One of the pioneers of rock and roll, and one of the wildest rockers ever to record for the legendary Sun label in Memphis, Sonny Burgess and his band the Pacers was formed in 1955 in Newport, Arkansas. With a hard-rocking rockabilly style that owed little or nothing to country music, Burgess and his group traveled all over the US and Canada making mincemeat of the competition on many package tours until the group disbanded in the ‘70s. Reformed to record a retrospective CD, the group began performing again, and in 1999 stole the world-wide Rockabilly show being held in Las Vegas.

Voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Europe and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in Jackson, Tennessee, Sonny Burgess and the Pacers have also been featured artists in the Rock and Soul Museum in Memphis and named members of the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame. In the past five years, the group has played internationally in Spain, the UK, Sweden, Australia, Italy, Japan, Brazil, and Holland, as well as appearing in Las Vegas and being guests at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. They were featured in the eleventh "Oxford American" Southern Music edition in December 2009, were awarded the Sonny Payne Blues Award in 2014, and awarded the Governor's Arts Award for Folklife in 2016.

Sonny passed away last August, but the band has continue to perform as The Legendary Pacers. This year marks their 66th year of playing music.