Three chords and the truth from Canadian champion of traditional country.
If the Americana umbrella can be shared with its neighbours in roots, folk, and country music, then Sean Burns is firmly in the old-time country stable. His music is inspired by the era of the Texas dancehall and classic honky tonk. With his encyclopaedic knowledge of country music, he fronts a long-running radio show, Boots & Saddle, and has released several themed albums, the most recent being his 2023 album of covers, Lost Country. Burns has a kindred spirit here in the UK, where Oxford’s Ags Connolly has been described by the influential US review site Saving Country Music as “one of the carriers of the country music holy ghost”, and the same magazine proclaims that “Burns might be the most important person in the entire nation of Canada when it comes to the preservation of traditional country music.”
On first listening to Better Off In Time & Other Songs For The Dance Floor, it’s quite possible to imagine being in a smoke-filled dive bar with only a jukebox and a bottle for company. There’s an immediate sense of the past, with lashings of pedal steel and fiddle accompanying Burns on upright bass, his voice a commanding presence with an impressive vibrato. There are ten original songs which were recorded at Winnipeg’s No Fun Club; titles such as When The Heartaches Call and I Do My Cryin’ Alone underline the melancholic nature of so much music in this style.
Burns is an accomplished musician and writer, playing bass in Corb Lund’s Hurtin’ Albertans. For the recording sessions, he was joined by guitarist Chris Dunn, drummer Joanna Miller, and pedal steel guitarist Dan Russell, along with several guests including legendary piano player Floyd Domino, a member of Asleep At The Wheel and a sideman with Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. About the record, Burns says, “I fell deeper and deeper down the well of Texas dancehall country music made by artists like Johnny Bush and Amber Digby, as well as the earlier era of Ray Price and Johnny Bush. I was spinning a lot of that music on my radio program and was immersed in the style those bands play down there. I could have gone to Texas to make this album, but I had assembled a good band at home, so I thought we could put our own spin on that sound.”
Opening with the hard luck story Glory For Me, one of three songs that the artist co-wrote when touring together with producer Skinny Dyck around 2018-2019, Burns says, “I think all the new songs touch on a similar theme of the protagonist being down and out, or at best, the underdog. Maybe we were seeing some of ourselves in these characters as we were out there grinding on the road to little or no fanfare.”
Despite its roots in the relatively distant past, there’s a compelling freshness to the record due to the modernity of the production. The ensemble playing is flawless, with a very live feel owing to a couple of shows where the band rehearsed the songs. Above all, it’s Burns’ voice that demands attention. He could be a middle-aged crooner with years on the road under his wheels, but the press photographs show a young man in dungarees with the words Country Music tattooed on his arm. Sean Burns is clearly a committed and talented champion of the traditional country genre, and for anyone wishing to broaden their knowledge of all things Americana, this album would be a very good place to start.
