Blues guitarist Michael “Iron Man” Burks was one of those on my bucket list to see perform in person. I’d seen him several times on TV and a Blues Cruise DVD I have. He was a hell of a guitar player but on May 6, 2012, at just 54 years of age, Burks left this earth. He died at the Atlanta airport returning from a European tour.

So many of the grandfathers and fathers of the blues have passed in recent years. Burks was one of the new guys on the block who had what it will take to keep the genre alive and growing. He will genuinely be missed.