Haines High senior JC Davis got a knock on his front door last week. When he answered it, he found a high-profile visitor.

It was the mayor, Tom Morphet, come on “bended knee,” as Morphet later described it, with $100 in hand. He needed the young Davis’ help. 

The trouble had started a few weeks earlier, when the local marching band, Morphet included, had been contacted to be in a community play, the Thirty Nine Steps. 

Many know the mayor as a trumpet player, having seen and heard him play music at parades and official events. Morphet, though, makes a distinction. He may play music, but he says he’s not a musician. 

“I’m not a musician, but I am a big supporter of the marching band,” he said in an interview this week. 

So, musician or not, he agreed to show up with the rest of the band to rehearse for the play. But quickly, there were warning signs. 

For one, there were no other loud brass players to hide behind.

“My modus operandi with the marching band is to hide behind people who actually know what they’re doing,” he said. 

No such luck this time. Then, he looked at the sheet music, and saw he was meant to be playing the lead trumpet part.

“When I sat down and saw the sheet music, I thought, this is not going to work,” Morphet said. “Too many high notes have to be played too fast. It gets hairy when I have to play (lead trumpet).”

There was only one trumpet player Morphet could think of in town with the chops to play the lead trumpet part, and it was Davis. 

That night, Morphet knocked on his door, and Davis accepted the lucrative offer — to everyone’s benefit, the mayor said. 

“My greater interest is in the band sounding good. With me as lead trumpet, that was a bridge too far.” 

Davis showed up just a day later to opening night, his first time being a part of the cast or the band. He looked unfazed, the play’s director Annette Smith said, and the band performed well. That included Davis’ mother, Holly Davis, on flute. 

“They’re such a talented family, and they’re so generous with their talents,” Smith said. 

For Morphet, too, the whole saga ended well, even with his wallet $100 lighter. “It went to a good cause. The band sounded good and I got to sit in the audience and enjoy it.”