Biography
Sonny Burns stands as an overlooked pioneer of honky tonk whose scattered but potent recordings never translated into lasting fame, largely because of recurring personal and professional missteps. Clyde Burns Jr. entered the world on September 19, 1930, in Lufkin, Texas; the family later spent several years in Nacogdoches before establishing roots in Houston. He took up guitar during his early teens and, by nineteen, appeared regularly on a local program aired by Sleepy Bob Everson. Burns worked as a sideman alongside Texas country figures Eddie Noack and R.D. Hendon, yet military service in the Air Force interrupted his momentum. Upon discharge, he cut demos in 1953 with Noack that secured a regional issue on HJA Records and, soon after, a contract with Beaumont-based Starday Records. His second Starday outing, “Too Hot to Handle,” emerged as a major Texas success late that year, prompting the follow-up “A Place for Girls Like You,” whose chart run ended abruptly once Faron Young’s competing version climbed into the country Top Ten. Burns became a regular on Houston’s Hometown Jamboree broadcast over KNUZ-AM, frequently appearing alongside fellow Starday artist George Jones, whose own breakthrough still lay ahead. The pair cut the duet “Wrong About You,” issued by Starday in spring 1954. Though the two men formed a quick bond, Burns mirrored Jones’s documented drinking habits and gained notoriety as a womanizer; missed engagements and uneven performances followed. After a second joint single in fall 1954, they were slated to record a new Jones composition in mid-1955, but Burns’s absence forced Jones to proceed alone, yielding the hit “Why Baby Why,” Jones’s first chart entry. As Jones’s profile rose, Burns’s prospects declined. He continued delivering strong sides for Starday until parting ways with the label in 1956, then remained silent until a lone 1959 single on the small TNT imprint. In 1961 he resurfaced on United Artists, issuing seven singles across three years without notable success; sessions for MGM in 1968 went unreleased, prompting retirement. The former drinker and ladies’ man embraced born-again Christianity, returned to Nacogdoches, served as pastor of a local church, and earned a living as a hair stylist. He passed away on October 21, 1992. Collectors later revived interest in his catalog, leading Righteous Records to issue the 2010 anthology Satan’s A Waitin’ drawn from his Starday years. The following year Bear Family released A Real Cool Cat: The Starday Recordings, assembling his complete output for the label along with previously unheard tracks.
Albums