“Cherry On Top” is a sultry, burlesque blues with lyrics of love for this Valentine’s Day! Chicago blues artist Johnny Burgin is livin’ in a lover’s paradise and wants the world to know! The trademark restrained lines and super-clean tone of Anson Funderburgh heightens the romantic and indulgent mood of this new blues digital single.
Johnny and his road manager, producer Stephanie Tice, share a lot of lighthearted banter as they travel — leading to lots of “that’s a song!” moments. “Cherry On Top” is a true-life love song that was quickly jotted down as the tour van rolled. Johnny always loves to record in different cities with great local musicians, and last winter while touring in Dallas, Johnny and his touring bassist Chris Matheos jumped at the chance to record with young multi-instrumentalist Reo Casey on drums and veteran pianist Christian Dozzler.
Blues guitar aficionados will love this fruitful pairing of Johnny Burgin and Anson Funderburgh‘s guitars– their first appearance together on record. Anson has long been one of the very best living blues guitarists, with an elegant and instantly recognizable sound with roots in the swinging early BB King style. Johnny’s more in a gutbucket, Chicago West Side sound, and creates a fun contrast by playing very aggressively on the outro. All in all, it’s a great meeting of dedicated simpatico blues artists to bring to this seductive and fun tune to life.
It was really fun to record in Dallas, I love spending time in Texas and hanging out with so many of the great musicians there. I’ve always wanted to make a collection of blues music for burlesque dance, and I hope “Cherry on Top” will be the first step in that journey. Working with Anson was a highlight of my career as a guitarist and he brought just the right spice to the song. On that same session, I recorded a few tunes with Dylan Bishop, he’s got a huge talent. – Johnny Burgin
“Cherry on Top” is available for streaming and download today via Delmark Records and can be purchased here.
Johnny Burgin
*Feature image courtesy of Delmark Records
