Burton Gaar

Burton Gaar - Home Of The Blues - 2003 - SVR

Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Burton Gaar began his professional musical career in 1959 at the age of 16 playing bass guitar behind the legendary Louisiana bluesman Slim Harpo. Throughout the 1960’s, his association with the Boogie Kings, one of the South’s most popular R&B acts at the time, solidified his musical direction. As the 1970’s dawned, although blues music was no longer fashionable for any audience, Burton managed to thrive with his Stone River Band, handling all requests from doowop to R&B. In the 1980’s, he joined zydeco great Rockin’ Sydney (My Toot Toot) Simien’s band - a musical relationship that was to turn into a lifelong friendship. This decade also saw Burton spend five years as a writer/producer at a major studio in Houston, Texas. The end of the decade and early 1990’s brought yet another connection with a legend, as Burton performed for several years with R&B superstar Percy Sledge.In 1995 Burton Gaar recorded his debut CD for Lanor Records “Still Singing The Blues” and during his first European tour in 1996, he recorded his second CD “One Hundred Pounds of Trouble” which was released in the spring of 1997 on the CrossCut label.In a review of the latter, Blues Revue magazine noted it to be, “. . . one of the top 10 most listened to CD in Blue Revue offices worldwide.” Grammy Nominated Handy Winner Charlie Musselwhite recorded Gaar’s song “No” from this disc as the first cut on his Grammy nominated album, Continental Drifter. Musselwhite later chose Gaar’s song to perform while promoting his cd on the Conan O’Brian Show. In the year 2000, Gaar released his third CD named “Mighty Long Road”. The disc, recorded in Nashville was distributed through New Orleans based Louisiana Red Hot Records.Burton Gaar and T.C. Davis produced the project. The Mighty Long Road features the legendary, Guitarist - Jack Pearson, Harmonica man Tim Gonzalez, Organist - Johnny Neel, Guitarist - Shane Theriot and others. Bluesman Carl Weathersby said, “Burton Gaar has it all” The 2003 release titled - Home Of The Blues was recorded in Nashville Tennessee at Colemine Studios. Louisiana Blues Hall Of Fame artist Larry Garner was quoted: “I am a hard man to please and I like every song on the Home Of The Blues disc.” Charlie Musselwhite said “every tune is an A side.” (Making reference to the days of 45 r.p.m. vinyl singles when it was standard to have your best song on “side A”). I was born in Louisiana and after all these years, I still live here. The music I write has its roots in Louisiana. It’s bluesy, funky and SPICY - sorta like our gumbeaux! [Edited by In2TheBlues on 10 Jun 2011, 05:02 - Sources http://www.burtongaar.com/#anchor_70 © 2012 Last.fm Ltd. All rights reserved http://www.last.fm/music/Burton+Gaar/+wiki

Lea’s Lunchroom ain’t the only thing cookin’ down in LeCompte, Louisiana. Resident bluesman Burton Garr has brewed one powerful CD, Home of the Blues. Seldom is a new release completely solid from beginning to end. Well, folks, Garr accomplished just that with his latest CD. Each song is right in the slot and smokes from beginning to end. This is one grooving blues album. In addition to his really fine songwriting on all tracks but one, Garr covers all vocals. An amazingly versatile singer with apparent Southern Louisiana R&B roots, Garr pulls you in with vocal performances that are strong, melodic, sophisticated and solid. Home of the Blues kicks off with the title song supported by a bass line reminiscent of "Born Under a Bad Sign." "Home of the Blues" is a moderate tempo tune and sets the pace and standard for the next 11 cuts. "Blow Wind Blow" on track 2 is a nice up tempo shuffle and is played strong, like shuffles should be played. The track features a tasty harp solo and fine organ and guitar solos. "Repoman" opens with a guitar/bass hook that continues through the song backed by a kick ass horn section. "Hole in My Heart" has some nice double stop guitar and a catchy chorus that goes, "She left a hole in my heart bigger than the Robert E. Lee," which you will find yourself singing days later. A standout with excellent sax work and smooth vocals laid on top of a funky groove, this song deserves to become a standard and alone would well be worth the price of the CD. A rhythmic guitar and keys are featured on "Hall of Fame," which is one of those classic blues ballads that vamp between G and C. Personally, they always feed good and sound great. Well done. I especially like "I Wonder" and "Still Singing the Blues," which incorporate great interplay between the members of the rhythm section and in the latter, the dynamic horn section. The remaining cuts are all strong, with "Mississippi Water" the only one played in a minor key (Cm). Each song stands on its own. There is no filler material added to lengthen the album. All solos, no matter who is playing, are melodic and appropriate – no inflated egos here – just great musicianship. Garr assembled a premier group of musicians. Some appeared on his previous album, Mighty Long Road. Randy Coleman is once again on bass (Home of the Blues was also recorded in his studio, Colemine Studios in Nashville). Other personnel include Shane Theriot (Neville Brothers) on guitar, Tim Gonzales on harp, former Allman Bros. Band member Johnny Neel (who co-wrote track 8, "My Little Feel Good," with D. Jones and R. Cullison) on organ and keys, and Marty Ojeda on tenor sax. Floyd Saizon handles drum chores this time around and works great with the other members of the rhythm section. The horn section is top notch and includes Steve Herrman on trumpet, Dennis Taylor and Ojeda on tenor saxes, and Tom McGinnley filling up the bottom with baritone sax. Danny Hamblin and Clay Krasner handle some of the guitar and bass tracks. Home of the Blues is in the tradition of the great soul and R&B music of the ‘60s – what the Europeans call "deep soul." This album should do well in overseas markets. Surf to Garr's fine website for info on buying Home of the Blues. Photos, upcoming gig info, a bio and music samples that also include cuts from two of Garr's previous CDs, Mighty Long Road and 100 Pounds of Trouble, are also available. CD review Copyright © 2006 Sonny Boy Lee. All rights reserved.http://sonnyboylee.com/cdreviews/bgaar.htm

