Dorsey Burnette - Background and Early Career

Background and Early Career

Dorsey Burnett was born on December 28, 1932 to Willie May and Dorsey Burnett Sr. in Memphis, Tennessee. The 'e' at the end of his surname was added later. His younger brother, John Joseph "Johnny" Burnett, was born on March 25, 1934. The family lived in a public housing project in the Lauderdale Courts area of Memphis, Tennessee.

Dorsey was a competent athlete with an interest in boxing. Both of the Burnette Brothers turned out to be successful amateur boxers, becoming local Golden Gloves champions. In 1949, Dorsey was introduced to another young boxing contender named Paul Burlison by his boxing teacher, Jimmy Denson and they were to become firm friends. Later, Burlison was introduced to Johnny Burnette and they also become firm friends. All three men had a mutual interest in music to which they had had an early introduction to music. Burlison had begun to receive guitar lessons when he was eight years old. In 1939, Dorsey Sr. gave his two sons a pair of Gene Autry guitars. According to most sources, each brothers immediately broke them over the other's head. Dorsey Sr. doggedly bought them two more guitars. Dorsey later recalled that their father had said, "Learn to play those guitars. You can be like those folks on the Grand Ole Opry if you want to ……." Dorsey said that "he learned the G, C and E chords and when the strings broke, he would use bailing wire".

After graduating from a Catholic high school in Memphis, Dorsey tried his hand as a professional boxer becoming a Southern pro champ before working at a number of daytime jobs, which included a cotton picker, an oiler on a Mississippi riverboat, a fisherman, a carpet-layer. He was finally to work at the Crown Electric Company with Paul Burlison as an apprentice electrician and would spend six years studying for an electrician's license. Johnny Burnette also worked as a deck hand on barges, which traversed the Mississippi River and though they worked separately, each of them would bring his guitar on board and write songs during his spare time. After work, they would perform those and other songs together at local bars with a varying array of sidemen. Paul Burlison joined them after his discharge from the US Armed Forces and in 1952 or 1953 they formed a group, which may have been called The Rhythm Rangers at the time. Johnny Burnette sang the vocals and played acoustic guitar, Dorsey played bass and Paul Burlison played lead guitar.