TCB Band Fan Club

The James Burton Guitar Festival

Review by Vilma Kinney

James Burton

21st and 22nd August 2009 and Shreveport is HOT!! - not just the temperature, but the music too! 5pm on the 21st and it's down to the Festival Plaza in downtown Shreveport for James' birthday party. This was a show that show cased a number of local artists who have donated their time to raise money for James' foundation. The artists appearing were Cole Vosbury, Landry & Company, Gatordilla, The Express (from Memphis), Louisiana Yard Dogs, Joel Sonnier and the evening ended with The Next Generation jam session (which I'm afraid we missed as we left about 11.15pm). The evening was hosted by Johnny Rock and there was some excellent music in a variety of styles. The highlight was Joel Sonnier (accompanied by the Louisiana Yard Dogs), who was joined on stage for his spot by Albert Lee and it was amazing. James came on stage around 8pm and everybody sang "Happy Birthday." He blew out the candles on his cake and thanked everybody for coming. He was presented with a life-size cut out of himself. He then went on to do a signing session. All in all, not a bad night for $5!!

James' 70th birthday

On  the 22nd, we went over to the Hirsch Coliseum for the Guinness World Record attempt (we weren't early enough for the talent contest). There was a great atmosphere as the participants started to arrive. Johnny Earthquake and the Moondogs were on stage for about two hours entertaining us until it was time for the attempt to begin. They are a great band who perform a variety of styles of music. They are great friends of James' and have been part of the festivals from day one. The artists appearing on the show that night took to the stage to lead the attempt but sad to say, the record was not broken. Nevertheless, everyone had a great time.

Participants of the Guiness World Record Attempt

In the evening, it was down to the Municipal Auditorium for the James Burton and Friends Concert - this was terrific! As the show was a tribute to Elvis, each artist was asked to perform an Elvis number as well as their own music. Now, as I'm getting old and senile, I cannot remember who did what but I will tell you what I do remember. The show was hosted by Tom Kenny (the voice of Sponge Bob Square Pants) and started with Nokie Edwards who played Hawaii Five - 0 and ended with the All Star Jam. In between, we had great spots from Doyle Dykes (who said that James and Louise never asked him to appear, he just turned up! Doyle has been on every one of the shows so far), Kristen Capolino (who is only nineteen years old and she's brilliant - a name to watch for in the future), Junior Brown (who had also appeared on Sponge Bob, so there was a bit of clowning around there), Mike Farris (who did a blinding version of Mary Don't You Weep), Al Di Meola, David Grissom, Andy Chrisman, Kenny Wayne Shephers, Albert Lee (who was joined by his daughter to sing Let It Be Me and it was brilliant), Jennifer Batten (who was Michael Jackson's guitarist and did a great version of Beat It ), Steve Lukather and the Burton Family (of course)! Again, we had a variety of musical styles throughout the show and it was absolutely fabulous and everybody had a great time. James asked me later who was my favourite and I couldn't really say - they were all so good. I'm just glad that Terry and I were able to be there to be a part of it all!

The Municipal Auditorium

Many thanks Vilma for once again taking the time to send us a fantastic review of The James Burton Guitar Festival and sharing with all of us the great time you had there.  

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