The Early Years 1957-1969

the first of two volumes that document the career of one of the world's greatest-ever guitarists, recognised as such by many top musicians, including keith richards, who gave the induction speech when james entered the rock'n'roll hall of fame. burton's instantly recognisable finger-picking style graced many fine records by artists including dale hawkins, rick nelson and john denver. he was the mainstay of elvis presley's tcb band, backing him on record and in concert. the earliest track on this first volume is from 1956 with his first-ever recording, backing carol williams, for shreveport's ram records and finishes with buddy cagle's 'guitar player' from 1969. the compilation contains many rarities and ten of the tracks are making their cd debut. a second volume will document burton's later career with elvis presley, gram parsons, emmylou harris and others.