The AT40 Blog/June 7, 1980: A child prodigy learns from dad

During the early years of Rock 'N Roll, there were three types of music that were the heartbeats. One was soul music, and those came out in the ballads that were made famous by such singers as Sam Cooke, Brook Benton and Jerry Butler. There was blues music, that a lot of instrumentalists played that became famous. And there was upgraded country music, country music with a beat.

Jerry Lee Lewis was a rocker who dabbled in what many called rock-a-billy music. So did Buddy Holly, as did Buddy Knox and Jimmie Rodgers. And there were the Burnette brothers, Johnny and Dorsey. Johnny scored Top 20 hits with "Dreamin'," "Little Boy Sad" and the Top 10 smash "You're Sixteen." Dorsey had one Top 40 pop hit with "(There Was A) Tall Oak Tree," but scored numerous chart singles on the country chart.

Johnny Burnette's career was in full swing. Then came the early morning of August 14, 1964. On that Friday morning, Burnette had taken his unlit fishing boat out for a ride in Clear Lake, Calif. He was going to do some early-morning fishing. Without much warning, Burnette's boat was hit by a cabin cruiser that understandably never saw the boat or Burnette in it. Burnette fell out of the boat and drowned. He was just 30 years old.

Dorsey Burnette never was the same without his brother, though he continued on with his career. His life would be over too early as well when he suffered a heart attack and died on August 19, 1979, at the age of 46, mere weeks after he released his latest album, "Tall Oak Tree." The brothers were interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, Calif., alongside their parents.

At the same time of Dorsey Burnette's death, a song began charting in South Africa, a country that you wouldn't associate with the Burnette brothers or with rock-a-billy music.

That hit single made a big impact on the charts there, climbing as high as No. 3 by the end of the year. It was called "Tired Of Toein' The Line." And it was by an artist named Burnette.

But it wasn't Johnny or Dorsey. Instead, it was a guy named Rocky Burnette, the son of Johnny Burnette, born Jonathan Burnette on June 12, 1953, in Memphis.

Rocky Burnette was 11 years old when his father passed away. It devastated Rocky in many ways, but mostly without any money coming in, not only did they lose their car, but their home and all their Hollywood friends. But one friend of his father's kept the family upright in those years after his death.

That was Glen Campbell, a prominent studio musician who worked with Johnny Burnette and had made a name for himself as part of the famed Los Angeles-based studio group, The Wrecking Crew. What he did was finance the family by hiring Burnette's widow, Thurley, as his personal secretary. That kept the family afloat for a few years and at the age of 14, Johnny Burnette got into the music his dad loved. And a few years later, he was signed to Acuff-Rose Publishing in Nashville to get his feet in the door as a teenager. But Burnette was asked to right songs for the teen idols of the time, David Cassidy and The Osmonds.

That wasn't what Rocky Burnette was about. He wanted to pay homage to his late father, but he also wanted to rock out a little more. As Burnette himself said in a 1980 People interview, "I was told, 'Think Jimmy Osmond.' Do you know what that does to the psyche?"

On top of that, Burnette was living out of the back seat of a friend's 1951 Mercury and was "mooching off everybody," as he said to People.

"I couldn't even afford a tuna fish sandwich," he said.

But the worst was yet to come for young Rocky Burnette. In 1977, his longtime girlfriend, Carol Lee Trent, was killed in an automobile accident, sending him reeling. Two years later, Burnette lost five family members, including his grandmother Willie Mae and, of course, his uncle Dorsey.

Then he caught the break he was looking for when EMI America signed Burnette to a deal shortly after he arrived in England to work alongside a group called The Pirates that played the music Burnette grew up around, including his dad's work. He ventured to Wales to record what would be his debut album, "The Son Of Rock And Roll." It was during that time, he met up with former Everly Brothers and Brothers Grim bass guitarist Ray Coleman. He and Burnette sat down to write a song that would change fortunes again.

The song, which was about the imminent breakup of a relationship, was called "Tired Of Toein' The Line." The song featured the mix that Burnette was craving for, a rock song that had the elements of rock-a-billy, most notably a twangy guitar that Burnette solos on near the end of the song.

EMI America thought highly of the song, too, and released it in South Africa first, peaking in early 1980 The success there emboldened them to go to other countries. So in late April 1980, "Tired Of Toein' The Line" was released. `On May 10, 1980, it was the highest debuting single on Billboard's Hot 100 chart at No. 71. It would climb to No. 60 the next week, then No. 48 the week after. There was a short climb the next week to No. 43.

Then on the week of June 7, 1980, "Tired Of Toein' The Line" entered Burnette into the Top 40 at No. 34, the first time a Burnette found his way into the Top 40 since his father hit with "God, Country And My Baby" in 1961. It was also the highest debut of the week within the Top 40.

Burnette made a big move of eight places to No. 26, then to No. 20 on June 21, 1980. From there, "Tired" moved up a little bit at a time, to No. 18, then No. 15 and No. 13. A one-point move the next week was starting to give those doubt as to whether Burnette's song had the muscle to make the Top 10. Then on July 26, 1980, "Tired Of Toein' The Line" proved it was anything but tired when it marched up four places to land Burnette in the Top 10 at No. 8, 20 years after his father had done the same thing with "You're Sixteen." Like his dad's hit, Burnette's own hit would also tap out at No. 8, where it held for two straight weeks before falling back to No. 13, then No. 31, No. 37 and out by August 30, 1980.

Burnette's song was heard all over the place – at parties, on the beach, in backyard gatherings and in the roller skating rinks. And wherever the music video could be shown, one that featured Burnette playing in a band all with models (six years before Robert Palmer did it on "Addicted To Love") and who he douses with a fire hose at the end of the song, it helped lead to the song's popularity.

In Canada, it was a big summertime hit where it would peak at No. 4. But in Australia at the same time the song was taking off in the U.S., it went straight to No. 1 there, giving him his only No. 1 song anywhere.

The second single, "Baby Tonight," was ready to be released. Burnette and his band were excited. But one major problem sidelined hope of another big single – EMI America went belly up because it didn't have the funds to promote the single. Soon after, the company was consolidated and started anew.

So Burnette decided to rekindle an old love and put it back on the road. No, it wasn't a car ... it was actually the Rock And Roll Trio, a three-man group that played rock-a-billy music that involved his dad and uncle and lead guitarist Paul Burlison. Burlison teamed up with Johnny Black and Tony Austin and toured with Burnette throughout Europe, where they were applauded almost everywhere they went. Burnette signed with Enigma Records and he and the Trio put out "Go Hot Or Go Home!" which sold miserably, allowing Enigma to drop Burnette and the Trio.

Burnette wandered throughout musical landscapes through the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s where he worked as a session musician and released another CD called "Tear It Up" on Core Records. In 1997, he co-wrote, "You Got Away With Love," which became a monster smash hit throughout Europe for Percy Sledge, the singer of "When A Man Loves A Woman" fame.

These days, Burnette is out doing rock-a-billy shows where he can. And keeping it in the family, cousin Billy Burnette, Dorsey's son, became a solo artist and then in 1990, joined Fleetwood Mac as a guitarist for a short time after Lindsay Buckingham left.

In the summer of 1980, we found out that the apple didn't fall far from the tree when Rocky Burnette proved he could be as big a rock-a-billy star as his dad was with one memorable record.

He made his rock-a-billy forefathers proud.