By Susan Withrow Murphy
Correspondent, The Alabama Baptist
Walker Burroughs’ seemingly effortless performances on season 17 of ABC’s American Idol made fans even of the Idol judges, and even though his run on the show ended April 28, the 20-year-old is carving out his own unique musical career path thanks in part to the influence of his grandparents.
Growing up outside Birmingham in Vestavia Hills, where the family’s home church is Vestavia Hills Baptist Church, Burroughs now lives in Nashville. He is majoring in music education at Belmont University with aspirations of becoming a band or choral director.
Those who watched Burroughs climb the ranks through American Idol’s presssure-packed performances understand why the judges not only praised his talent as a performer but also seem to genuinely like him as a person.
Where did Burroughs get his mojo? His grandparents — Gogo, Baba, Bop and Nana — may have set the stage.
Burroughs is named after his grandparents Charlotte and Jimmy Walker. To him they are Gogo and Baba, “Grandmamma” and “Grandfather” in Chichewa, a dialect spoken in Malawi. During the early 1960s, a time when racial strife was bubbling high in the Deep South, the Walkers, from Tuscaloosa, boarded the Queen Mary and sailed overseas to share their lives with the people of Eastern and Southern Africa during what would be a 21-year-long career with the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board).
The couple returned to the United States for a few years when Jimmy contracted melanoma. Charlotte wondered what to do with a degree in home economics while Jimmy was undergoing treatment. She landed on nursing school. Nearing age 40 she received her degree, was certified as a registered nurse and as soon as Jimmy got the all clear, they returned to the missions field where they built a medical clinic. Charlotte ran the operation as head nurse.
Later Jimmy pastored churches in west Alabama and was associate director of missions for Tuscaloosa Baptist Association before his death in 2005.
The couple’s four daughters, Burroughs’ mom being the youngest, often sang as a warm-up quartet to their preacher father. Charlotte’s mother had been a classically trained pianist and today Charlotte has two grand pianos stationed together in her Tuscaloosa home where the family gathers to play music and sing.
“Among many other things, Gogo and Baba taught me what it looks like to love people from all over the world,” said Burroughs.
Bob and Esther Burroughs, known as Bop and Nana, may get credit for gifting Burroughs the DNA of music and leadership.
Bob encouraged Burroughs sitting side by side with him at the piano, helping him work through difficult spots and offering advice in singing. “Walker is growing strong in confidence and character,” he said.
‘Molds it to his own’
“Someone said of Walker, ‘He doesn’t just sing a song — he caresses and molds it to his own style.’ And that’s so true.”
A star in his own right Bob Burroughs has been a prolific composer and arranger of church music for more than a half-century. He served as minister of music in Southern Baptist churches in Oklahoma, Texas and Georgia while writing and arranging music for vocal and handbell choirs. He was composer-in-residence and taught music theory at several colleges, including Samford University in Birmingham, and retired from the Florida Baptist Convention, where he served as state music director.
Bob has more than 2,000 published musical works on his extensive resumé, including “Jesus, My Lord My God My All,” “Beholding All Your Glory,” and “Lord Make Our Homes,” one of a handful of songs that he and Esther have collaborated on over the course of their 60-year marriage.
Esther, a gifted speaker, author and founder of Esther Burroughs Ministries: Treasures of the Heart, spent nearly two decades as associate director of church growth and associational evangelism with the North American Mission Board. Esther was also the first female campus minister at Samford University and has been called “the Beth Moore of her generation.”
“We’re so proud of Walker and all our grandchildren,” Esther said. “His parents invested their lives in him and other young people through Passport, a summer camp ministry they began in 1993. Walker performed publicly for the first time at Passport. He came into the world singing and he’s never stopped.”
“My grandparents’ lives have had such an impact on me,” said Burroughs. “They taught me very practically about loving others and worshipping as a family — all the times we spent singing together and celebrating together are etched in my heart. I’m richer for all they poured into my life.”
Share with others: