“I like awards,” Meriwether said. “I was competing against senators for that (lifetime achievement) award in Indiana. But I don’t get much into the dates of those awards (he was nominated for a Grammy in 1969 and 1999) because it dates me.”

Even without revealing his age, his biography reflects a long history of music. He began playing the piano at age 3. He composed two pieces by age 4. Mozart wrote “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” at age 5.

“I’m no Mozart,” Meriwether said with a chuckle. “One of those pieces was a boogie woogie I composed when I was four.”

in April 1976, he performed a musical tribute to African-American history called “Black Snow” at the Ohio Bicentennial celebration.

“That was the same year Roots came out (the television mini-series adapted by Alex Haley’s book of the same title),” Meriwether pointed out. “But I have wondered since I was nine years old about where my people came from.”

Meriwether’s previous performances in Mobile include shows at a restaurant John Word owned in downtown Mobile on Dauphin Street. He’s performed several times with Joe Louis and Friends, a Mobile-based group that is currently playing at John Word’s.

“When he played on Dauphin Street, Mr. Word used to have a mirror next to him so the people could see his hands,” Louis said. “His hands move lightning fast.”

The Ohio-born New York resident was actually discovered by the Alabama-based restaurateur in Arizona. During a vacation out west, Word heard Meriwether perform at the Valley Hotel and Restaurant in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“He didn’t even come up and introduce himself,” Meriwether said. “He just heard me play, left, and later I heard from an agent in Missouri that said ‘Would you like to perform in Mobile?”