James Burton - the man who played with Elvis Presley

Sometimes a crazy day turns into a great evening. So was last friday, when a true living legend came to Graz, Austria. James Burton, a name that might not be widely known to non-mucisians, but a living legend. He was the guitar player of Elvis Presley for many many years, played with musicians like Johhny Cash, John Denver, Jerry Lee Lewis, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison and many many others. His biggest fan Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, gave a speech on his introduction to Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, he has been nominated for a gremmy this year too.

James Burton is also known by his unique style of playing called chicken picking, which is otherwise known and used in country music scene. Take a look at his guitar lesson here. It is very interesting and you'll see how familiar this sounds and how hard it is to play :) We were lucky to have met him backstage for a little interview, which happened in between the concert (yes, they actually had a 20 minute break and we were let into backstage to do it, something new for me too, as usually this things happen before or after the gig), where he played with two other ex-Elvis Presley famous TCB band..Jerry Scheff and Glen Hardin. So cool, again :)

James Burton with his famous Fender Telecaster shining gold ...

Altough he is always very calm and quiet, he sometimes rocks too :)

At the end, he even gestured to throw his guitar to the fans below :)

And a special in-between backstage shot of the band and legends in there...
from left, Jerry Scheff - bass, Paul Leim - drums, Glen D Hardin - keyboards and James Burton with his typical hat and a bit of smile too...