SONNY BURGESS

                 

                              

Albert Austin "Sonny" Burgess (born May 28, 1931) is an American rockabilly guitarist and singer.

External video

 Oral History, Sonny Burgess reflects on his first guitar, a Gene Autry flat top he purchased for $3.25. Interview date September 23, 2006, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library

In the early 1950s, Burgess played boogie woogie music in dance halls and bars around Newport. Burgess, Kern Kennedy, Johnny Ray Hubbard, and Gerald Jackson formed a boogie-woogie band they called the Rocky Road Ramblers. In 1954, following a stint in the US Army (1951–53), Burgess re-formed the band, calling them the Moonlighters after the Silver Moon Club in Newport, where they performed regularly. After advice from record producer Sam Phillips, the group expanded to form the Pacers.

The band's first record was "We Wanna Boogie" in 1956 for Sun Records, in Memphis, about 80 miles southeast of his birthplace. The flip side was "Red Headed Woman." Both were written by Burgess. The songs have been described as "among the most raucous, energy-filled recordings released during the first flowering of rock and roll." Their onstage antics in performance were similarly described. Like other artists such as Ray Harris, Hayden Thompson, Billy Lee Riley and Warren Smith, chart success largely eluded him.

Burgess disbanded the group in 1971 but later found a new audience in Europe.

In 1990 (possibly before and afterward), Burgess toured with The Sun Rhythm Section. This group was composed of former session musicians from the Sun Recording Studio. Beside Burgess, band members included Paul Burlison (electric guitar), J.L. "Smoochy" Smith (piano), Stan Kessler (bass), Marcus Van Story (acoustic guitar & lead vocals), and D.J. Fontana on drums. Fontana was a member of Elvis Presley's band (1955-1968).

Burgess was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of Europe in 1999. His group, now called The Legendary Pacers, was a hit that same year in a rockabilly concert in Las Vegas, Nevada. It recorded Still Rockin’ and Rollin’ in 2000, voted the best new album in the country and roots field in Europe. The group was inducted in 2002 into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Sonny Burgess & The Legendary Pacers performed at the 2006 National Folk Festival in Richmond, Virginia to large, enthusiastic audiences.

Burgess hosts a weekly radio program called We Wanna Boogie with co-host June Taylor. The program, named after his first record, airs Sunday nights from 5-7pm Central Time on 91.9FM KASU in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

       

               


              

Sixty years later, Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers are still rockin’ the house with their energetic rockabilly, rhythm and blues sound on Ain’t Got No Home, their new release on Muddy Roots Records. The big 12-inch record contains a dozen classic tunes drawn from their six decades of wild live shows and performances at rockabilly festivals around the world.

             

             




            

10.30.16

LEGENDARY SUN RECORDS ROCKER SONNY BURGESS UNLEASHES HIS NEW ALBUM

In 1956, Sonny Burgess & the Pacers were just one of many rockin’ acts seeking to follow in the footsteps of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. Under the guidance of producer Sam Phillips, they brought a new sound rumbling forth from the tiny Sun Records studio in Memphis, Tennessee. The mixture of hillbilly and blues that became known as rockabilly would smash genre walls and change the sound of pop music around the world.

Sonny Burgess Sun Records 

While many made the pilgrimage to Memphis, few succeeded in actually having a record released on the eye-popping and ear-opening Sun Records label. Arkansas native Sonny Burgess was one of the privileged few when his double-sided raucous rockabilly blast, “We Wanna Boogie”/”Red Headed Woman,” hit the record racks and jukeboxes in September 1956. A huge regional hit, it was a perfect snapshot of the band that many regarded as one the wildest and most dynamic acts to ever blaze a trail through the honky tonks and dive bars of West Tennessee, Arkansas and the surrounding states. Their four follow-up singles on Sun also provided ample confirmation of their rock’n’roll pioneer pedigree.

Sonny Burgess 

Sixty years later, Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers are still rockin’ the house with their energetic rockabilly, rhythm and blues sound on Ain’t Got No Home, their new release on Muddy Roots Records. The big 12-inch record contains a dozen classic tunes drawn from their six decades of wild live shows and performances at rockabilly festivals around the world.

Sonny Burgess Marcel Bontempi 

Considered one of the most R&B-influenced of the original crop of rockabilly cats, Burgess delivers his unique interpretations of 11 classic R&B, country and rock’n’roll tunes. Stand-outs include Larry Williams’ runaway rocker “Slow Down,” a tasty country-fried take on soul shaker “Mustang Sally,” a slice of boppin’ boogie with Louis Jordan’s “Caldonia,” and a rip-roaring rockabilly run-through of Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee.”

The album also features “Tiger Rose.” Written for Burgess by Bruce Springsteen, this rockabilly rampage features Springsteen on guitar along with E Street Band bassist Gary Tallent and famed session drummer Roy Husky, Jr. supplying the rhythm. “Tiger Rose” originally appeared on Sonny Burgess’ 1996 self-titled album for Rounder Records, and is now making its vinyl debut.

http://www.muddyrootsrecords.com

Ain’t Got No Home was recorded at the Raney Recording Studios in Drasco, Arkansas. Owned by Zyndall Raney, the son of famed hillbilly harmonica player Wayne Raney (“Blues Stay Away from Me” and “Why Don’t You Haul Off and Love Me”), the studio has long been a favorite for Arkansas musicians with its roots reaching all the way back to the Sun Records era of the late 1950s.

Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers’ Ain’t Got No Home is available directly from Muddy Roots Records and fine independent record retailers around the world.

Itunes release date 11/15/2016.

Vinyl with download card in stock now HERE

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