When a Two-Lane Road Was a Super Highway
An “Original new-wave Acoustic eccentric Americana folk-music Duo” established in 2018....through the marriage of the diverse musical styling of S. Indiana's Lonesome Steve & S. Illinois’ Jerry Wilson...if the shadows are just right the pair can oft times be spotted rehearsing along the banks of the Wabash River (the half way point between their hometowns) .... sharing a cane fishing pole & a daydream of playing their music for anyone & everyone who will lend an ear.....
Tall Tales, Short Stories & Poems That Don't Rhyme
The BurmaShaver(s) are melodic storytellers, and the tales continue in their newest “Live…Hot Lather…” album series. On these tracks, Steve and Jerry muse on life’s complexities and eccentricities, accompanied by the familiar, friendly feel of acoustic guitars and a felt musical camaraderie. They share their window to the world and invite us to look through it. Capturing the grace of folk music, they drain art and song of any pretense and instead, let lyrics bud out of what is real and raw - fun and formative. Listening to this album, I felt like I had pulled up a chair in a corner coffee shop and walked out with new friends, new thoughts, and new characters to share life with. If you enjoy a folk feel and new friends, this album is for you!
~Michele Whitney (Sparks, NV)
Tearing Up Our Old Clothes For Rags
The BurmaShaver(s): They call themselves an “Original new-wave Acoustic eccentric Americana folk-music Duo." What in the world does that even mean? As a lover of many different, unique, and diverse music styles, I can tell you that they are layered both musically and lyrically. The BurmaShaver(s) represent both whimsical and deep perspectives embedded with wisdom and simplicity. They don't sound like anything else in today's world! The result? You have a nice chef salad that feels reflective and fun, wise and vibrant, and even a bit poetic all at once!
~Pixie Roberts (Washington, IN)
284 Original Music Shows: 6 States, 69 Cities so far...
Reminiscences & Recollections:
- 2023: Widow's Harvest Music Festival to the Ferdinand Folk Festival & 49 subsequent musical points along the journey...
- 2022: Chicago, IL to Nashville TN... Cincinnati, OH to Columbia, MO.
- 2021: Coffee Houses, Festivals, Cafes, Wineries, Brew Pubs, Porches, Parks, House Concerts, Farmer's Markets, Vintage Camper Rallies & more...
- 2020: 308 chicken McNuggets, 1 unwelcome white RAT in the hotel bed (in the middle of the night!), a molasses pie & a persimmon pudding…
- 2019: 36 Vintage Campers, 72 cups of coffee, 18 guitar pics, 12 9-volt batteries, 1 police issued driving suggestion and a wasp sting…
the BurmaShaver(s)..."Five & Dime" General Store
Live...hot lather...(set 1)
Live...hot lather...(set 1)
Live...hot lather...(set 1)
13 Original songs including: "Bees in the Butter", "Tearing Up Our Old Clothes for Rags" & "Rayse Creek"
Live...hot lather...(set 2)
Live...hot lather...(set 1)
Live...hot lather...(set 1)
14 Original songs including: "Court & Cottage", "Different" & "Molasses Pie"
Live...hot lather...(set 3)
Live...hot lather...(set 1)
Live...hot lather...(set 3)
15 Original songs including: "Indiana on my Mind" , "Sideshow Betty" & "100 Years Too Late"
Live...hot lather...(set 4)
Live...hot lather...(set 4)
Live...hot lather...(set 3)
14 Original songs including: "Goodbye Little Opie", "Ballad of Billy Tom" & "Vintage Campers"
Live...hot lather...(set 5)
Live...hot lather...(set 4)
Live...hot lather...(set 5)
14 Original songs including: "54-40 or Fight", "Homeless to Huntingburg" & "Ink Blots"
Live...hot lather...(set 6)
Live...hot lather...(set 4)
Live...hot lather...(set 5)
13 Original songs including: "Wave on to Waverly", "Rosabelle, Answer Tell" & "Banned in Fairfield"
Live...hot lather...(set 7)
Live...hot lather...(set 7)
Live...hot lather...(set 7)
14 Original songs including: "Nineveh", "Slow Boat to China" & "Southwest Serenade"
the Earls of Opa City
“Once had a dream about the James Gang, they tied me up and shot me in the back. I don’t worry too much about bandits, payroll doesn’t travel down these tracks.”
It takes a songwriter with no fear of opacity to put the King of Kingsport and the Duke of Paducah together in the same song with such panache that they don’t even clash because “the bees are in the butter and we better find the hive.”
I may have heard a catchier hook than “Bees are in the Butter,” somewhere, sometime, but I can’t remember where or when.
I heard one person cry and many people laughing when Steve Earle said he would stand up on Bob Dylan’s coffee table and testify that Townes Van Zandt was the better songwriter. That overzealous urge to overstate facts not in evidence reminds me of how I feel about Lonesome Steve Fowler, a songwriter I met online almost twenty years ago.
What to make of this line: “They took my pony made of pine …”
Can it mean other than a wooden horse? I don’t see how, yet a song about a toy wooden horse, how fey, how lonesome. Brings back memories of the Bobby Goldsboro classic “Dream on Little Broomstick Cowboy,” but is it really about a toy horse?
As often as possible, I listen closely to the words of “Last Ditch Attempt” and have yet to crack the opaque shell of its opacity. The singer rides a pony made of pine. Who but the Earl of Opa City does that?
I’ve been considering the lyrics to this song for years now, and it makes me want to stand up on Steve Earle’s coffee table and yell, “Burmashaver(s)!”
I will be listening to these songs a lot in the near future, and my favorite may change, but for now, the song that knocks me out the most is “Tearing Up Our Old Clothes for Rags.”
“Old kitchen matches, Sackcloth and ashes, Tearing up our old clothes for rags.”
If it’s true that there is no justice in this world, then this song will never be a hit. Sorry about that, boys. To me, it is and deserves a more elaborate production. With horns and trumpets. (Think Glen Miller’s “In the Mood”) Just a thought.
~ Kevin C. Wilson (Jacksonville, FL)
the Whistlers Down on Main Street
They’re called the BurmaShaver(s)... a melodic duo with very good guitar players and a folk/bluegrass sound with a contemporary vibe.
At a recent show one interlude was “Dueling Banjos” and the next sounded like a cross between “Amie” (Pure Prairie League) and “Pictures of Matchstick Men” (Status Quo).
The duo’s song "Bees in the Butter” conjured up a rustic, summery vibe, giving a shout-out to all-time hits leader (but still not Hall of Famer) Pete Rose. “54-40 or Fight” hearkened back to the Westward Movement and social studies class while “Tearing Up Our Old Clothes for Rags” had a steel-guitar sound—two acoustic guitars acting as one steel. I enjoyed the line “Cornbread rhythm and Johnny Cake rhyme.” as it reminded me of a waitress I knew and her quote about Johnny Cake (which she—and I–knew as corn bread.)
“Whistler on Main Street” featured a foreboding vibe; while“Rayse Creek” was a melodic number with a Neil Young voice and descriptive imagery of a longtime, well-traveled trail.
The last song contained train imagery and may have a religious message. “Point the Rail?” The guitars faded gradually out—the way a train gradually slows to a stop.... The BurmaShaver(s) think back to not minding being without, longing for the simpler life and the hard work that went with it.
~Bob E. Ruene (St. Louis Mo.)