Son of a Fireman

"I pitched ‘Kill a Man’ to Morgan [Wallen] and it was crickets. There’s stuff on [my album] that people just wouldn’t touch because they were a little too brazen and wild. But I’m the man for it. If anybody’s going to do it, it’s going to be me."

(Ben Burgess / tasteofcountry.com, October 7, 2022)

When retired fireman Steven Burgess passed away from cancer at the beginning of 2019 in a suburb of Dallas, Texas at only 65 years of age, he left behind not only his mother and wife, but also 4 children. Among them son Ben Burgess.

Close to four and a half years later, on July 12, 2023 this son released a song in memory of his father. It is titled 'Son of a Fireman' and also tells his own story.

I grew up, son of a fireman,
paintin' houses, mowin' lawns.
All I wanted was a better life,
for him and momma.
Hell, for us all.

(Son of a Fireman / Ben Burgess, Kevin Kadish)

Ben Burgess grew up in eastern Dallas, in a family where music played a central role. "My dad was a guitar man, and mamma was a DJ", he was telling The Lakewood Advocate from Dallas in 2020. "They didn’t have a name for me, but it had to be something about music. They’d been jamming, so mom was like, “What about Benjamin?” Been jamming. It’s destiny."

Growing up in Dallas he came across all sorts of music and eventually got a chance to attend the well respected  Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts. But after his father had taught him to play some guitar and write his first songs, he decided to go to Austin instead of finishing school. There he began playing in cover bands in clubs on famous Sixth Street.

Why Austin? "[My parents] had the Willie Nelson 'Stardust' album, and they played it all the time", Ben Burgess remembered in a conversation with countryswag.com. "And the cool thing about that album was that he covered other songs, so he was doing like Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, all different kinds of music." Today Austin has a bronze sculpture of Willie Nelson on display, because with his legandary performances at the Armadillo World Headquarters club in the 1970s he gets most credit for really kick-starting the Austin live music scene. That's why Austin!

Yeah, I was grindin'.
I moved to California,
lookin' for that pot of gold.
(Son of a Fireman / Ben Burgess, Kevin Kadish)

After a couple of years in Austin he moved on to Los Angeles, where he started writing pop songs and landed a first cut with the Jonas Brothers ('Chillin’ In the Summertime'). But it was only meant to be another step on the journey to his final destiny. "I only lasted for four-and-a-half years in L.A. It was rough and tough, but it was where I cut my teeth. I have no regrets. I feel like everything happens for a reason. The process is part of the payoff. It’s part of the story. That’s what I look back on, and I’m proud of", he openly admits during a conversation with tasteofcountry.com.

"I was working with a lot of pop producers in L.A. They played me their beats, and I’d sing it. They’d say, 'It’s too much. Straighten it out. Adam Levine is not going to sing your song because it sounds country.' They ran me out of town. But I really learned how to craft songs in L.A. different than they do in L.A."

Then to Nashville.
Me and a buddy.
Wrote a song you probably know.
By the time that I made it, he was gone.
(Son of a Fireman / Ben Burgess, Kevin Kadish)

From California he eventually made it to Nashville, where it felt like he had finally arrived. He was signed to a songwriting deal by Warner Chappell Music in 2015 and his songs were getting recorded. One of the first ones he wrote together with Kevin Kadish. It was going to become a future mega-hit, but just not quite yet. It took until 2018 when Morgan Wallen eventually recorded the track by the name of 'Whiskey Glasses'. It got released as a single the following year and became his first big solo number-1 hit. In addition it was subsequently awarded the BMI Song of the Year 2020 and has to date received 7x platinum certifications for 7 mio. units sold. 

But by that time his father had already passed away.

Now I could buy him that house by the river,
where he could wake up every morning and cast a line.
I could back that brand new Caddy in his driveway,
but the only thing I guess I couldn't buy,
was more time [with him].
(Son of a Fireman / Ben Burgess, Kevin Kadish)

'Whiskey Glasses' did not only hold the peak of the Radio (Billboard Country Airplay) Chart for 3 weeks in 2019, it also let well known producer Joey Moi approach Ben Burgess with an offer for a recording contract with his own label Big Loud Records. Who told entertainment-focus.com: "I’d given up on the dream of being an artist. I always wanted to do it and felt like I could, but the pieces never aligned."

On September 30, 2022 the debut album of Ben Burgess got released. It contained 10 tracks, all of which were co-written by the artist. holler.com quotes him on the sound of the project, as "Honest, heart-breaking, dramatic country and western." Or as the subtitle of the project says: Classic Cowboy Songs and Two Murder Ballads.

Not only was the cover of the album a reference to classic "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" by Marty Robbins from 1959, but also the video for the title cut 'Tears the Size of Texas'. The first verse of which attunes the listener to the theme of a song, which leads to a surprise learning experience, all wrapped up in an epic western theme:

Baby, I've always been a cowboy,
just my guitar, my horses, and gun.
Like the movies, I leave with the settin' sun,
and if I was you, baby, I'd run.

(Tears the Size of Texas / Josh Kerr, Ben Burgess)

The corresponding album sounds like dusty Texan vastnesses without ever sounding monotonous or dull. As it keeps surprising with unexptected twists in terms of lyrics as well as sonically. Without a doubt, the highlights of the project are it's storys which unmistakebly reveal the songwriter at the core of it: Ben Burgess.

He excels at telling stories, such as the one in 'Started A Band' about a relationship which falls apart, because he makes her a fan of a band he likes and she subsequently falls in love with the lead singer of the band and leaves him. Which makes him buy a guitar and start a band, to eventually become a star himself and finally meet her again.

At the age of 38 Ben Burgess seemingly has a late start into an active music career. But that allows him to bring experience and maturity to the table, adding additional appeal to the output of his musical as well as lyrical content. He seems to be well aware of life's contradictions, when he says: "If I’m surrounded in a church and the outlaws are out there and they got a hang rope on a tree, I’m going to pull a bottle of whiskey and light me a smoke and go out partying!"

At the same time he has experienced life's finiteness, when he closes 'Son of a Fireman', the touching song about the loss of his father, with the realization that he might have set priorities in his life differently:

I guess denial ain't just some river in Egypt
I was swimmin' in it the whole time.
If I knеw then I would have been
back in Dallas by his side.

But I was grindin' thе whole time.

(Son of a Fireman / Ben Burgess, Kevin Kadish)