A musician’s funeral is like a gypsy send-off and last Wednesday on the hill above Kingsport, we laid to rest another talented soul from Kingsport. David Lynn Burton – age 57 passed on Monday, September 18th and over the span of his life, he blessed a lot of people with his talent as both a drummer, singer and a shining smile that is hard to forget.
I never got to play music with David Burton. That’s something I will regret. Over the past several years, plenty of people recognized the short, bald guy who seemed to glow with his friends in the band Kids Our Age. This trio/quartet featured a handful of distinguished players including Jim Lane on keyboards, David Cook on keyboards and David Riggs on bass and vocals. These guys entertained everywhere around the region and still have one of the busiest schedules of any of the bands I know.
I first heard about David’s death on The Buzz music forum at GoTriCities. This online archive of the local music scene has been publishing the ups and downs of the local music scene for about eight years now. David Burton was a regular contributor and as the administrator of this Internet forum, it’s strange for me to look back on the archive and read David’s contributions – he’s recognized as “Humphammer” and his comments still exist as part of the archive.
For the past several years, David ran a studio in Mount Carmel. Jason Lloyd, a keyboardist from Bristol with Ivy Road looked out from his dark glasses on this September evening and told me about how many times he had worked together with David. Jason was on call when David needed a piano player and said that during the last several weeks, David hadn’t let anyone in to see him. He had been sick for sometime now.
Jim Lane, keyboardist for Kid’s Our Age and retired art teacher from Church Hill shared with me that David stopped playing with the band a long time ago as he started to yellow. He evidently had a case of gout and never recovered. David and Jim were great friends too. I was walking through the funeral line and David’s mother Ruth was in a wheel chair, clearly grief stricken as flowers and photos of David’s life surrounded her. Someone read the words off a plaque that Jim had made and the words described a beautiful friendship. I was surprised later when Jim pulled the black cardboard paper out of a bag and handed me an ornate hand made design and a typed letter of their memory together.
Rhonda Givens kept me up about David Lynn Burton for the past twenty years. His sister Nanci and Rhonda were best of friends and as we looked at the yellowed pictures of Dave’s life in a small photo album in front of his closed casket, we talked about her memories of growing up living upstairs from David’s basement hideaway. His hair was long, brown and shaggy and furled like most of the kids in the seventies and he looked mischevious and that’s certainly true for the rest of his life.
“He had absolutely no fear of schnapps, beer, or wine. ”
Those are the words written in all capital letters that Tom Bettini wrote as an elegy for David on the Buzz. His wife Lisa shared her thoughts too and they both still delight in talking about the man who always made you laugh.
At the funeral, I waited in the hallway as other friends and family arrived and talked to several regional musicians that all shared experiences with David including Charlie Aesque and his wife, David Cook, Brian Horne, David Riggs, Jim Lane, Jason Lloyd, Lynda and I understand that Bennie Wilson, Don Gormon and KD Forsha paid their respects too. I’m certain there were plenty others there too and that’s why it reminded me soo much of a gypsy passing. All the musicians stopped for a moment in their own lifes and gave their respect for a man who lived a great life and influenced many musicians and talented people with the region.
Jim’s card is something I will treasure too – the one he made for Dave’s mother.
