

"My step father, Ronnie, was an Elvis impersonator, or so he thought," Hoover said. "He thought he was the next best thing to Elvis, but I thought he was terrible. From time to time he'd get little gigs in these little bars and they'd pay him a little money here and there or give him a bar tab.

Hoover didn't grow up aspiring to be an entertainer. He wanted to be a Marine, as his biological father had been.

"When I was a little kid I walked home from school and passed this recruiter's office," Hoover recalled. "They knew I was poor so they'd let me go in and sweep the floor and empty the trash and they gave me 50 cents to do that. I used it to buy a frozen banana on a stick . That was my treat for the day.

"One day I noticed a trash bicycle laying up against the wall in the office. Every day I went in there it looked a little nicer, like somebody was doing work to it. It was one of those old red, white and blue Schwinns that had like a motorcycle tank on it. Eventually the work on it was done, it was all painted up, and my name was on the side of the tank. It sat there for a week before they finally said 'Are you going to take your bike with you or not?' They bought it and fixed it up for me - so I just had a connection with Marine Corps from an early age. I thought that would be my career."

Shortly before he graduated from high school the family moved to Cincinnati. After graduation, Hoover enlisted and became member of Force Recon, the Marine Corps' equivalent of the Navy Seals. He spent nine months in Iraq as an artillery spotter.

During downtime, when someone would pull out a guitar, Hoover would sing Elvis songs. After his tour of duty, his buddies pushed him into a karaoke contest at a bar at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. He won and found a new outlet for fun, and it evolved into an avocation.

In time, he was doing Elvis professionally - at parties and on cruise ships, where last year he met his wife, Tari, who lives in Las Vegas. He proposed to her on bended knee alongside the life boat at Muster Station 13 - where they had met a week earlier.

They married July 7, hoping for any luck in marrying on 7-7-07.

The couple settled here and , after discovering there was an abundance of Elvis impersonators here, Hoover got a job at Home Depot.

"The tribute artists emphasized the Elvis look, not the sound, so I was out in that department," he said. "But I had already started weaning myself away from jump suits and the pompadour. I was singing more country. Someone said I sounded a lot like Tim McGraw and that I should do him."

So when producer Ronnie Lee Keel (who portrays Ronnie Dunn in the show) started casting for "Country Superstars," Hoover was ready.

Now he works days at Home Depot and nights at Fitzgeralds, pursuing dual careers.

"When the fun runs out, I'll move on, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. This is great fun."