Chester Burns, Dallas musician, passes

Chester Burns (wearing hat). Photo: Roman Navarro Ross

The Dallas music scene lost another player in Chester Burns who passed away Friday, February 19. Over the past year, he could be seen playing his guitar every weekend at R.L. Blues Palace. Though known mostly for his guitar playing, he was also a singer and a songwriter.

‘He was a real musician,’ said his nephew Dave Burns, who was a drummer for soul blues superstar Johnnie Taylor. ‘He had heart to be doing what he was doing at his age. He played for over 60 years.

‘Chester was kind. He knew what it was all about. We could come home to a little club or go to Carnegie Hall.

‘Uncle Chester: you just call out a song and he knew it; he would play it on his guitar. He tripped me out: before the gig he would play on his guitar and I would be like God, I didn’t know he had that one in him. It could be country, rock. He was a real inspiration, real classy, real humble.’

Dave said he and his uncle Chester played gigs together practically his whole life in clubs and homes; sometimes with Dave’s father Evie Burns (Chester’s brother). Evie Burns played bass. Dave’s brothers were also musicians Carl (bass) and Ricky (guitar).

Another noted member of Dallas guitar community Andrew Junior Boy Jones was good friends with Chester Burns. ‘He was a good guy,’ Jones said. ‘He was mild and easy to get along with and to talk to.’ Jones said he met Chester Burns in the 1980s when Jones would play the Classic Club and a few small clubs in Dallas.

In describing Chester Burns style, Jones said, ‘R&B blues, old R&B blues in the style of Tyrone Davis, southern soul; it wasn’t hardcore blues.’