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At 14 years old, life was feeling too weird.  My father disappeared when I was 3 (actually, my mom left him...never clear exactly why).  That perceived abandonment haunted me through a magnifying glass for years...it still rears its ruinous little head. 

Ray White, a new arrival to Alexandria, VA and to my circle of misfit friends, showed up in Johnny G's basement one night with a number of caps of heroin.

First one, indeed, was free...and it was, at the time, exactly what I was looking for.  Every bad feeling I ever had disappeared in a matter of seconds...replaced with a pure release from whatever ailed me...dropped in the soft, warm, pain-free exact center of the Universe.
Two years later, as a 16-year-old in my father's home in Ventura, California (long story), I picked up my Guild D-40 acoustic guitar and wrote my first song.

Ten years later, "Cinderella" ("one of the most frighteningly beautiful love songs ever made", according to one reviewer) was dominating the airwaves around the world as a single release from the debut album from Firefall. Fans were screaming their recognition at the distinctive opening hook of the song that began every Firefall performance for the next 9 years.

I was 26.  Life got very different.  The addiction to heroin (and just about anything else lying in the road) continued.  The songwriting came, the records were released, the concerts got bigger and bigger, the reviews flowed in:

"For a band that could have become famous for only a few shallow love songs, Larry Burnett's songs and singing added a diversity and edginess, as well as an irony in his own observations in affairs of the heart, which broadened the band's fan base and life span."

"Firefall concerts, heavily laden with Burnett's songs, betrayed the innocence portrayed by the lighter side represented by his songwriting counterpart, Rick Roberts."

"Having composed and sung lead on half of the songs that Firefall recorded, Larry Burnett demonstrated formidable talent and insight into the minds and hearts of millions of music lovers."

"The songs of Larry Burnett and Firefall have been cited as major influences in the lives and music of such artists as Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, Keith Urban and many other contemporary artists."

In 1981, in the middle of what was to be our last tour, I began to believe that I would die if I stayed with this one more day. 

The band got up one morning after a show in Orlando FL, headed to the airport and got on a plane for Nevada.  I got on one for Washington DC (my home) and checked myself into a psychiatric hospital's drug rehab unit. 

I don't think the band noticed I was gone for a few days.

I bounced a check to get admitted to the unit and I only stayed for a week (check came back). 

I blamed a lot of what troubled me on the music business.  Silly me.

I thought I might try to live a "normal" life.  Sillier me.

I bounced around for a while in the restaurant business (I'm a chef, actually).

In 1985 I checked back in to the same psychiatric hospital's drug rehab (it hadn't been a good four years).  This time I stayed for the full term.  No drugs.  No booze.  Still imagining I could live that normal life...except I couldn't walk (another long story).

I needed a sit-down job.  Got into radio in DC.  Did quite well.  Got married.  Got fired.  Got into Real Estate.  Did quite poorly.  Got divorced.  Became a courier.  Did okay.  Got into transportation sales.  Did well.  Got married again.  Got fired.  Got sick.  Had to quit work.  Got divorced. 

How am I doing so far?

Music will not leave one alone if it is truly a gift...I believe mine is just that.  A gift.  I didn't come up with it, but it is uniquely mine.  Not nice to keep it to myself...and better late than never.

A psychic of some acclaim did a reading on the Firefall band members some years back.  Everyone had some interesting past human life here on earth that allegedly explained their present (at that time) circumstances.  When she got to me, It was quite different. 

I existed on another planet as a tall gray weed rooted in a very exclusive spiritual patch of ground.

Figures.

LB

Larry Burnett's first post-Firefall project, a solo, acoustic EP titled Confidence Game is long overdue and available for purchase or download at the "Buy/Download the CD" link at the top of this page.

Reviewer Michael McDonald wrote of the disc: "Hearing the CD on the first listen is like being reacquainted with an old friend and discovering he was still as rock solid as ever. In many ways the CD is a six song teaser of so many cool things to come...it also reminds us that it's the work of a true songwriter at the top of his game..."

If you, like this reviewer, yearn to be musically "reacquainted with an old friend"...

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