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Burch's promo photo, 1964
Burch Ray Palmer attended high school in Miles City, MT. After graduation, he started "The Walkers" rock'n'roll band. He was very much impressed by people like Chan Romero, from Billings and Eddie Cochran, who came to town during Burch's senior year. Burch's parents, Ray and Crystal, bought him a Gretsch guitar at that time and he drove a cattle truck with his father to earn enough to by a Fender Amp. Burch decided to go by his first and middle names on stage, so the band became "Burch Ray and the Walkers." The Walkers name came from a Duane Eddy record, "The Walker" and also from always being broke down in Joe Konkright's '56 Chevy and having to 'walk' all the time. It was kind of an opposite of "Roadrunners", another popular band name at that time. There were many good musicians who played in The Walkers over the years, but the originals were: Joe Konkright, drums; Eddie Harris, bass; and Gary Askin, rhythm guitar. Walkers who joined the band in '62 were Gary Mundon, bass; Doug Boyle, drums and Dennis Steiner, guitar. After the army, in '64, another school and army buddy, Wayne Kurtz, joined the band as drummer. Wayne, Gary Mundon and Burch played many shows together. The band played many ballrooms, dance halls, roller rinks, armories, pavilions, gymnasiums, etc., during the rock'n'roll years 1961-1967. They were popular in the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. Highlights during that time were backing Chubby Checker, Dickey Lee, Buddy Knox, a tour with The Angels and some shows with The Everly Brothers and The Beach Boys. The band's first record, 'Waitin Alone' b/w 'Time Trap' was recorded at Soma Records in Minneapolis in 1962. The next record, 'Love Questions' b/w 'Love Was Made For Two' was recorded at Ray Ruff's studio in Amarillo, TX, in 1965. The last record cut by Burch during that period was 'Well...All Right' b/w 'Playground.' This session was done in Hollywood and was co-produced by Sonny Curtis, Jerry Allison and Buddy Knox. Some of Crickets and Glen Campbell played on this session. |
Burch works for Uncle Sam on camping trip.
Burch was a member of the Montana National Guard, so in 1967 took some time off from music to attend officer's school in Fort Benning, GA. He was commissioned a 2LT in an armored cav unit in Montana. In the fall of '67, Burch, Wayne and Gary, along with Bill Brown, formed a Walkers band that could play a mixture of rock and country on a major night club cicuit. Sam Gibbs heard the band play in Billings and liked the band. This would be the start of a six year tour of night clubs and military bases throughout the US. Some of the highlights of this era were playing The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, Frontier days in Cheyenne, The Caravan East in Albuquerque and the 17 Bar in Billings, MT. |
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Gary, Burch, Wayne and Bill at the Boom Boom Room in Juarez, MX. Remember the donkey show boys??
In 1970, the band did the Asian tour. The Walkers on this tour were Bud Blaylock, Kostas, Joe Brumley, Linda and Burch. Linda, Burch's wife did a great job singing, dancing and playing tambourine. The troops loved the variety and talent in the band, especially Linda. |
Viet Nam Walkers: (left to right) Joe, Bud, Kostas, Burch and Linda
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The G.I.'s gave Linda many keepsakes. She finished every show in this 'most decorated' costume.
Kostas went on to be a top song writer in Nashville. Burch and The Walkers did a lot of recording in 70's in Las Vegas, with Bill Porter. Bill was a good engineer and did Elvis Presley's sound mixing when he was in town. They did an album there and released several singles from it. The most popular of these cuts was 'Banks of the Yellowstone', written by Burch, and 'Summertime Blues.'In 1973, Burch,Linda and son, Ray, moved back to their home town, Miles City, MT. They were getting tired of living out of suit cases and wearing out cars. Burch, Linda and band members, Wayne Kurtz and Jack Allison bought the Alta Club. Dennis Mellville, Burch's nephew and Randy Savage were also in The Walkers at that time. The Alta Club was a good sized night club on the edge of town and the band could play there and not have to travel. Montana had voted in gambling, so pretty soon they had a good poker game. Wayne and Burch ran the poker game and Dennis, Jack and Randy played a trio. As time went on, they were so busy running the very popular club, that they started hiring road bands to come in and play. The Walkers, at this time, kind of faded away. From time to time some good musicians would come along and Burch would put together a house band. They were always called "The Walkers." In the 80's Burch, Linda, son Ray, and The Walkers did some 50's-60's shows and played all the old rock music from the early days. These shows were great and recordings were made of them. The music came out quite well for live shows. In 1979, Burch cut a country album in Nashville. He wrote most of the songs himself and some of the more popular ones were 'Montana Gambler', 'Love Her Off My Mind' and 'Fidjun.' During this time, Burch had become a pretty good fiddle player and also played some 5-string banjo. He then got interested in the bagpipes and he and his son, Ray, started the Miles City Caledonian Pipe Band. Four summer piping schools were attended in Denver to achieve some expertise. |
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Ray, Burch, Jeff LeMay, Rich Thomas and Dan Harris play 50's show at Alta Saloon in 1989.
In 1990, Ray was out of high school, so Burch and Linda sold the Alta Club to Wayne Kurtz and moved to Reno. They bought the Cork Room Lounge and Burch went to work at the Cal-Neva, a casino owned by an old gambling pioneer from Great Falls, MT, Warren Nelson. He dealt for awhile, then moved into management there. He and Linda joined the Sierra Highlanders, a very good pipe band, and he was elected by the band to the position of Pipe Major (band leader again). Burch and Linda enjoy the sunshine in Nevada and have made many great new friends. Burch has a studio at home and writes and records there. He is working on a Celtic CD now and has recorded some originals that are reminiscent of old rock. He plays, live at The Cork Room, from time to time and still leans to the music played and loved by the youthful "rock'n'roll Walkers." |
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