Todd Burge

Todd Burge:
Two New Albums - Recorded 32 Years Apart
If it’s been discovered by man, West Virginian Todd Burge has written about it. Born to ponder and observe life, each of his songs tells a story. Whether drawn from personal experience or a tale of poetically woven fiction, you’ll live every second of it through his songs.

Now, Todd Burge is releasing two original albums – one from 2018 and one for 1986 – as double CD package. Todd Burge (1986 The First Album) is his never-released debut record, and the second, Your Reflection Will Kill You, is his latest work recorded by Don Dixon (James McMurtry, REM). They are a pair of now-and-then sonic bookends, both opposite and yet intertwined as a collection of stories that brought Burge to where he is today.

Describing it as a victim of record industry red tape, Burge says that “the 1986 album was probably the second or third time I was ever in a studio. It’s a rock and roll record with bits of punk. I’m not surprised at how it sounds when I listen to it now, because I know I was filled with angst back then. Maybe that’s what I needed it to be when I was recording that music. Now I listen to it as if someone else created it, and it really helped me decide which songs would go on the new record.”

A few years and a few experiences later, Your Reflection Will Kill You, shows that, like good whiskey, Burge is refined with time. On the making of the new record, Burge tells us, “I wanted to be as comfortable as possible, so I asked Don Dixon (James McMurtry, REM) to come to my home. Don is a master at capturing a live recording session and making everyone feel comfortable. He has a great set of ears and great taste. You can trust his opinion, and that is important as, after a while, when I record, I don’t trust my own.

“The only rule I brought to the table was that we would not use anything but our acoustic instruments. Steel string guitar for me, nylon for Ryan (Kennedy), upright acoustic for John (Inghram). See, I have this emotional attachment to that sound that dates back to when I was five or six years old, back when I was still taking naps, I think. I would ask my mother to play Roger Miller’s greatest hits. You know Roger Miller’s “King of the Road”? Miller played a nylon string guitar. It’s a sound you don’t hear often in country music, but Roger Miller was not typical. I’ve been a huge fan of Willie Nelson’s since I was in grade school as well. Another nylon string guitar player. That guitar sound is just embedded in me. It moves me more than most sounds do.”

“With wit and pathos in equal measure, Todd Burge takes on subjects in his songs that never occur to most folks. Subjects too quirky, too controversial, too obtuse for most writers to get a handle on. His compelling vocal style and unique perspective keep me interested long after the last note rings out.”-
Producer Don Dixon

From Bunj Jam Records Radio Promotion By Art Menius art@artmenius.com 919-675-2787

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Dennis McCurdy thanks so much for the review of my latest release!

From basso profondo to contralto, Todd Burge brings 10 newly minted and handcrafted songs to our ears. Written with a sense of wit and irony that escapes many writers, Todd takes ordinary images and experiences and twists them into his own brand of…well, Toddishness.

It might be an easy reaction to call Todd’s music whimsical. But to me whimsy connotes serendipity and there is too much intentionality in his writing to really make it whimsical. Each song is unique to Todd’s style. That said you may note some influences in his writing that does not become imitation. But, if you tell me that you can hear a bit of Kurt Weill in Back to the Races, or some Johnny Cash meets Marty Robbins in the title track, Your Reflection Will Kill You, then I would applaud you for paying such good attention to his songs. Dig a little deeper and see if you don’t hear a little Roger Miller ala Todd-style in Comic Book Sleeve, or some Lou Reed, sans the colored girls singing doot-dah-doot, on Don’t Water My Whiskey Down. For a final act of daring Todd attributes a simple, familiar gospel melody to another Eastern/mystic journey on Lotus Flower(Lakshmi) weaving a lovely song that connects both the simplicities of the faith, and also the tonal reaches of both genres while referencing me to one of my favorite songs in his repertoire, I Believe This, I Believe. (From My Lost and Found)

One of the beauties of Todd’s writing is that he will lead you into a rhyming verse with a particularly strong (and often predictable) rhyming line coming up only to drop the rhyme and insert a word or phrase that doesn’t rhyme and works perfectly. This causes the listener to stop, and say, “right...that’s good’. He does this often enough that you realize he works at it: not as a contrivance or a gimmick; but as a well-conceived and intended twist that makes you want to attend to the song and the lyrics and play along with him. Even with Todd’s immense vocal range and stylings, I find that I cannot sit and passively listen. I want to join in. I want to learn the words. I want to know where he is going, and I want to exercise and expand my range to track him or at least sing harmony along with him.

Recorded with minimal instrumentation, all skillfully performed by Ryan Kennedy and John Inghram - Musician, with delicate leads and fills that do not intrude on the overall structure of the songs and bass lines that are both innovative and crisp that pulls the listener through the material, this cd is beautifully recorded and mixed, with Don Dixon (REM, James McMurtry) at the dials. There is a clarity and purity to the sound that isn’t present in much studio work and seldom found (if Don’s not at the helm) in live works like this one. In all, Your Reflection Will Kill You, is a strong album engaging aging, families, humor, life experiences, and existential journeys all done with lyricality and melody in mind that will make you keep this one in rotation for a while and want to share it with your friends.
Dennis W. McCurdy 1/10/2019

Dennis is a singer songwriter living in Harmony PA. He also host the ongoing music series Harmony in the House at the Bottlebrush: A Gallery for the Arts