Good solid Louisiana soul blues and R&B from the Baton Rouge born Burton Gaar. Burton has an unmistakeable voice and sings from the heart. His lyrics are good and he penned eleven of the twelve album tracks. He is backed by great musicians that include Tim Gonzales on harmonica, organist Johnny Neel of the Allman Brothers and Government Mule, guitarist Shane Theriot of the Neville Brothers band, guitarist Danny Hamblin, bassist Randy Coleman of the T Graham Brown Band, and drummer Floyd Saizon of The Delta Rockets. There is no flashy playing on the album but the album is full of class. Listen to Burton's "Mighty Long Road" album [Tracks @ 256-320 Kbps: File size = 71 Mb]

TRACKS

1 Home of the Blues 3:49
2 Blow Wine Blow 4:51
3 Repoman 3:52
4 Hole in My Heart 3:49
5 Hall of Fame 4:47
6 Stone Cold Blues 3:59
7 Rainbow 4:54
8 My Little Feel Good 3:22
9 I Wonder 3:44
10 Mississippi Water 3:48
11 Wonderland 3:05
12 Still Singing the Blues 4:55

All tracks composed by Burton Gaar & George Hollingshead except Track 8 by Johnny Neel, Doug Jones, & R.Cullison

MUSICIANS

Shane Theriot - Guitar except Tracks 1,6,8,9,11
Danny Hamblin - Guitar except Tracks 2,3,4,5,7,8,10,12
Doug Jones - Guitar on Track 8
Randy Coleman - Bass except Track 2,3,7,8, Background Vocals
Clay Kasner - Bass except 1,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12
Dennis Gully - Bass on Track 8, Background Vocals
Johnny Neel - Organ, Keyboards - Tracks 1-12
Floyd Saizon - Drums except Track 8
Mike Caputy - Drums on Track 8
Tim Gonzales - Harmonica except Tracks 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12
Dennis Taylor - Tenor Sax
Marty Ojeda - Tenor Sax, Background Vocals
Tom Mcginnley - Baritone Sax
Steve Herrman - Trumpet
Burton Gaar - Lead Vocals Tracks 1-12

SHORT BIO

Cajun bass player and singer Burton Gaar grew up listening to the sounds of great blues artists such as electric guitarist B.B. King and vocalist Bobby "Blue" Bland. Before he hit his teen years, he decided he wanted to become a musician and play the blues, too. Within a couple of years, as the '50s were drawing to a close, he got his chance when he started working in his hometown of Baton Rouge, alongside blues legend Slim Harpo. Frequently, they worked the city's Glass Hat Club. Gaar also played for a short time with the Boogie Kings. During the '60s, Gaar went on to form a band of his own and they found work playing backup for visiting artists to Baton Rouge, a list that included zydeco artist Rockin' Sidney and soulful singer Percy Sledge. Gaar drew such inspiration from Rockin' Sidney that in the future he would dedicate one of his albums, Mighty Long Road, to the zydeco musician. Despite the fact that Gaar made music for almost four decades, he didn't record a solo album of his own until 1996, when the Cajun-influenced Still Singing the Blues was issued with the Mudcats. The following year in Holland, he recorded One Hundred Pounds of Trouble, an album that performed well internationally. He is one of the musicians featured in the book Blues: Keeping the Faith by Keith Shadwick © Linda Seida © 2012 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/burton-gaar-mn0000638924