The Dauphin of Mississippi
“Treat yourself to an evening with a man who will most definitely entertain you. He'll make you laugh, he'll take you deep, and remind you that you have a soul.”
Jamie MacPhail—Sitting Room Sessions, Hawkes Bay
“Great, Great songwriter. Quite an ability to draw listeners in with narratives in the songwriting. Beautiful, absolutely Gorgeous.”
Grady Kirkpatrick, Wyoming Public Radio
“Jason Burge’s voice in a small space astounded me. His being is an Instrument.”
Cindy Bloomquist -The Yard, Saratoga
“Powered with a booming voice and an unmistakable authenticity in his musical aim, Burge almost effortlessly marries the sound of Mississippi with the expansive West in his songwriting. The final result is enough to get you to lower your beer to the table and take in the moment.”
Mike Morris—Fridays in the Asher
“Plays a mean guitar and sings songs and tells tales that’ll have y’all laughing, crying, and all points in between!”
Ron Harbers—Ambient Light,Auckland
“Where has this guy’s writing been all my life? Cracking tales delivered beautifully.”
“Like the Love child of Ted Hawkins and Bonnie Raitt. Delivered by Townes Van Zandt passing through on a train.”
(Shows)
Working on the Watson’s Typewriter EP. Just Moved to Merced California. Hope it treats us kind.
The Book Of Vanities
“”With a wink and a nod to his Twain influence and Huck Finn character namesake, the Dauphin of Mississippi delivers storytelling in song with both powerful and subtle lyrics. Tight instrumentation provides the frame in a distinct western vibe occasionally venturing south.” Grady Kirkpatrick, Wyoming Public Radio / Wyoming Sounds
”One of those relaxed country voices that needs to be heard...mature, thoughtful lyrics....melodic foot-tapping country music delight....a number of quality ballads...an almost timeless country feel...Buy this Album. 4.5/5 stars” —Paul Riley, Country Music People Magazine (U.K.)
”Brilliant Classic Country” — Dave Watkins, The Country Mile
“Having listened the Book of Vanities for a month or so, I just love it. It’s one of the top 5 Americana albums of the year. Jason’s voice reminds me of John Martyn, who I just love. ”
Shady—The Americana Show. Radioactive 88.6 FM
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Book of Vanities personnel:
Jason Burge - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Jordan Perlson - Drums / Percussion
Josh Gray - Bass / Electric Guitar
Tony Wray - Acoustic Guitar, Banjo
Seth Taylor - Mandolin
Eric Loomis - Keys / Electric Guitar
Smith Curry - Pedal Steel / Lap Steel
Ray Mitchell - BGV / Electric Guitar / Acoustic Guitar
Reed Hess - Piano
Dan Tyminski - Fiddle
Recorded and Mixed by Eric Loomis
Produced by Josh Gray
Ivy Hall Studio
Mastered by Amy Marie at Yes Master Studios.
Dauphin
Prodigal Songs for the End of Days (2017)
“We’ve all heard of Southern Gothic. In Dauphin, Jason Burge keeps the South in his voice and brings the Gothic out West, where he teams up with Northerner Ray Mitchell for gruff songs with sweet harmonies and singing guitar leads.” Micah Schweizer, Wyoming Public Radio”
““Prodigal Songs for the End of Days” is filled with humor, heartbreak, and homesickness. with characters who, despite their world-weariness, keep gazing toward the horizon, searching for one more break that will carry them on to where they’re headed or back to where they’ve been. Exactly the kind of songs we need in these days and in the end yet to come. – Caleb Johnson, author of Treeborne”
News & Updates
D.o.M
The Once True and Always Lost Dauphin of Mississippi
Mississippi to Wyoming, now New Zealand to Merced, The D.o.M.tends to get lost for considerable swaths of time in large and adventuresome rural landscapes, collecting and dispensing songs as such times and occasions call for…then disappearing, and rather abruptly at that.
His first album, 2017’s Prodigal Songs for the End of Days (with guitar gunslinger R.M. Mitchell IV), landed at #6 on the Wyoming Public Radio end of year listeners list, and earned Wyoming CMA finalist noms for Album, Songwriter, and Americana group of the year. In 2019 he returned with The Book of Vanities from Ivy Hall Studio out of Nashville, TN. Country Music People Magazine gave it 4.5 stars ending with “Buy this album!” Produced by Josh Gray (The Graysmiths) and engineered and mixed by Eric Loomis. A collection of ten songs considering life’s more unpleasant defeats and their lingering aftershocks….and chronicling his love and sense of loss for a place he called home for over a decade (Wyoming) as he pondered life’s deeper meanings from “The land of the long white cloud(NZ).
His parents were Southern Gospel singers who got to sing on the Louisiana Hayride A.M. Program a time or two. His dad sang lead, his oldest uncle sang tenor while the quietest played bass as his mom played the piano like horses on fire and her sister held down some sister harmonies…but those days are lost and long ago dream. Polaroids of home-sewn dresses and vinyl lapels big as a hang-glider wing. Hair also like wings. ‘70sAF. I’ll fly away to glory indeed.
When he was one-year-old he had his first of two pivotal contacts with music of the life changing variety: #1 He climbed on top of the piano, stealthily, and during a church service, clearly and audibly delighting a crowd of tired and hungry Sunday Night people. He was hooked.
Which, later that same year, probably brought on his desire to be a multi-instrumentalist in #2:
Before being able to walk or speak he tried to play his dad’s Gibson J-40 which (due to good fortune and bad parenting) was precariously leaning headstock up on the seat of the couch…by the thickest 1970’s wood & glass Wagon Wheel coffee table. He successfully played one note crashing it into the table separating the headstock from the guitar in such a way that when they next met, he and the guitar, 14 years later and as he was reeling from a big loss and overflowing with a hurtful dread, that guitar would have it’s revenge—the headstock bondo’d back onto the neck by his grandfather Frank in a rather unorthodox second ever attempt at at luthiery. As you can imagine, she was a rough horse to ride as he plinked away some Gordon Lightfoot tunes, trying to become Guy Clark. But still, the reaction from the crowd. Sure it was small at one, and family (dad) but the performance had left the man speechless.
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After 4 months of radio silence, reports trickled in about potential D.o.M. sightings at a 4 Square in Kelburn Village. The store owner says the man believed to be D.o.M. was “very unhappy, sort of.”