Elvis Aaron Presley; born January 8, 1935

I have this post queued up last month and forgot to post it.  I wanted to point out on Jan. 8th - that last summer, I got to see Elvis's "A-number-one" guitar player in concert.  It was at the the huge, all-day Eric Clapton Crossroads guitar festival near where I live.  The guy is James Burton, and as the accompanying youtube clip will attest - he is just totally awesome.   He was born in 1939 in Dubberly, Louisiana - James is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  His induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards.  Burton has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.  Critic Mark Demming writes that "Burton has a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest guitar pickers in either country or rock ... [Burton is] one of the best guitar players to ever touch a fretboard."  James Burton is also known as the Master of Telecaster.  At the Clapton concert, for his set - Burton was matched up in a group with this very cool lineup: Vince Gill, Keb Mo, Earl Klugh, and Albert Lee - doing Gill's One More Last Chance.  They also did Mystery Train (Co-written by Junior Parker and Sam Phillips), and with the host's permission, Lay Down Sally.  James Burton is mentioned frquently in the the Keith Richards autobiography that I just finished reading.