Sonny Burgess – Self-Titled

Forty years ago, Sonny Burgess and his band, the Pacers, took an ambitious trek from their hometown in Newport, Arkansas, to Memphis to record with Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Equipped with an ambitious growl of a voice and an equally fierce guitar, the young Burgess wasn’t a bit bashful about placing his name right next to Elvis on the Sun roster. As if those 40 years were only a few days, Burgess’ debut on Rounder contains just as much rockabilly spunk and fire as those fabled Pacers releases such as We Wanna Boogie and Red-Headed Woman.

Produced by Garry Tallent of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, the album features songs by a talented batch of writers including Steve Forbert, Dave Alvin, Larry Cheshire (Burgess’ cousin), Gwil Owen and Springsteen. From the way Burgess delivers each track with energy and his trademark howl, you would think they each had Burgess in mind all along.

The track “Bigger Than Elvis”, written by Henry Gross (yes, he of Sha Na Na fame), deserves special attention for the guest spots by Elvis’ guitarist Scotty Moore and his backing vocal group, the Jordanaires. It’s smoother than the rest of the disc, with lush harmonies and Moore’s slick guitar leads leading the way. But Burgess is best when backed by his studio band that includes Roy Huskey Jr. on upright bass and John Gardner on drums. The group tears through Springsteen’s previously unrecorded “Tiger Rose” and gives equal blasts to the tracks “I Would If I Could” and “Big Black Cadillac”.

While rockabilly has a dated sound, Burgess makes authenticity an ally on this sparkling release. After being out of music from the early 1970s until 1986 — when he returned to play in the acclaimed Sun Rhythm Section, a supergroup of old Memphis veterans — Burgess just keeps picking up momentum. He’s a little older and a lot more crafty than he was in 1956, but the fire still resonates on every cut, It’s exciting to see him still enjoying it as much as we do.