Randy Burk’s busy year and upcoming album

Randy Burk has kept himself hopping. With a special emphasis on hitting the road this year, Burk has logged a lot of miles and seen a lot of faces already in 2016. Along the way, he’s been putting the finishing touches on his next album, now a year in the making.

“Yeah, I’m busier than ever,” he said in a phone interview. “More shows booked in 2016 than I’ve ever done. We’re recording this album in Chicago. I was hoping to have it out before the summer, but now we’re looking end of summer, early fall.”

Randy Burk plays the Teens Against Human Trafficking Benefit at West End Architectural Salvage on Thursday, July 21 at 9 p.m.

Burk says the majority of the album is now finished, with just a few backing vocal tracks left to lay down before final mixing. The process has been long and a much different experience from his previous forays into the studio.

“The last two albums, the budget was there,” he explained. “All the money was set up, so it was just like, block out 10 days and go work. This one has been more of a labor of love. The budget kind of came as it could.”

Burk also said the slower process has allowed him to get more out of each recording and produce something that he feels gets to the heart of what he does as a songwriter and a performer. Meanwhile, he has continued to write and said that he could put together three more albums right now if he needed to.

“There’s going to be 11 tracks on this record,” he said. “I wrote these new songs, and sometimes it’s like, ‘Gosh, I wish this was on the record now.’ When it takes this long, you hear the songs so many times. That has its positives and negatives. I just lean on the positives and hope that the fans listen to it and like it.”

When it comes to the fan reaction, Burk knows that all he can do is put his work out there and hope for the best. But as far as he is concerned, the work he has put in on this new album is already worth every delay and extra minute in the studio.

“This is the most fun and the proudest I’ve been making an album,” he said. CV