Ross Burns
Host, I Hear America SingingA native of Austin, Texas, Ross grew up in the midst of the Urban Folk Revival of the 1950s and 60s. His first introduction to folk music was the Kingston Trio with their million selling albums. From there, he went forward, backwards and sideways collecting music all along the way. He is a retired librarian and a student of history.
As a historian, he loves researching the stories behind the music and the performers. He has worked as a librarian in public, academic and corporate libraries around the state of Texas. He combines his love of both folk music and history to research the stories of the performers as well as of the songs that they sing. He has been a guest lecturer in English and Folklore classes at the college level and has had articles published in newspapers and professional journals.
In 2006 Ross began his broadcasting with Marfa Public Radio. He retired and moved to Waco with his wife Betty. Ross is the volunteer host and mastermind behind I Hear America Singing which has been airing regularly on KWBU since August, 2014.
I Hear America Singing - Saturdays at 7pm, Sundays at 9pm - is live streamed at KWBU.org and through the KWBU mobile ap. Due to music licensing restrictions we cannot archive programs on line.
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For this second weekend of August, Ross pulls out a 2020 classic about the cities of Texas, from Amarillo to Laredo, from El Paso to Corpus Christi and many more in between. From the big cities to the small towns. -
This week Ross reaches back to 2020 for a classic show remembering Texas singer-songwriter and Poet Laureate Steven Fromholz. -
Well, Ross reached back and found this 2017 show that is one for the Birds – no, not the musical group but our feathered friends. -
For this edition of I Hear America Singing Classics, we're packing our bags and heading back to 2017 for a program full of traveling songs, highways, byways, and everything in between. -
This weekend, Ross remembers Mexia’s Sunday School teaching songwriter Cindy Walker. She wrote songs that became hits and standards for singers from Bing Crosby to John Legend. Ross also served as guest host of the Sit Down where he spoke with Lindsay Leipman of the Cindy Walker Foundation. You can hear about the Cindy Walker Foundation's new efforts to preserve her legacy and what they're discovering along the way.They also take a look at the upcoming 4th Annual 'Cindy Walker Days' event, where a new generation of artists bring her songs to life. -
To celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, Ross has assembled a new show featuring songs reminding us what America is and strives to be. -
For this edition of I Hear America Singing Classics, Ross has selected from the Archives a 2018 show all about folk heroes, real and otherwise, from Robin Hood to Tom Blasingame. -
Ross has pulled from the I Hear America Singing archives a 2016 Father’s Day show. -
In a special edition of I Hear America Singing, we're calling 'The Bonus Track', Ross Burns is joined by KWBU's Malcolm Foster to exchange a handful of favorite songs, and the reasons behind their inclusion. -
After years of digging into his vast library of music and knowledge to entertain and educate, Ross Burns is signing off with an episode of I Hear America Singing that is full of memories and personal requests.
