Ed Burleson

By day a construction worker, the baby-faced Ed Burleson, a sixth-generation Texan, spends his evenings shaping honky-tonk rooted in classic traditions. Among those who backed him was the late Texas icon Doug Sahm, serving as both manager and co-producer on the album My Perfect World; elite Texas musicians including Bill Kirchen of Commander Cody and Lloyd Maines contributed to the sessions as well.

Born June 10, 1969, Burleson traces his lineage to General Edward Burleson, the hero of the Battle of San Jacinto that secured Texas independence. Because his father worked as a traveling salesman, the family moved through Garland, Denison, Conroe, and El Paso in Texas, plus Tulsa, Oklahoma, before Burleson put down roots in Lewisville, where he joined the high-school rodeo squad. Exposure to Texas music came through those rodeo journeys and the small-town radio stations along the way. A rodeo scholarship took him to Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas, the place where he first picked up the guitar; after graduation a knee injury requiring surgery gave him time to deepen his commitment to country music. His initial stage appearance occurred at a newcomer showcase held at Dallas’s Three Teardrops Tavern, and the owner offered Burleson a weekly Thursday-night slot provided he assembled a band—his father, Richard Burleson, played drums in that group. The debut CD, Comin’ Around, appeared in 1997. One evening at Austin’s Broken Spoke Saloon, Burleson handed Doug Sahm a copy; Sahm’s enthusiasm led him to take on management duties, refine the recording, and issue it on his new Tornado Records imprint under the 1999 title My Perfect World, which reached number four on the Americana charts.