Johnny Burgin

A contemporary torchbearer of the Chicago blues with a loose, wily guitar style, Johnny Burgin came up through the Windy City's blues scene in the late 1980s and early '90s, backing up regional icons like Bonnie Lee and Eddie Burks and touring with legends like Pinetop Perkins and Sam Lay. By the time he launched his solo career as a singer/bandleader in the latter part of that decade, he was already a seasoned veteran with years of hard gigging under his belt. A handful of releases leading the Rockin' Johnny Band led to several international tours, though he ultimately spent much of the 2000s on hiatus while raising a family. Burgin returned to music with a renewed vigor in the 2010s, releasing four more albums as Rockin' Johnny Burgin, then ending the decade with a spirited live set under his own name that featured legendary harp player Charlie Musselwhite. Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Mississippi, Burgin already had some solid guitar chops and an interest in vintage blues styles when he began attending the University of Chicago in 1988. While DJing at the college radio station, a fellow DJ and harmonica player introduced him to local legend Tail Dragger, among others, and before long he was sitting in on sets at West Side blues clubs and honing his shoot-from-the-hip guitar style while learning from some of the city's great unsung players. In addition to playing in a band of local blues purists called the Ice Cream Men, Burgin spent much of the early '90s backing artists like Tail Dragger, Eddie Burks, Mary Lane, Jimmy Dawkins, and Lurrie Bell, gigging multiple nights a week. He even got some touring experience with Pinetop Perkins and Sam Lay. When Delmark Records signed Jimmy Burns to a contract, Burgin's backing band came with the package, which in turn led the label to issue their own debut in 1997. Both Straight Out of Chicago and 1998's Man's Temptation were credited to the Rockin' Johnny Band, and in addition to significantly raising their cachet at home, the albums led them to the European blues touring circuit and some international acclaim. Meanwhile, Burgin continued to pad his frontman duties with work as a sideman, playing on albums by Little Arthur Duncan and Paul deLay. After 2000's live set, More Real Folk Blues, on the Marquis label, Burgin worked for a couple more years before leaving music behind to raise a family. At the start of the next decade, he reemerged as Rockin' Johnny Burgin, kicking off what would prove to be a prolific run with 2010's Now's the Time. Grim Reaper followed two years later and hit number seven on the Living Blues radio chart. Branching out from his Chicago roots, Burgin played with several West Coast collaborators during this era including Norwegian guitarist Kid Anderson and Indian harmonica player Aki Kumar, who joined him for both 2015's Greetings from Greaseland and 2017's Neoprene Fedora. Around this time, Burgin left Chicago for California and ramped up his already heavy touring schedule. Returning to the Delmark label, 2019's Johnny Burgin Live was the first release to be billed simply under his own name and featured guests like Charlie Musselwhite, Rae Gordon, and Nancy Wright.
© Timothy Monger /TiVo