New book and album filled with rock n’ roll memories
Billy Burnette was literally born into the world of rock n’ roll and has lived in and around it ever since. Now he has written a book filled with his personal memories of those times, and has released a full-length CD to complement the book.
Titled ‘Crazy Like Me: From Memphis and the Rock n’ Roll Trio to Fleetwood Mac,’ the story begins with Billy growing up in a house filled with music. Billy’s father and uncle, Dorsey and Johnny Burnette, comprised two-thirds of the Rock n’ Roll Trio and are widely recognized as being among the very first rockabilly acts, starting out in the early fifties.
I asked Billy about growing up in a family that was part of the entertainment industry. When did it strike him that this wasn’t the way every kid grows up?
“You know,” said Billy, “I thought – because I got into it so young – like I performed with the Rock n’ Roll trio at three and a half and did my first major record deal in 1960 when I was seven for Dot Records, so I thought everybody did this. I thought it was just a normal thing.”
By the time Billy was twelve, he was touring the Far East, opening for Brenda Lee and entertaining U.S. troops posted overseas.
The Rock n’ Roll Trio started out in Memphis, where a scrawny kid named Elvis Presley would hang out to watch them play at the Lauderdale Courts
Recognition for the Rock n’ Roll Trio
I wondered if one of Billy’s motivations to write the book was to set the record straight so that the Rock n’ Roll Trio got the recognition they deserved.
“They actually influenced so many people,” said Billy, “beginning with Elvis Presley who used to hang out at their rehearsals at the Lauderdale Courts. In fact, while I was doing the book, I found a picture of Elvis and my dad at a Boys’ Club in 1954 so he was hanging around them. They started their band about the time I was born in 1953 and wrote the song ‘Rockabilly Boogie’ which is about my cousin Rocky and myself.
“But they were, I think, the first rock n’ roll band out of Memphis. They influenced Elvis because he was always hanging around. My mom knew him well and grew up with him. [Lauderdale Courts] was a project for the poor after the War, so that’s where everybody lived and my mom said it was a fun place because they had basketball courts there and it was nice, actually. When I went back to interview my mom – because someone was going to do a documentary on them [the Rock n’ Roll Trio] and I interviewed her myself for it and to get some information for my book and I didn’t realize how nice it actually was, still to this day.”
Billy’s musical journey reads like a history of rock n’ roll, told from a very personal point of view. Unlike many books about music, Billy was actually there, and the book is filled with his accounts of meeting, working with – and quite often ‘partying’ with – a who’s who of popular music. Glen Campbell, George Harrison, Delaney and Bonnie, Roger Miller, John Fogerty, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Paul McCartney… even Charlie Manson and many more. Billy’s memories of these and other iconic characters have never been told before. All are told from the point of view of someone who was a participant in the story.
Invited to join Fleetwood Mac
Billy joined Fleetwood Mac after Lindsey Buckingham quit the band at short notice. I asked Billy to think back to the day he got the call to join the band.
“I was in the studio with Roy Orbison, and I realized Mick [Fleetwood] was looking for me,” he recalled. “I had known him for five or six years. This was 1987. I called home and I was told, ‘Mick’s looking everywhere for you,’ so I called Mick. He said, ‘I need you to join the band.’ I said, ‘When?’ and he said, ‘Tomorrow morning.’ I was with MCA Curb, so I had to call Mike Curb to get out of my deal there, and he let me out. The first half hour was him trying to talk me into staying, because I’d just been nominated for the ACM’s Best New Male Vocalist, and things were going good for me but not as good as going on a major Fleetwood Mac tour. That was like the circus taking off that day. There were I don’t know how many trucks and trailers, We had our own private 727.” Continue reading “Billy Burnette is ‘Crazy Like Me.’ It’s in his DNA”