Peter Mayer, lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffett, presents 'Stars and Promises' 2007

"Often, if the sponsor is paying for the show, the money for ticket sales or other monies will also benefit that charity," said Mayer. "It is a way to give back to the community, and it makes it more local that way too."

"My parents were just out of college and the seminary when they went to India as missionaries," said Mayer. "Growing up in India stirred something in my soul that even now, in my 40s, makes me never want to be too far away from passing on the gifts I was given."

Mayer shared his talents with the choir students from each of the Catholic high schools.

"Peter Mayer is both a fantastic person and a performer," said Dr. Brian Manternach, choir director at Juan Diego Catholic High School. "It was wonderful for the students to work with someone so professional and of his caliber. Mayer was very gracious and complementary to our students, and incredibly personable.

Ramona Mayer, the choir teacher at Judge Memorial said, "This was a professional concert, not a school concert. The students did not know who he was and were a little apprehensive. They thought he was a Christian rock singer and were not impressed. Then they started working with him and they became enamored. They thought he was amazing and so cool. They were impressed with how gracious and down to earth he was during the rehearsal.

"When the students saw him on stage performing with his band, they could not believe the expertise of his talent," said Ramona. "They felt welcome on stage with him.

The students at both schools rehearsed with Mayer for about a half an hour before the show.

"To see how professional musicians prepare in very little time was a great opportunity for the students," said Manternach. "Mayer treated them as equals and co-collaborators. He definitely did not display a rock-star attitude.

Stephanie Bertumen, a senior and choir member at Juan Diego said Mayer taught them "Jesus Christ the Light of Christmas Day," the way he wanted it to be performed in his style and tempo. It was a very unique experience for us."

Manternach describes Mayer’s style of music as jazz with an influence of blue grass, folk, country, and a little classical.

"The biggest part of growing up in India was not being exposed to the whole television scene, and the media of America, which was a blessing in a sense," said Mayer. "It made us find different ways to spend our time and get our entertainment. We did that often through music. My father was a choir director at the seminary in college and was a very good pianist. He just loved to play the organ and piano. My mother had a great voice, so she would sing around the house all the time, and that bled over into our education.

"My mom would walk around the house singing to the radio all day, and it was instrumental music. There was a British station that would play pop songs from the West, and she would be singing the lyrics to all of them," said Mayer. "I would ask her how she knew the lyrics. She would say, ‘Oh, I just make them up.’ I was like, wow, you can make up your own words to any song. So I learned there are no rules in song writing."

Mayer’s family moved back to their home in St. Louis when he was 8 years old. He said St. Louis has a lot of history, good music, from jazz, to blues, to rock. It was in the 1960s when The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and "Woodstock" (a four-day concert) were popular. He was also influenced by the classical records his parents listened to and the hymns he heard in church.

"My song writing goes back to when I was 10 or 11 years old," said Mayer. "I used to play the piano and just make up any kind of harmonic or melodic progression that I could come up with, and I had friends who would say that is not a very good song. You can’t do that. But I was always happily ignorant of the rules. I just kind of kept breaking the rules until I learned enough of the genius of other people to kind of have it rub off on me.

"I started studying the guitar at age 12 and taking guitar lessons at age 14. At first I was kind of stubborn, and decided I can teach myself, George Harrison taught himself. But friends of mine were getting better faster. Like my brother, my bass player, Jim. He was practicing and playing and I would say, how in the world are you playing that? He said you have got to learn the notes and the scales. So I did, and I realized it really does pay off to learn the theory.

Mayer studied music in college for two years and got to a point where he decided that to make it or break it he had to quit and practice all day.

"I was really desperate to get good fast, and I figured the best way to do that was to quit and practice six to eight hours a day," said Mayer. "It has paid off in that sense. It is hard to tell my kids now that college is a good thing because I know it is, but I decided to take a shorter route and just go straight to the street. I have a 15 year old and an 18 year old, and they are both involved in music.

Mayer taught Jazz improvisation for guitar at Webster University in St. Louis, Mo., for a couple of years. He said it was a real honor because he had to practice. In order to pass something on to the students he had to be able to play it himself.

Mayer and his brother, Jim, and their friend Roger Guth formed the PM band, started playing gigs, and made a record "Piece of Paradise," which went to No. 8 on the bill board charts. They opened for the Moody Blues, Chicago, and signed with Warner Brothers.

"It was fun, it was fantastic," said Mayer. "But the music industry moves so quickly and what is once a hit soon becomes a ‘where are they now’ file. To abbreviate a long story, we decided to go in a different direction, and I started playing solo. Then in 1989, our producer was doing the next Jimmy Buffett album, and he said Jimmy was looking for a band. We went to New York, he liked us enough and asked us on tour with him for a year. So the PM band joined Jimmy on tour as the Coral Reefers the summer of 1990, and that is now going on 18 years.

"I am now solo and do my own gigs when Jimmy isn’t touring," said Mayer. "It has been hard at times, it is hard on my family because I am gone a lot. I miss them every day, but it is what I love to do. I get a chance to really realize a dream. That dream is dusty sometimes, but it is still worth living because it seems to have a life of its own if I revisit it. I revisit it by doing it again and by living it."

Mayer is on tour for 16 dates in 14 cities. He said the band he is traveling with now is amazing and they are wonderful people.