Blues Triple Header: Johnny Burgin & Aki Kumar with Ben Rice

About this event

The Community Center for the Performing Arts and Blue Dragon Entertainment are pleased to present a Blues Triple Header: Johnny Burgin & Aki Kumar with special guest Ben Rice on Wednesday, September 9th at the WOW Hall. Johnny Burgin Johnny’s known as road warrior who’s on tour close to 200 nights a year across the States, in Mexico and Europe. But if you’d told him this would be his career when he was in High School, he wouldn’t have believed you. Johnny grew up in Mississippi and South Carolina and went to University of Chicago with the intention of becoming a writer. When a friend took him out to a West Side ghetto club to hear the blues singer Tail Dragger, it was a conversion moment. The blues came to life for Johnny and he fell headfirst into the vibrant Chicago blues scene. Choosing the blues clubs over the library, Johnny eagerly absorbed the lessons from the blues masters who practiced their craft nightly. By persistence and practice, Johnny gained a spot in Tail Dragger’s band, and started gigging and recording with traditional blues veterans like Sam Lay, Billy Boy Arnold, and Pinetop Perkins. By the late 90s, Johnny was working regularly in Chicagoland blues clubs under his own name. Johnny started a Monday night residency at The Smoke Daddy in Wicker Park, featuring vocalist Jimmy Burns. The band featured other future blues notables who were also at beginning of their careers, such as Kenny Smith on drums and Martin Lang on harp, and they created quite a buzz. They packed the club every Monday with a younger, hip crowd, as well as blues veterans stopping by to sit in such as Dave Meyers, Jesse Fortune, Barkin’ Bill, etc. Their success led to a record deal with Delmark and the first of several European tours. The shangri-la of being “King of Division Street” eventually ran its course. In the early aughts, Johnny dropped off the scene entirely to raise a daughter. When the music eventually called Johnny back, his comeback was noted by The Chicago…