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Area veteran forging country music career

Greenville Herald-Banner - 8/20/2018

Aug. 20--Twenty-six-year-old Brandon Bamburg, a Rockwall native and graduate of Rockwall-Heath High School, is plowing full-steam ahead in his career as a country music singer and songwriter.

Bamburg spent 5 years after high school in the US Navy, serving several tours of duty primarily aboard the USS Kidd, a destroyer vessel docked in San Diego, but he ultimately returned to his first love and his lifelong passion: music.

"I knew serving in the Navy was something I wanted to do," said Bamburg, who has since written a song about it. "There were good times and bad times, but I never lost sight of why I joined -- I love this country and wanted to give back to it how I could."

While stationed with the USS Kidd, Bamburg and his shipmates took part in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a commercial airliner that went missing in March 2014 over the South China Sea and remains missing to this day.

Bamburg said he's loved music all his life, but he's only been serious about it as a career for the past four years.

"My brother is a guitar player, but he's more of a rock-and-roller," Bamburg said, "and my mother has always loved music and raised me listening to the classic country artists."

Those very same classic country singers and songwriters are to whom Bamburg looks for his musical inspiration -- Merle Haggard, Keith Whitley, Lefty Frizzell, George Strait and more. Today's popular country music just doesn't cut it for him.

"I like some of the new stuff you hear on the radio, but for the most part, good new country music just doesn't get played," Bamburg said.

Still, he's not completely down on newer country artists, citing the likes of Jamie Johnson, Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton as beacons of hope in an otherwise bleak landscape of generic, cookie-cutter artists.

"Those guys are still writing 'outlaw' country music," Bamburg said. "It may not be what the Nashville cigar-chompers want to put on the radio, but they're writing the songs they want to and how they want to."

Bamburg is currently gearing up to record his first album, the follow up and re-recording of the solo demo album he's been selling at shows and giving to friends and family. One of the featured songs is "Rockwall, Texas USA," an ode to his beloved hometown.

"I love Rockwall very much," Bamburg said. "You just love where you're from. I've seen it grow from a small-town country atmosphere to where it is now, and I've been all over the world, but it's one of the greatest places and I'm always glad to come home."

Bamburg, who works part-time at Lowes and has played 150 shows in the last two years, said he has gigs every weekend and often some during the week, like the show he played at Greenville'sTexan Theater on Wednesday.

"I've been fortunate enough to meet some really great people who believe in me, believe in my career," Bamburg said. So far, his most high-profile engagements have been opening acts for Bobby Bare and Leona Williams, both country music legends and the latter of whom he had particular praise for.

"I actually started talking to Leona through Facebook, initially," Bamburg said. "Social media is such a big thing now, especially for networking with other musical artists. She's such a humble lady."

Bamburg said Williams, who was married to Merle Haggard between 1978 and 1983, has even indicated to him that she'd like to collaborate on future songs.

As he prepares for an album recording, Bamburg has a few studios in mind, most notably Audio Dallas, the studio where he recorded his demo album.

"It's actually the studio where Willie Nelson recorded 'Red-Headed Stranger,'" Bamburg said."Some people think you can still smell the weed in there."

Bamburg will be publicly debuting "Rockwall, Texas USA" on August 24, at the downtown San Jacinto Plaza from 6:30 to 9 p.m. -- he is a frequent performer with the San Jacinto Plaza music series, which brings local artists to perform near the square on Friday nights.

Ultimately, he says he's in it for the love of music, not the possibility of commercial success.

"I love seeing the reactions from the audience," Bamburg said. "I'm not in it for the glory, I just love to express myself through music, to write songs and play guitar. If I go anywhere with it, I do, but if not, that's okay."

Bamburg's music and gig schedule can be found on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube under the search "Brandon Bamburg Music."

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