The Guitar Player (The Ballad of James Burton) was a 1969 tribute 45 released by country vocalist Buddy Cagle, a singer on the tail end of a handful of minor hits for the Capitol, Mercury, and Imperial labels. Cagle had a secret weapon in his arsenal for this particular recording, though, and that was.....James Burton. Yep, it's true. Burton himself played the guitar licks on what is surely the world's only James Burton tribute disc! James Burton probably needs no introduction but just in case you could use a brief refresher, he made a name for himself by blasting out brilliant country, rockabilly, and pop guitar riffs on countless records and stages all over the world. To call the man a natural would be a bit of an understatement. In 1955, at age 16, the self-taught youngster was hired to be the guitarist in the Louisiana Hayride's house band. He soon hooked up with local rocker Dale Hawkins and waxed the timelessly propulsive guitar solo heard in Hawkins' signature song, Suzy Q. This boosted his profile considerably and not long afterward he was shoving off for Los Angeles to play guitar for Bob Luman. Once in Los Angeles, his instrumental prowess attracted the attention of Ricky Nelson, who recruited Burton to play guitar for him. The studio and road gig with Nelson lasted 8 years and launched him into the stratosphere of LA pickers. When he left Nelson's band in 1965, Burton wasted no time establishing himself as an ace session guitarist for hire. His picking can be heard on records by Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Buffalo Springfield, 5th Dimension, Merle Haggard, and Buck Owens, among others far too numerous to mention. In addition, he served time as Elvis Presley's lead guitarist, both in the studio and on the road, from 1969 until Presley's death in 1977.
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