NATCHEZ — After a 30-year run, Easy Eddie and the Partyrockers, the popular Miss-Lou cover band, is hanging up its boogie shoes.

“We want to go out before we can’t boogie any longer,” vocalist Glen McGlothin said.

McGlothin, who served 16 years as mayor of Ferriday, and other band members — Steve Cagle, Jerry Williams, Jimmy Wheeler, Gary Caldwell, Larry Boland and newcomer Lisa Spann — lead “normal” lives by day. Weekend nights, however, they take on new personas.

Caldwell of Vidalia plays bass, keyboard and is a vocalist, as well as the group manager. Wheeler of Ferriday plays guitar and vocals, and Cagle of West Monroe is a keyboardist and vocalist. Williams of Ferriday is the group’s drummer and Larry Boland of Ferriday is its long-time sound technician.

Lisa Spann of West Monroe, La., joined the group a couple of years ago as a vocalist.

McGlothin, Caldwell and Wheeler are original members of the group and have been at it all 30 years. Williams is also an original member of the band, but left for five years or so. He joined the group again several years ago.

The band plays a variety of music, including covers from Alabama to B.B. King, Bad Company to the Beatles, Clarence Carter to Creedence Clearwater Revival.

“It’s been a good run,” McGlothin said. “We want to call it quits while we still have some good years left. We still love to play music, but we have to haul our own equipment and break it down, and that was getting us down.”

The group celebrates its 30 years as Easy Eddie and the Partyrockers this week, he said.

“Some of us wanted to go a little longer, but we’ve had some illnesses and had to miss gigs. It’s time,” McGlothin said.

For the past couple of years, the band has played 40 or so weekend events per year.

“About the middle span of our 30 years together, we did 49 or 50 weekends a year. And we only missed one New Year’s Eve in the last 30 years, and that was the last one,” McGlothin said. “We’ve been away from our families a lot. I wish we could make that up to our families.”

Among McGlothin’s fondest memories was opening up concerts for Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley.

“We also played with Irma Thomas, Percy Sledge and made road trips to play in Chicago, Destin, Fla., San Antonio and Atlanta. And we got to play the Delta Music Festival and sing with Aaron Neville,” said the decorated Vietnam-era veteran.

“I like to think we entertained everybody. It wasn’t about Easy Eddie. It’s about a party band. If you came, you were going to have fun. I know lots of bands are better than us, but I don’t know if anyone had more fun than we did.”

Caldwell said what he will miss most is his audience.

“I’ve enjoyed making people happy and making people want to dance and enjoy our music,” he said. “If people weren’t enjoying it, we wouldn’t do it. That’s one of the reasons our band was successful. We never played for us.”

That was one of the secrets to the band’s financial success and longevity, Caldwell said. The band made more than $3 million in its 30 years of playing.

“I have no doubt we were the most successful local band to come out of here. When we started, we thought we would play once every month or so. Then, it got to where we were playing 100 times a year. When the casino came, that’s when we started making lots of money, and we raised our price. We were very successful,” Caldwell said. “It as a good release for us. We all had day jobs. And we were very fortunate to have wives and girlfriends who allowed us to do that. I missed a lot of my son’s baseball games and camp outs, but that was just part of it.”

Knowing the kind of music audiences wanted to hear and how to act was part of the band’s success, too.

“We knew what to wear, like no torn-up blue jeans. Nobody smoked on stage. We took it a step further than a lot of local bands. It wasn’t just the music. It was our presentation and our camaraderie with each other and the audience,” he said.

Cash Rabb, who owns The Dock on Lake St. John, agreed. He hired Easy Eddie and the Partyrockers to play for flotilla, which is the largest event on the lake each summer.

“They tend to draw an extremely good crowd and they put on a great show,” Rabb said. “They are extremely professional to work with. They show up on time. That’s unusual. A lot of the bands are not that easy to deal with. I didn’t have anyone complain. Normally, I have people ask me to get the band to play a certain song, but they seemed to automatically know what the crowd wanted.”

Caldwell said he will continue to play music, but in a less labor-intensive way than was required with the band.

“It just came out two days ago that we were calling it quits, and I’ve had call after call after call. People are asking why we don’t have a last show, but I’m sure we’re all kind of tired. We want to thank everyone who supported us. It’s been 30 years of a lot of fun.”