While it’s safe to say that most musicians hope to climb the ladder from obscurity to success to superstardom, there are occasional exceptions. Fred Neil and Bobbie Gentry come to mind, as does Louisiana’s Bobby Charles, who quit the business after releasing a handful of fine LPs and writing great songs for many artists, including “Walking to New Orleans,” which gave Fats Domino a Top 10 hit in 1960, “See You Later, Alligator,” a #6 hit for Bill Haley and the Comets, and “The Jealous Kind,” which has been covered by such artists as Joe Cocker, Ray Charles and Delbert McClinton. “I never wanted to be a star,” Charles once said. “I’ve got enough problems, I promise you. If I could make it just writing, I’d be happy.”
You’ll be glad he didn’t only write, however, when you hear Last Train to Memphis, which first appeared in 2004, six years before his death and 28 after he appeared at the Last Waltz with The Band. It includes a 15-track collection of material recorded over three decades, plus a 19-song bonus CD with most of the contents of two out-of-print earlier LPs, 1994’s Wish You Were Here Right Now and 1998’s Secrets of the Heart.
The guest list on Last Train to Memphis suggests how many of Charles’ contemporaries admire his work. It includes McClinton and Domino (on “The Jealous Kind” and “Walking to New Orleans,” respectively) as well as Sonny Landreth, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Maria Muldaur, Neil Young and Willie Nelson.
Another fan is Bob Dylan, who once observed that “it’s a sin” Charles was more successful as a songwriter than a singer, “because he’s a hell of a singer. He’s got one of the most melodious voices ever transmuted into a piece of vinyl.” Amen.
The expanded edition of Last Train to Memphis made its vinyl debut on Nov. 21, 2025. It’s available in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.
Burger wrote one of the first interview-based profiles of Bruce Springsteen to be published in a national magazine. He has interviewed many other music-world luminaries as well, including Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tom Waits, Foreigner’s Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Steve Forbert, Tommy James, the Righteous Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin, and members of Steely Dan and the Marshall Tucker Band. He has also interviewed many other public figures, such as Suze Orman, Daymond John, James Carville, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, F. Lee Bailey, and Cliff Robertson.
His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, all of which are published in the U.S. and Canada by Chicago Review Press. The books have been republished in numerous other countries.
Burger has been the editor of several periodicals, including Business Jet Traveler, from which he retired in 2024. During his 20 years at that
publication, it received more than 120 major editorial awards, including multiple wins for the world’s Best Consumer Travel Magazine in the annual Folio:Eddie competition.
Burger lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His wife, Madeleine Beresford, is a puppeteer and former preschool director and teacher. The couple have two grown children.
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