Family Heritage
Robert Burke is the oldest living of the entire Burke generation. Robert is a patriarch of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and has been a Christian over 40 years. Robert never started the musical tradition of the Burke family music, but he planted a seed in his two sons Bill and Lewis that would carry them throughout the rest of their lives, and their families to come. If the Lord blesses Robert to his next birthday on September 25th, he'll be 97 years young.
Want an extra blessing? Joe recently sat down with his great grandpa, and interviewed him as a permanent record in his effort to preserve family history. This is over 25 minutes of Robert reflecting on the Burke family tree, sharing his story of hardships, and his triumphs and Christian.
Download the MP3 interview
25:11 - conducted by Joe Burke
William Lonard Burke was the oldest one of the two sons that founded the original musical tradition of the Burke family, Lewis Burke being the other son of Robert. William (Bill) Burke married Brenda Carol Johnson of Pike County, Kentucky on April 10, 1956. Brenda was from a strong musical family herself, The Johnsons and had been singing since she could remember. Bill and Brenda had their first child on November 6th, 1957, and his name was Anthony (Tony). Bill and Brenda were saved in Christ Jesus in 1965 and thus began the cycle of events that would shape the Burke family to what it is today. Bill began evangelizing and preaching the word of God throughout the mountains of eastern Ketnucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio. Developing their deep rooted passion for serving Christ, they crafted the unique mountain sound of 3 part harmony with their teenage son Tony. Tony had began learning how to play the guitar around the age of 12. Bill and Brenda raised 3 more children in the right fork of Weeksbury, Kentucky in Floyd County. Tim Burke was the next to the oldest, followed by Phillip and Matthew. All brothers were blessed musically to either sing or play instruments.
The Burkes from 1971! This a very old recording from 1971 in West Virginia at the Apostolic church near Point Pleasant. This is the beginnings and shaping of The Burke's sound and style. Tony was just 14 years old during this recording, and just learned to play the guitar. This is a wonderful document and testimony to the Burke family tradition.
Download the 1971 Clip of the The Burke Family
15:00 - recorded from original tapes from 1971.
In 1975, The Singing Burke Family released "By Faith I Believe," the first ever recorded long play album of The Burkes. There would be five more albums recorded up until the early 90's with Bill and Brenda Burke. Bill then started pastoring several churches around the Floyd and Pike County areas including Beaver Baptist at Grethel, Virgie Freewill Baptist in Virgie and Bolling Fork Freewill Baptist on Marrowbone Creek.
Listen to the entire song "By Faith I Believe." This is digitally remastered from the original vinyl album, and brought back to life by today's modern technology. This was recorded by Gary Slemp and was on the June Appal record label.
Download the song "By Faith I Believe"
02:57 - written by Tony Burke.
Tony then married Sondra Potter from Cromona, Kentucky in July 1978, and this began the second generation of The Singing Burke Family. Tony and Sondra started out their mission for the Lord being both saved through Christ and musically talented. Sondra always sang in church where she attended at the Haymond Freewill Baptist Church, and Tony having musical talents of vocal, guitar and piano, the two merged and carried on the gospel music tradition. Bill and Brenda sang on occasions, but pastoring was the new venture in Bill's life as his oldest son, Tony, carried on the singing ministry.
In 1979, Sondra gave birth to Joseph Burke, who would later in life develop his musical talents just like his father before him. Joe first sang in church when he was 9 years old, and learned to play the piano at age 8. The Lord blessed greatly in the years to come, as the third generation of the musical tradition had arrived.
"Bury Me In A Little Graveyard" This is digitally remastered from the original 45 recorded at Jordan recording studio in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1982. This is the first recording with Tony and Sondra Burke on this 2 song 45 demo.
Download the song "Bury Me In A Little Graveyard"
02:44 - written by Tony & Sondra Burke.
In February 2000, Bill passed and joined the Lord after suffering a heart attack. The death of Bill was sudden, and the family and community mourned the loss of a true soldier in Christ. The second generation Burkes have recorded 7 albums and Tony now follows in his father's footsteps and the forefathers before him, preaching the Gospel Of Jesus Christ. Joe is now engaged to Sheena Tackitt from Letcher County, Kentucky and they have plans to marry in the next few years Lord willing.
More Downloads
Download the song "Green Pastures In The Sky"
03:23 - written by Osburn Thorpe
Taken from the vinyl album "The Sun Won't Ever Go Down In That City," The Singing Burke Family's 3rd album, Green Pastures In The Sky is an old traditional mountain song done in the Burke style. This features Brenda Burke on lead vocals and husband Bill on harmony vocals.
Download the song "Just In Time"
02:43 - written by Dottie Rambo
Recorded in Summer 1988 during a studio demo session, this song is sung by Tim Burke, and backup vocals by his brother Tony and Sondra. Just In Time was previously recorded by The Singing Burke Family on "The Grave Can't Hold Me" album release in 1981.
Download the song "The Lowest Valley"
02:36 - written by Pearlie Mullins
This song features Joe Burke singing 4 part harmony by himself, and was recorded in June 2006 for a demo session. It is done in a traditional acappella style, which is a traditional way of singing in the Appalachian Mountains.