“This record sold like hotcakes. TOO BAD IT DIDN’T SELL LIKE RECORDS!” — Sonny Burgess, introducing one of his songs, as related by Deke Dickerson
It’s the birthday of Arkansas-born Sonny Burgess, who died in 2017.
Burgess was a Sun Records artist whose big Sun hit was “Red-Headed Woman”. He lived a long life, outlasting many of his contemporaries, and he never stopped performing. He was such a character. Tall, gorgeous, he would wear bright red suits.
Sonny Burgess didn’t have a mesmerizing voice like Elvis, he couldn’t write songs like Carl Perkins or Johnny Cash, and he wasn’t a white-hot genius-phenom like Jerry Lee Lewis, but he made up for all of that with passion and showmanship and fun. There are perks to NOT being a genius.
Sonny Burgess & the Pacers
Billy Lee Riley, another Sun Records artist (his big hit was “My Gal is Red Hot”), complained until the end of his days that Sam Phillips didn’t invest enough in him, didn’t invest as much as he did in Elvis / Jerry Lee Lewis. Johnny Cash, too, felt abandoned by Sam (and he was: Jerry Lee Lewis took up all of Sam Phillips’ time). Cash jumped ship as soon as he could. The Black artists on the roster, the men Phillips had literally set up Sun Records for in the first place, felt totally abandoned. Nobody could predict an Elvis, though. It happened the way it happened.
In a documentary about Sun Records, Billy Lee Riley is talking to Sonny Burgess, both of them elderly at this point, expressing his anger and resentmentL He could have been as big as Jerry Lee Lewis or Elvis if Sam had just put in the time. Riley is ranting, completely certain of his point, and you can tell Sonny is hesitant to speak, but if he were to speak he would say something along the lines of, “No way would you ever have been as big as those guys, Billy Lee.” Burgess hears Riley out, though before saying, “But I don’t think that’s true. If I was going to be as big as Elvis, I WOULD have been as big as Elvis. Same for you. Neither of us were ever gonna be that big.” Riley (poor guy) shook his head in disgruntled disagreement. (Meanwhile, Riley had a great career. He was a member of the famed Wrecking Crew in Los Angeles. He was hauled out of retirement by none other than Bob Dylan, who was obsessed with him. Like, you had a great career, Billy Lee!)
Sonny Burgess’ attitude, on display in that recorded conversation, is a rare for an artist. Imagine being a hopeful musician, recording songs at Sun in 1953, 1954, hoping for a hit, hoping to be put on some kind of regional tour. Hoping to get radio play or a contract at the Grand Ole Opry. You know: that was the definition of success to those guys (pre-Elvis, that is. Elvis single-handedly changed what success could look like). Imagine you’ve already been doing it for years. And then imagine that a pimply high school boy with a stutter who can’t even play the guitar, who doesn’t write songs, walks in, records one song, and becomes the biggest star the world has ever known, and may ever know. Imagine how the situation could turn you bitter, eaten up with envy and resentment. “It’s Sam Phillips’ fault. I coulda been Elvis!!” This was Billy Lee Riley’s attitude.
Sonny Burgess was there as well. He watched Elvis explode, and maybe had a couple of moments thinking, “Damn, I wish that was me.” Sonny Burgess was good-looking and an electric performer.
But Sonny took things easy, he was philosophical about it, he could look himself in the mirror and say, “I would never be that big” and not let this self-knowledge poison his love of music and performing. There’s room for LOTS of people, even if there’s only room for one at the top. Sonny Burgess spent his life touring and performing. He packed them in. No matter where he played, or when, for the next forty fifty years, people showed up in droves. THAT’S SUCCESS.
Just watch this live performance. He was crazy onstage, in the zone, a real wild man.
Here he is in the Arkansas Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, where he is an inductee.
