Around this state he's probably the 'dean' of all the singer/songwriters. The finest singer & songwriter that we have.”— Larry Groce, Host of PBS's Mountain Stage

Todd Burge has played behind chicken wire at honky tonk bars and has performed a number of times at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and has recorded with 2006 Grammy winner, Tim O’Brien. He has logged millions of miles and over 2500 performances over the last couple decades, performing with punk, bluegrass, folk and rock and roll bands, but most of his shows recently have been performed solo and that’s the way he prefers it.

“Being able to pull it off solo is the biggest kick,” says Burge. I never could stick to one genre of music and that makes music more interesting to me. I really admire some of these old timey cats who stick to a sound, but I can’t do it and don’t try. I like to write songs off the top of my head, like a fun conversation with an old friend, spontaneously going wherever that conversation takes us and not worrying about someone else’s opinion. It’s not some weird, unique, never been done before thing happening here, I mean, it’s mostly acoustic nowadays and I suppose you’d call it Folk, but it truly is mine and I’m proud of that.”

A prolific songwriter and fearless performer with melody, phrasing and wit to spare, Burge is blessed with a rich voice, great guitar chops and a goofy sense of homegrown humor.

Born and raised in Vienna, WV, Todd Burge, like many small town kids, grew up living vicariously through the music and lyrics of his heroes. But, unlike most kids, his heroes were Charlie Rich, Roger Miller and early Neil Diamond.
He bought his first guitar while a Freshmen at West Virginia University in Morgantown. After becoming inpatient with learning songs by popular artists, he spent most of his college years writing his own songs.

"Going to WVU was very important to my career in music. I studied Psychology and English, but it all seemed to tie into music and lyrics. The study of human behavior and Shakespeare are great places for a young songwriter's head to be. But the most important thing was the support a songwriter or band would receive in that college community! A local band would play at the Underground Rail Road one night and you'd hear their songs on WWVU-FM92 the next day! That was mind-blowing to me. It just didn't happen in Vienna! People thought songs came from some mysterious place or that your had to be in NYC, LA or Nashville to be serious about music. Not true.” Says Burge

After college, Burge briefly moved to San Francisco to work for a small record label, then came back to WV to tour with 63 Eyes, but his heart was stuck in the acoustic genre. In 1990 he released his first solo CD on his own label, entitled "Never Say Uncle". A very personal contemporary Folk recording, it was modestly successful, but was more than enough to convince Burge to embark on a fulltime solo career. Todd took the do-it-yourself punk attitude shared by many bands in the 80's and applied it to his new acoustic career.

He has released 7 CDs now and plays over 150 shows a year. Todd has shared the stage with a diverse array of artists including Ricky Skaggs, Tim O'Brien, Bela Fleck, Tim Finn, Junior Brown, Rusted Root, Chris Smither, Jorma Kaukonen, Tish Hinojosa, Larry Groce, Johnny Staats, Robbie Fulks, Mike Seeger and Roy Bookbinder. He has played many times on Public Radio International's Mountain Stage , most recently backed by Tim O'Brien on their 20th Anniversary show. This show included Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and Chris Smither among others) Mountain stage can be heard on over 100 public radio stations and viewed on PBS.

Todd was Workshop Coordinator for Mountain Stage's New Song Festival and owns Bunj Jam Mobile Studios where he records and produces his own CDs as well as other select artists including Moon Mullen, Dr. Matt Lambert, Josh Baker & Don Baker.

Burge is the founding member of www.songwriternight.com, which produces songwriter events and radio programs in and around West Virgina.