Burton Gaar
BURTON GAAR was 15 years old when he got his start playing the blues with Slim Harpo, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at a place called the Glass Hat. From there, he was in local area bands, playing at local watering holes around home. In the 1980’s Burton got a call to back up Percy Sledge, and worked with him for several years. In 1983, Burton was working with Rockin Sidney, of Toot Toot fame (the only zydeco act to have a millon seller), and Sidney produced Burton’s first record.
Burton’s first CD, ‘Still Singing The Blues’ was released in 1991 on Lenore Records. That CD gained Burton a reputation in Europe, so in 1996, he went on his first tour of Europe and, while there, cut a CD called ‘100 Pounds Of Trouble’ and signed with Cross Cut records out of Germany. Over the next seven years, Burton toured central Europe and also did two tours in Sweden and Norway ending with the Color Line Blues Cruise from Norway to Denmark. Burton played more than 30 festivals including the following festivals and venues in Europe:
1) Utrecht Blues Fest - Holland
2) Blues Fest/Stadthalle - Detmold, Germany
3) Dresden Blues Fest - Dresden, Germany
4) New Orleans Fest - Windlestine, Germany
5 Lucern Blues Fest - Lucern, Switzerland
CLUBS:
1) Lagerhaus - Bremen, Germany
2) Banana Peel - Belgium
3) La Spiral - Friborg, Switzerland
4) Thunderbird - Brussels, Belgium
5) Crossroads Café - Antwerpen, Belgium
6) Muddy Waters - Oslo, Norway
Burton Gaar – Short Bio pg. 2
Burton’s songs have been covered but several artists in the last few years, including a cut on Charlie Musselwhite’s Grammy-nominated CD with a song called ‘No’ which came from ‘100 Pounds Of Trouble’. He also has two cuts on Carl Weathersby’s latest CD – ‘Willingly’ and ‘Leave it Alone’ both of which are on Burton’s 1999 CD, ‘Mighty Long Road’ (a CD that garnered rave reviews throughout the American and European Blues markets, including Blues Review, Vintage Guitar, Living Blues and numerous newspaper and internet sites). Burton also has two cuts on The Man from Norway, J.T. Lauritsen – ‘Hole In My Heart’ (off of Burton’s 2003 CD release, ‘Home Of The Blues’) and ‘One Of Us Is Leaving’ which will appear on Burton’s upcoming 2005 CD, ‘Gris Gris Woman’. After the release of ‘Home Of The Blues’, the CD made it to #1 on XM radio on March 11, 2004.
Burton also appears in the book, Keeping the Faith, by Peter Shadwick, a book that chronicles all the great blues artists from the earliest years to today.
Burton has played numerous American festivals, including the New Orleans Jazz Fest, King Biscuit, Monterey Blues Fest and the Fort Smith River Fest. He also played the Landfall Party for The Ultimate Blues Cruisers in Key West, Florida.
Of numerous clubs he’s worked, the following are worth noting:
1) Blues City Café - Memphis
2) Bourbon St. Blues Bar - Nashville
3) House Of Blues - Orlando
4) Howling Wolf – New Orleans
5) Tabacco Road - Miami
6) Road House Blues - Wichita
7) Brendan's - Denver
8) Cats Eye - Baltimore
9) Black-Eyed Sally's - Hartford
10) Swamp Mama's - Baton Rouge