Jeremiah Burnham

I was born in Middlebury, Vermont to William & Jeanne Burnham. They owned the Whiteface Ranch in nearby Shoreham Vt, which raised Whiteface Hereford beef cattle and was the first beef cattle ranch in Vermont. In 1944, they sold the ranch and moved to South Portland, Maine where they bought Storey Marine Railway and serviced landing craft for the Navy. After the war, they sold the business and moved to Weston, Connecticut. My father commuted to New York City where he worked a salesman for several companies including Transfilm (which produced early TV commercials such as the pioneering stop-motion animation ‘Santa ads’ for Norelco) and for Raymond Loewy/William Snaith, which designed among other, the logos for Exxon, Lord & Taylor and the Avanti for Studebaker. My father was also a member and chairman of the house committee of the New York Yacht Club and served on the race committee for the America’s Cup races. I grew up and went to school the Hurlbutt School in Weston in the late 40’s and early 50’s and then on to the Putney School (boarding school) in Vermont, and to Marlboro College, also in Vermont, where I studied flute with Louis Moyse. I also did further studies in Flute at the Mannes College of Music in New York City with John Wummer. While at Marlboro, I also started playing (guitar) folk and bluegrass music with fellow students including at occasional picking sessions in Washington Square Park in New York. After college, I decided to take a year off and drove cross-country to Berkeley, California where I formed and played bass guitar in a band with Jeff Blackburn and Sherry Snow called Jolly Jody & the Godaddies. We played at a club in Berkeley called the Jabberwock. I then travelled back to NYC where I was a member of several bands including: The Strangers (K&R),  James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine (Euphoria), Jake & The Family Jewels(Polydor), The Quinaimes Band (Elektra), Fifth Avenue Band(Reprise). The music scene in Greenwich Village in the mid to late 60’s was vibrant, and we often played such clubs as The Night Owl Cafe,The Village Gaslight Coffeehouse, Gerdes Folk City, The Bottom Line and The Bitter End. I had also met my wife, Raun MacKinnon(Cameo Parkway and Kapp) and performed as a duo in clubs and colleges (mostly East coast) for the first six years of our marriage. We also recorded an album with the legendary producer, John Hammond, which we later released as “Archived Sessions” by RaunMacKinnon on CD baby. During this time I also worked at Apostolic Studios and for Bob Nash Productions, Tom Rush, Aztec Two-Step, Jobete Publishing, and Doug Yeager Productions. In 1983, I helped Phil Spieller form Associated Production Music, which represents several production music libraries in New York and Los Angeles. I later went on to work at Killer Tracks Music Library and Access Hollywood (NBC). While at APM, I met Gerhard & Heidi Narholz of the Sonoton Music Library, and I have written and produced about 25 albums of production music for them. I have recently completed an album of material I’ve written and produced representing over fifty years in the music business called “Burnham Would.” Stay tuned for more in the near future!