By Ezra Black
On Jan. 14, Okotoks artist Jay Burns opened up a can of entertainment at the Rusty Edge.
Burns, 45, is an Okotoks, Alberta, based artist and former junior hockey player who got into the music scene after singing a song at his one-time girlfriend’s sister’s wedding.
The song was The Battle Hymn Of Love by Kathy Mattea. He sang it in a Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Brandon, Manitoba. He was 20-years-old.
“And that was it,” he said. “The second I did it I knew that that’s what I wanted to do.
I quit hockey a year later and moved to New York to learn music. I’d never played guitar. Never done anything. Just plain jumped in headfirst. I was dismal for a long time.”
Burns got better, moved to Winnipeg, started a band. Burns’ past groups include Cumberland, The Council, Fleshtone Rockets and Sans John Henry.
About three years ago he moved to Okotoks to start his solo career, he has three albums coming out this year. At the Rusty Edge he played a wide range of original and cover music for an appreciative crowd.