“We had just left Vegas that morning. They called us in the chartered plane and told us to turn back”: James Burton on his electrifying tenure as Elvis Presley’s guitarist – and the tragic day it came to an end

James Burton (left, background) and Elvis Presley onstage in 1974.

When inducting Tele-master James Burton into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Keith Richards famously said, in reference to one of the many illustrious names the guitarist has backed, “I never bought a Ricky Nelson record, I bought a James Burton record.”

It was that already formidable reputation that led Elvis Presley himself to call Burton in 1969, when he was forming a crack band to back him for his first full live performances in over a decade.