I've been meaning to set up this page as a tribute to our fallen friend, Scotty Burns.
He has become the muse that sits on my shoulder when I play.
I first met Scotty back in about 1988. Greg Ryder and I were playing at the old Trough restaurant in Flora Vista, NM. You old timers will remember how the Trough was tucked in the back of the building behind the Country Palace dance hall. Both were very popular places at the time. Greg and I were taking a break when Scotty (who was playing with the band in the Palace) and several friends came through the back door to check on the festivities in the Trough that night. We sat and had a drink with them and an immediate kinship arose between me and Scotty. I was 14 years his senior, and at the time he was only about 21, but something between us just clicked, and I took an immediate liking to him. He was a hell of a fiddle player even back then, and at the time, I thought that someday I would love to work with him.
My chance came a few years later when we both became involved in the original incarnation of the Durango Jamboree.
A Branson style music show at the old Kiva Theater in Durango.
Scotty had spent a year or two out in California, but came back that summer to participate. I remember those 3 months as some of the happiest and most fun of my whole life. Scotty and I became inseparable that summer, and had wonderful times playing music, listening to music, fishing and generally just carousing the way young musicians do.
In addition to the Jamboree we were sponsoring an open mic night at the old Farquarhts bar every Sunday. And those were some of the most fun nights I've ever had playing music.
After the Jamboree closed, Scotty made a move down to Albuquerque, but continued for the next few years to come back to Durango to play with us from time to time. There was RPM, The Hatch Brothers, The Sixth Street Allstars, Dark Horse, and last but not least, probably what was one of our crowning achievements when he came up to play with Movin' On at the show we opened for the mighty Merle Haggard. I think that was the last time I played with him. He made the move to Nashville not long after that and did a stint playing with Sammy Kershaw among other projects.
Scotty was a brother, one of my closest friends, and my playing partner. I miss him terribly.
The YouTube video was recorded at Tootsie's bar in Nashville sometime in the last few months of his life.
The songs in the music player were recorded many years ago at a club in Farmington, New Mexico with a band called the Hatch Brothers. (Me, Randy Savage, Lynn Hatch and Scotty) It is very poor quality, recorded on a small portable cassette recorder, but I am glad I was able to salvage these at all. I am slowly digging through my old archives to see if I can come up with some more.
Rosa Maria was one of my particular favorites. A real joy to play. And I'll never forget the night Scotty and I went see the mighty Flaco Jimenez at a dance hall in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and got to hear him do this song. For us, it was on par with something like hearing Jimi do the Star Spangled Banner. A very special evening and a treasured memory.
"I Will Do My Last Singing In This Land" by the legendary Rev. Gary Davis. Scotty, Rich and I shared tears over this song on several occasions.
If anyone has pictures or music or a personal note they would like to add to this page, please contact me.
