The Voice of The Guess Who: Burton Cummings

Welcome back to another special edition Music Drives Us. I'm J-Bo. The gentleman we're about to bring to you, we've been singing his hits, These Eyes, No Time, Undone, Laughing American Woman, Clap of the Wolf Man, No Sugar Tonight, Share the World. Since the late 60s and the 70s, we still sing them every day. Please welcome from the Guess Who? Such an honor, Burton Cummings.

Hello. Well, thank you very much for the kind words. My goodness gracious. I'm thrilled. I'll tell you what you just said. I'm thrilled. that the songs have never gone away. Stuff that came out of our heads decades ago is still being played. To me, that's the big dream that most people have when they get in their first band. They dream about that, but it doesn't happen to everybody. It has happened to me and it has happened to Randy, so we're very grateful. Thank you, music gods. Thank you.

Well, it is a treat for us, too. You're so great. You're between your Canadian dates and your American dates. You're taking a little break. So it's more even special that you're on with us today. Normally, you want to relax, have a cocktail, sit by the pool. So it's very special that you're joining us today. But we've got to talk about this. You and Randy Bachman are back together on the road after 23 years together. The real Guess Who Band. And I want to talk about that in a minute. I want to get deep into it because I've heard you talk about it. It's really important for everyone to know. But first, I got to start. I got to start with an apology to you. You don't know why. I'm on the radio every night on Sirius XM 70s on 7 in all 50 states and Canada. When I started there in 2012, I looked at the music log, and there it is, Stand Tall. I get to play Burton Cummings' solo smash for the first time on my great new national job. I made a big deal out of it. I said, ladies and gentlemen, here it is, the solo smash from Burton Cummings, his one-hit wonder, Stand Tall. I start the song. The next day, I get blasted by your Canadian fan base saying, J-Bo, do your homework. That's not a one-hit wonder. And they started listing hit after hit after hit you had in Canada, which I should have done my homework. I've been here in America. So my sincere apology that I shortchanged you.

Not a problem. Not a problem. I'm very happy with where I'm at. As I say, the songs have never gone away. And whether it's solo stuff or Guess Who stuff, I've been on the radio now. longer than I haven't been on the radio. And for most entertainers, that's really very, very special. I grew up listening to AM radio. Randy Baxter and I were very lucky in Winnipeg we had three major AM stations, and one of them was 50,000 watts clear channel. So it was going all over Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, across into the states. And we heard, you know, it was only a city of about 350,000 people. There were three major stations vying for the audience. All those stations were on their very, very best all the time. Randy and I heard music that they weren't hearing anywhere else in Canada. He turned me on to Georgie Fame from England for the first time. That changed my way of singing. RCA sent me Lambert, Hendrix, and Ross. That