Just when there was the ever-so-slight chance for Luke Burkhardt to feel accomplished in the music industry, Neal McCoy pulls up with his two touring tractor-trailers.
All the singer/songwriter from Shadyside could do was look down at the two guitars he carried backstage.
“That gave me a good laugh, for sure,” Burkhardt admitted. “I walked in with two guitar cases, and here comes a superstar with all his show stuff in these giant trailers. It was funny, but those two guitars were all I needed, and it’ll be the same this year. I’m just me.
“When you are there, and you walk around the venue, you quickly realize the size of the event and how much it has grown already,” he explained. “I can remember being backstage last year, and as I was watching all of the moving parts, it hit me. What I was a part of hit me.”
And Burkhardt will be a performer yet again for the Blame My Roots Country Music Festival, but this time he will open the Saturday show instead of Fridays as he did last year. The three-day event kicks off on July 14 at the Valley View Campground in Belmont, Ohio, and the founders also offer tent and RV camping.
“Last year was really amazing because I did not anticipate the opportunity at all. Not one bit. I know I released an album of my music last year, but I did it more as a passion project than anything else. It was something I wanted to do at least once in my life, and now when I am 68 and just sitting there, I can say that I did do it,” Burkhardt said with a snicker. “But when I released it, it gained a lot of attention, and that was very odd and weird for me.
“But then (co-founder) Chris Dutton reached out and told me how much he liked my music, and then he asked me to play the show, and that, for me, was a very wild experience,” he recalled. “And then they asked me back for this year but for Saturday, and of course I said yes. But then I looked at the lineup for Saturday, and it hit me. I’ll be on the same stage as Ashley McBride, David Lee Murphy, and Dierks Bentley. That’s wild to me.”
It’s Personal
He released an album, “Postcard,” a little more than a year ago, and the collection of songs quickly climbed to No. 12 on the iTunes charts. Then Dutton called, and Burkhardt gets the “big” gig, and that led to a plethora of bookings throughout the region.
But then he went home, and Burkhardt stayed there until recently.
“I took a good bit of time off during the last few months, but now I am motivated all over again,” he explained. “There have been times in my life when that motivation comes and goes, and my mind makes that decision. When I need to step away from my music for a little bit, I do so when I come back to it, and I’m ready to go.
“And I am very excited for Blame My Roots this month, and I can’t wait to get up there and play my entire set because that didn’t happen last year,” he recalled. “Jo Dee Messina’s truck was late and because of how everything works out during those kinds of events, I was cut to three songs. I still made the most of them, and I played all long versions, but it was still a bummer. That’s one of many reasons why I’m looking forward to this year’s event.”
Burkhardt doesn’t remember looking out to the production booth and to the crowd and doesn’t recall the heat from the bright lights either.
Instead, it was more about how it felt.
“I do have to admit, playing Blame My Roots was a pretty cool experience. Plus, knowing the music that I made is what got me there is a pretty cool thing to realize, too,” he said. “I’m also a person who believes that someone can always do better and be better than the last time, and that’s definitely my plan for this year’s show.
“Yeah know, though, I’m also a person who once had to get pretty drunk before I would play music in front of anyone, so for me to play in front of thousands of people was a pretty big deal. That was, by far, the most people I have ever played in front of, and I’m hoping the crowd is even bigger this year,” Burkhardt added. “I am my biggest critic, and I do hold myself to a realistic standard. That’s why I’m not going to just write some B.S. song just to put it out there. If I’m singing it, it means a lot to me.”
