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Ace Chicago guitarist Johnny Burgin with MS musicians Heather Crosse & Lee Williams. Special show at Ranelli's. $15 at door. Choosing the blues clubs over the library, Johnny eagerly absorbed the lessons from the blues masters who practiced their craft nightly. Through persistence and practice he gained a spot in Tail Dragger’s band and started doing gigs in town and on the road with traditional blues veterans like Jimmie Lee Robinson, Sam Lay, and Pinetop Perkins. What at first, he’d only dared to dream about coalesced into three concrete goals: to play in Europe, record his own CD, and to book his own gigs every weekend. A Monday night residency at The Smoke Daddy in Wicker Park along with featured vocalist Jimmy Burns turned out to the key: before long, Johnny’s band packed the club every Monday with a younger, hip crowd. The residency’s success led directly to a record deal with Delmark, steady local club work, and his first of many European tours– he’d done it!