James Burton was born in Louisiana and got his first guitar at age 13. In 1957, at the age of 15, he was playing in a band with rockabilly singer Dale Hawkins. They scored a hit with their tune Susie Q. (Dale Hawkins had a cousin named Ronnie who also sang rockabilly. By the end of the 50's Ronnie moved to Canada for financial reasons but continued to play music. Some years later, Ronnie's Canadian backing band, aptly named, The Hawks, parted ways with Ronnie and changed their name to The Band). Burton soon achieved greater success when he joined pop/rock star Ricky Nelsons band. Burton had already developed a unique guitar style where he used a flat pick and two fingers to mimic the guitar sounds of finger-style players like Chet Atkins and Merle Travis. Some people call this style hybrid picking. James also had a unique way of bending string to achieve a strange harmonic sound that came to be known as chickin' pickin'. By the 60's, James was an in demand session musician as well as being a member of the house band for the TV show Shindig. However, Burton is most famous for playing in Elvis's Las Vegas band. I first became aware of Burtons playing because of his work with Merle Haggard. Burton and a small handful of other players are responsible for the twangy guitar sounds now associated with country music. James Burton always stayed in the background with his subtle and tasteful playing, thus, he remains appreciated only by true fans of the Twang.
Burton plays all the lead on this classic track:
