Services Set For Noted Promoter Bob Burwell

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Bob Burwell

A memorial service has been scheduled on Saturday (Aug. 27) for longtime country-music entrepreneur Bob Burwell.

Burwell died in Albany, New York on Aug. 13 at age 71. He managed, promoted or booked such artists as Kenny Rogers, Lee Roy Parnell, Steve Vai, The Oak Ridge Boys and Michael Martin Murphey. He co-created the Warner Western label and developed such major cowboy-music events as West/Fest.

Following college in New York State, Bob Burwell went to work at the Jim Halsey Company in Tulsa. He worked with Don Williams, Roy Clark, the Oaks and others there, which led him to relocate to Nashville.

On Music Row, he worked at DreamCatcher Management and Vector Management. He promoted million-selling tours by Rogers and shepherded Murphey and a generation of western-music artists, encompassing cowboy (Don Edwards, Sons of the San Joaquin), Native American (Bill Miller) and African-American (Herb Jeffries) western-music stylists.

Burwell’s annual West/Fest concerts took place in New Mexico, Texas, California and Colorado. They were succeeded by festivals that showcased this music, as well as arts, crafts, poetry and more. These took place at Copper Mountain, Colorado.

In addition to the above mentioned, the Warner Western 1992-98 label roster included Red Steagall, Waddie Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Ranger Doug, Bill & Bonnie Hearne, Rex Allen Jr., Robert Mirabal, Michael Martin Murphey, Tim Ryan and Joni Harms.

Bob Burwell is survived by wife Dana, daughter Carly, brother Mike and sister Sue Lundquist, plus many nephews, nieces and cousins. Services will be held at 10 AM at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church Kemnore, 576 Delaware Rd. in Buffalo. Internment will follow at Glenwood Cemetery in Silver Creek, New York.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to MusiCares.

Robert K Oermann
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