When inducting Tele-master James Burton into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Keith Richards famously said, in reference to one of the many illustrious names the guitarist has backed, “I never bought a Ricky Nelson record, I bought a James Burton record.”
It was that already formidable reputation that led Elvis Presley himself to call Burton in 1969, when he was forming a crack band to back him for his first full live performances in over a decade.
Burton took The King up on his offer, and would anchor what would become known as the TCB Band until Presley’s tragic death in 1977.
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Though Presley’s latter-day concerts were sometimes glitzy affairs, Burton maintained that the performances afforded him more musical freedom than you might expect.
“It was great,” Burton told Guitar World in 1983 of his time backing the game-changing superstar. “I enjoyed every minute of it. The music was great, the excitement, the energy that flowed through the music, the feeling with everybody, it was super.
“I got to stretch out more so than was usual in most bands, because he did a lot of uptempo bluesy stuff and we worked out great country things.”
Even as Presley’s health declined towards the end of the ’70s, his touring schedule remained relentless. Indeed, the day he died suddenly at 42, he was scheduled to depart his Memphis mansion, Graceland, for Portland, Maine, for another tour. The TCB Band were already on their way.
Asked by GW about that day, Burton said, “We had just left Vegas that morning on our way to Portland. They called us in the chartered plane and told us to turn back.
“We couldn’t figure out what the problem was, so we told the pilot to return to Vegas. He told us there wasn’t enough fuel, so we had to stop in Pueblo, Colorado, to fill up. When we got down, Marty Harrell – the trombone player – called Vegas. I decided to call my wife while he was doing that. Everyone was walking around, kind of stretching, and I headed to the phones. I didn’t quite make it.”
It was Harrell who had the unenviable task of delivering the sad news to the band and crew.
“Marty was on his way back from the phones and there were tears in his eyes,” Burton recalled sadly to GW in the 1983 interview. “He put his arms around me and said, ‘Elvis passed away this morning.’ God, chills went all over me and I couldn’t believe it.
“Well, that plane flight back to Vegas was one of the longest flights I’ve ever been on. Everybody was just all tore up. It was such a shock to the world.”
Though he was already a titanic figure in rockabilly and country guitar before his Elvis tenure, Burton’s years with Presley cemented him as a true legend – the dream choice for anyone looking for that fleet-fingered twang.
He still casts a massive shadow, something that was apparent when he appeared with multiple generations of Tele talent (all of whom owe him some degree of debt) at Fender’s massive Telecaster 75th anniversary show in Nashville earlier this year.
