ray4410 Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 (edited) nterview with James Burton EIN – Elvis had so many Number Ones but surely “The Wonder of You” must be the only Number 1 chart song where the lead guitarist gets a spoken credit! That perfect moment when Elvis says, “Play something James”! J.B – I remember Elvis knocking on Glen D Hardin’s door one morning. Elvis is standing there & says “I want to do this new song. Glen can you write the arrangement for the band & for the orchestra and we’ll do it tomorrow night?” Glen D can’t believe it at such short notice. Well he got busy, wrote it out and the next day we really did record the Number 1, ‘The Wonder of You’! It’s a beautiful song. One of my favourites. EIN – I think that lot of fans don’t realise how hard you were also working in those early 1970s with other important stars like Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris along with The Hot Band EIN – When I look at what you were doing in the seventies I can’t imagine how you managed to find time to do all those recordings you did as well as and touring regularly with Elvis & also his studio recordings. I also think I’m right in saying that you were the only TCB band member who never took a day off and was there for every Elvis show? You must have been “The Hardest Working man in Show business”! J.B – That is correct, with Elvis I never had one night off! It was no time off and no vacations and just non-stop. For a while I was going from eight o’clock in the morning to about 4am the same night and this went on for months and months. I did 4 or 5 studio sessions every day and 7 days a week. Then we would also go with Elvis twice a year to The Hilton to play Vegas. We would perform 4 weeks straight and we’d do 2 shows a night non-stop everyday for thirty days! Can you imagine Elvis’ voice holding up for that time? I mean most singers who go to Las Vegas get ‘Vegas throat’ because of the dry air and they can’t sing, while Elvis kept going doing 2 shows a night! You can watch those shows and see how hard he worked. It was incredible. My God, those jumpsuits he wore weighed a ton! I couldn’t even pick one up! They gave me one to take to the plane or something one time and I said “You’ve got to be kidding, I can’t even pick this thing up!” How he managed to wear those suits and keep jumping all over the stage like he did, I just don’t know EIN - You have won 7 Country Music Awards for your guitar playing and Emmylou Harris says of you, “James Burton is a true poet”. What is the piece of work that you a most proud of? J.B – Gee, that’s a tough one for me! I love it all, I still love playing & playing guitar licks that knock me out. It’s so hard to pick one particular thing, although I was very honoured to be Elvis’ lead guitar player for nine years and I was very blessed to have played with Elvis. He was such a wonderful guy. EIN – James, you are a true survivor with such an amazing career and you are still playing which is even better. J.B – I am just honoured. God has blessed me and my music and I thank him everyday for that and for every day that I’m living #elvisgroups #Elvis2024 #elvisworld #ElvisFriends #elvisfans #follower #elvishistory #serakuhn #elvis #jamesburton All reactions: 669669 nterview with James Burton EIN – Elvis had so many Number Ones but surely “The Wonder of You” must be the only Number 1 chart song where the lead guitarist gets a spoken credit! That perfect moment when Elvis says, “Play something James”! J.B – I remember Elvis knocking on Glen D Hardin’s door one morning. Elvis is standing there & says “I want to do this new song. Glen can you write the arrangement for the band & for the orchestra and we’ll do it tomorrow night?” Glen D can’t believe it at such short notice. Well he got busy, wrote it out and the next day we really did record the Number 1, ‘The Wonder of You’! It’s a beautiful song. One of my favourites. EIN – I think that lot of fans don’t realise how hard you were also working in those early 1970s with other important stars like Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris along with The Hot Band EIN – When I look at what you were doing in the seventies I can’t imagine how you managed to find time to do all those recordings you did as well as and touring regularly with Elvis & also his studio recordings. I also think I’m right in saying that you were the only TCB band member who never took a day off and was there for every Elvis show? You must have been “The Hardest Working man in Show business”! J.B – That is correct, with Elvis I never had one night off! It was no time off and no vacations and just non-stop. For a while I was going from eight o’clock in the morning to about 4am the same night and this went on for months and months. I did 4 or 5 studio sessions every day and 7 days a week. Then we would also go with Elvis twice a year to The Hilton to play Vegas. We would perform 4 weeks straight and we’d do 2 shows a night non-stop everyday for thirty days! Can you imagine Elvis’ voice holding up for that time? I mean most singers who go to Las Vegas get ‘Vegas throat’ because of the dry air and they can’t sing, while Elvis kept going doing 2 shows a night! You can watch those shows and see how hard he worked. It was incredible. My God, those jumpsuits he wore weighed a ton! I couldn’t even pick one up! They gave me one to take to the plane or something one time and I said “You’ve got to be kidding, I can’t even pick this thing up!” How he managed to wear those suits and keep jumping all over the stage like he did, I just don’t know EIN - You have won 7 Country Music Awards for your guitar playing and Emmylou Harris says of you, “James Burton is a true poet”. What is the piece of work that you a most proud of? J.B – Gee, that’s a tough one for me! I love it all, I still love playing & playing guitar licks that knock me out. It’s so hard to pick one particular thing, although I was very honoured to be Elvis’ lead guitar player for nine years and I was very blessed to have played with Elvis. He was such a wonderful guy. EIN – James, you are a true survivor with such an amazing career and you are still playing which is even better. J.B – I am just honoured. God has blessed me and my music and I thank him everyday for that and for every day that I’m living #elvisgroups #Elvis2024 #elvisworld #ElvisFriends #elvisfans #follower #elvishistory #serakuhn #elvis #jamesburton All reactions: 669669 Edited July 1 by ray4410 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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