Rock 'n' roll guitar legend James Burton performs at the PNE tonight

by Steve Newton on August 31st, 2011 at 10:05 AM

Long known--especially among musicians--as one of the finest country and rock 'n' roll guitarists on the planet, 72-year-old James Burton will perform during An Evening with Elvis at the PNE tonight (free with PNE admission).

Burton backed Elvis Presley from 1969 until Presley's death in '77. In fact, his hot Telecaster licks actually incited Elvis to become one of the first noted practitioners of air guitar.

Before hooking up with Elvis, Burton played lead guitar on all of Ricky Nelson's recordings from 1958 to 1967. He started playing with Nelson when he was only 18. "Hey, I gotta get home. It's a quarter to 12!"

More recently Burton performed with Eric Clapton and other six-string specialists at the latest Crossroads Guitar Festival. Here he is trading licks on a TV show with a couple of other decent players, Chet Atkins and Albert Lee. Stand on it, James!