Billy Don Burns - Nights When I'm Sober (Portrait Of A Honky Tonk Singer) (2012)

Tracklist

01. Honky Tonk Singer
02. Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
03. Gaylor Creek Church
04. Is He The Writer
05. Born To Ride
06. Stranger
07. It Would Kill Mama
08. Diablo's Highway
09. Heart Breakdown
10. That's Alright
11. Aaron Rodgers And Me
12. When Lonesome Comes Around

Burns, who over his 40 year career has produced albums by Merle Haggard, Tanya Tucker, Johnny Paycheck and written songs for Willie Nelson, Connie Smith, Sammy Kershaw, and many others has partnered up with Rusty Knuckles Records and released a new album, Nights When I’m Sober: Portrait of a Honky Tonk Singer. On Billy Don’s new release, the realities of life are harsh but poetic, painful and yet, beautiful. From kicking it in “That’s Alright,” a honky tonk rouser that shows he keeps his humor amidst life’s troubles, to tearing the heart strings in “When Lonesome Comes Around,” each arrangement accents rather than distracts. And, by the way, “When Lonesome Comes Around” is in the league of “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” Yes, it is.
Each song tells a different part of Billy Don’s story. “It Would Kill Mama” was written after a friend asked Billy Don (through a bathroom door) what would his mama would think about what he was doing in there (drugs). See, Billy Don doesn’t hide anything. Anything. He bares it all and you love him for it. He is one of the most unique and gifted artists walking this planet. I don’t give a shit who is on the charts right now, blah blah blah. If it were a balanced world, then Billy Don would be number one right now. But it is not a balanced world. And today’s music machine is one big mess. You have to take the beauty where you can get it. And beauty lies in the art. True Art is what matters. And True Art is what Billy Don gives you. Listen to “Honky Tonk Singer” and you’ll hear the lonely cry of a worn country heart. Through this album, he’ll take you on a journey battling the road, through the drugs and the drink… and wrestling with that internal desire that needs the music, searches for truth and longs for deliverance as well as distinction from the sheep that roam this land.

DOWNLOAD ALBUM [flac]