august 28, 2003 born in dubberly, la, james burton grew up in shreveport. james taught himself to play guitar. he never took any lessons, picking up the guitar sounds he heard on the radio and from juke boxes. james had a good ear for music he could remember the sounds he had heard and then be able to pick out those same sounds on his guitar. then would compose and arrange his own composition of what he had heard to his style of guitar playing. it didn’t take long before james had developed his own distinctive style. some people are blessed from birth with a special ability. the key is to find out what that special ability is and develope it at an early age. james burton was able to do that. one of james’ favorite spots on the radio was the louisiana hayride and lucky for him the hayride was right there in shreveport, just a hop skip and a jump and james had a front row seat hearing and seeing all his favorite country music stars. by the time he was fifteen he was the youngest staff musician on the hayride. he obtained experence backing all the hayride regulars. he also had some buddies who were staff musicians, drummer d.j. fontana and stand up bass player james kirkland. james also had another buddy named dale hawkins and they played gigs at the “it’ll do club”. james had use of a car but seldom had the needed cash to put gas in it. so the main mode of transportation to a gig was pedal power. from time to time james was a session guitarist at ram studios in shreveport, owned by mira smith. bass guitarist joe osborn and piano player leon post would at times be on the same session with james. this was in 1956. in 1957 james would play the opening riff on dale hawkins famous recording of “susie-q.” joe osborn played electric bass. both joe osborn and leon post played on dale hawkins’ recording of la-do-da-da, joe played lead guitar and leon post played piano. leon post was also a staff musician on the louisiana hayride. when elvis came to the hayride he really got things going in high gear and he kicked up a lot of fuss afterward everywhere he went. when elvis worked the hayride the whole place went nuts and when he left nothing was ever the same. horace logan, the manager of the hayride, was looking for a replacement for elvis of course he knew he’d never find one but he had to look. and he didn’t have to look far for a 18 year old good looking bob luman from kilgore texas was there to perform with a group. when someone failed to show for a performance he was asked do you know “thats all right mama”?? bob replied uh yea i know it, well get out there and do it. bob did a great performance and was hired as a regular, until he signed with imperial records several months later. while he worked the hayride he hired james burton, james kirkland and butch white and formed his own band. when bob luman signed with imperial records he and horace logan, james burton, james kirkland, and butch white left for hollywood. bob recorded “red cadallic and black mustache” with james burton on lead, along with the rest of the band now called the shadows. horace logan, who had been the hayride’s manager, went to work for fabor records in hollywood. they all had parts in the movie “carnival rock” starring natlie wood and william conrad. bob luman sang “red cadallic and black mustache” backed up by the shadows. bob luman and his band were jamming at imperial when rick nelson happened to be in the building he also recorded for imperial he heard the jam session and was highly impressed by this combo backing bob luman. they were playing just the kind of rock-a-billy that nelson loved. rick had a talk with james burton and hired the band away from bob luman. it would be a relationship that would last from 1958 to 1966. at the time joe maphis was playing lead guitar but james backed him up on “stood up” and “waitin in school”. the relationship could have ended after the recording session. christmas was just around the corner and ozzie nelson wanted the band to work through the holidays. but james and the band were home sick and to spend christmas on the west coast was asking to much. they packed up their stuff and headed for shreveport. they were gone for over a month when james got a call from rick nelson, asking james if he was interested in playing lead guitar?? joe maphis was going back to his country music gig on town hall party. the boys packed up their gear and headed back to hollywood. the first recording after returning was “believe what you say” and “my bucket’s got a hole in it”. james replaced all the strings on his guitar with banjo strings. the sounds that came out of that recording session were beyond belief. the light gauge banjo strings gave james burton the ability to bend notes making his guitar sound like a pedal steel trying to gather it’s way out of his amp at speeds faster than a machine gun. it was an incrediable recording session that gave rick nelson a top 10 record, and sealed him into history as a top rock-a-billy artist, and it would be “rock-a-billy” that his fans would want to hear for the rest of his life. and it was the very thing that rick nelson never understood. this mistake in his future career in music would cost him untold millions and evuentually lead to his demise as a rock star. samuel clements once said always write about what you know. in rick nelson’s case – stay with what you do best – which for him was rock-a-billy. when james kirkland went to work for jim reeves, rick nelson robbed poor ole bob luman again, taking from him joe osborn the best electric bass player in america. the band was now made up of james burton, joe osborn, ritchie frost on drums and gene garf on piano, still the best rock-a-billy band in the usa. by 1964 and hundreds of recordings at imperial, the glory days were over. rick nelson had lost his direction and his career was going no where. “hello mary luo” had long since faded and the decca days were at an end as management saw nothing to do but let nelson out of his contract. as his records were bland and without feeling. in 1966 james decieded it was time to move on. and he began to do session work as his name as a guitarist would get him work anywhere and everyone wanted him to play guitar on their next recording. just the name james burton meant success if he was on your next recording. james spent the next few years doing session work for gram parsons, dolly parton. johnny cash, sammy davis jr, dean martin, merle haggard and countless others. he went to work for elvis in 1969 and stayed with him till his death in 1977. he went to work for john denver, did more session work. and went on the road with jerry lee lewis. james has three homes, one in nashville, one in burbank, ca and one in shreveport which he calls home. he travels between all three when he’s doing session work which is most of the time due to the high demand of his guitar pickin’. for the last two years 2002 & 2003 james has played the ponderosa stomp in new orleans during jazz fest sponsered by the mystic knights of the mau mau. at this years event he and dale hawkins hughlighted the show with a scorching rendention of “susie-q”. two buddies still going strong and bringing the people to their feet when they hear the riff that burton made famous during the glory years of rock-a-billy. the two friends bowed to the crowd as they yellee for more. it an’t nothing new to james burton, he’s seen it all many times before. it’s just a life time jam session!

~ Widmarc Clark