Ira Burton

Currently employed by the Kawnar, Alex & the Anders, and Ira Burton name, playing bass and guitar for Kawnar while Kawnar himself does the rapping and programming, Ira Burton makes gigs around town under a number of titles, times and places. “I’ve escaped the small town blues,” he quips, “though I’m far from a small town now.” Playing multiple gigs in Tulsa and keeping tabs on the Saddle Club in Muskogee every Monday night and the Dragon's Lair in T-town, the curly-coiffed Burton is no stranger to the “around town” type. In June of 2008, the former Bill Murray's Prostate bass player withdrew from a seven and a half year run with the Muskogee-based punk band, while also juggling into the more-recently-joined project of Optimistic To A Fault, verging on the edges of Tool and Sevendust influence, and leading again as front singer for another two years. Ever the chameleon, when Burton transferred into OU in the 2003-2004 school year, he shifted once again into fitting another creative project in the title of The Gems, with guitarists/songwriters including a roster of Cole Jett and Aaron Walter, and drummer Rob Brothers. Even with the stark regional difference, the venues down Cherry Street and around Green Country proved a success with packed out houses and giving their all and all, with a new cutting edge and “A sack full of improvisation”, Burton adds with a smile. Ira Burton’s appreciation for history rests on the historic Cherry Street district of Tulsa, gracing the sidewalks with drummer Rob Brothers and Tuck/Ira himself with a guitar in hand, pushing the personal eccentric envelope and having a personal favorite taste in the Kilkenny’s Pub. Confidence never too far, the music has given gumption and a constant understanding of human treatment, a morality and creative understanding, and of course, to not let it go to your head. “Cockiness has its place and that place is on stage when you are performing and becoming or portraying something that you are not but either strive to be or want people to think you are,” said Burton, which stands profound passing from punk to indie to alternative rock and back into the folk rock scene under his talent belt, and abiding by the philosophy, “If you aren't uncomfortable, then you aren't learning anything new; you're just spinning your tires.” Get more on Tuck the Duck by visiting him on the World Wide Web at www.myspace.com/iraburton. -Rae Raines, The Current ..