Johnny Burgin - Ramblin' From Coast To Coast (2024) [CD Rip]

Guitar slinger and singer Johnny Burgin is likely to show up in unexpected places, unearthing little-known blues talents in his seemingly never-ending touring schedule that now brings us Ramblin’ from Coast to Coast. (more on this later). He is still one of the few Chicago blues traditionalists in a shrinking world of real deal blues artists. Even the album photo screams vintage. Burgin is a triple threat–guitarist, songwriter, and authentic blues singer who honed his chops at the feet of the masters. While attending the University of Chicago to study writing, Burgin fell in love with Chicago blues and soaked up every opportunity he had, beginning with backing the late vocalist Taildragger, and then touring with legends Pinetop Perkins and Sam Lay.

You’ll find Burgin in a sideman role on countless Delmark albums – the names reading like a Chicago Blues Hall of Fame – Jimmy Dawkins, Eddie Shaw, Little Arthur Duncan, Eddie “The Chief” Clearwater, Eddie C. Campbell, and Jimmy Burns among others. Along the way he picked up the moniker Rockin’ Johnny. He was a fixture at the now defunct blues club on North Halsted B.L.U.E.S (across the street from Kingston Mines) In the last decade, after spending almost three in Chicago, Burgin ventured West and recorded three albums there, some of the initial ones that put Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studios on the map, notably 2015’s Greetings from Greaseland.

That restless spirit has only manifested itself further since. Don’t sell Burgin short in the marketing department either as his weekly YouTube blues guitar videos just get increasingly popular. You may never have a handle on where he’s gigging next but know that he’ll be a consistent presence weekly online. Here on Ramblin’ from Coast to Coast he draws on his influences from Chicago greats Luther Tucker, Eddie Taylor, Byther Smith, and Sammy Lawhorn and others, taking those inspirations on the road to record in four different studios – Memphis, Dallas, Rochester, and Cincinnati. Of course, his friend Kid Andersen did all the mixing and mastering back at Greaseland. Burgin traveled without a band, instead tapping local talent which produces nineteen people in the credits. He highlights these special guests – He highlights these special guests – John Blues Boyd, Rae Gordon, Dylan Bishop, Hanna PK, Ben Levin, Jon Hay, and Jad Tariq, most relatively unknown though Boyd, Gordon, Bishop, Hanna PK, and Ben Levin have issued solo albums. .

Burgin’s got the riffs and lyric approach to the blues down pat as shown by the witty Chicago blues shuffles “I Need Something Sweet,” that nods to Byther Smith and the Yank Rachell influenced “Stepladder Blues.” His guitar is clean but cuts like the sharpest of knives. Burgin penned all but two of these dozen songs – the slow piano-styled blues “Silently Suffering” from Billy Flynn and “Vacation From the Blues by Eddie Boyd.” The album also features terrific piano playing, Christian Dozzier in the chair for six tracks and Levin for two, including the rousing “Cincinnati Boogie.” Hanna PK also pounds the ivories on two including “Fresno Woman,” which, like the prior tune, features piercing slide from Burgin.

Whether it’s Cincinnati, Fresno, or other unnamed locales in the songs, Burgin never strays from the classic Chicago blues sound. Yes, it’s filled with the traditional twelve-bar meter and the classic structures, but Burgin does a great job of sequencing, varying the tempos and styles. He sings with tremendous feeling on ten, ceding the mic to Boyd on “I’m Playing Straight,” shedding his axe for blues harp in support while Rae Gordon brings that signature Memphis style to the blazing shuffle “Older and Wiser.”

Blues aficionados may recognize Little Smokey Smothers’ influence on the searing closing track “I Never Tried To Get Ahead” where Burgin sings with the utmost conviction “I’m gonna keep doing my thing.” You may likely find influences from other greats, both mentioned and unmentioned here through these tunes. Yet, the unquestionable standout track is “Gettin’ My Blues On,” about an obsessed blues fan who is strapped financially but undeterred. It’s the only one with background vocalists as vocalists Lisa Leuscher Andersen, Marina Crouse, and Jill Dinean wonderfully lift the choruses.

Don’t let his moniker ‘Rockin’ Johnny’ fool you. There’s not a trace of blues rock to be found. This is the real stuff, distilled to its pure essence. Savor it. ~Jim Hynes