On his official YouTube channel, Brian May released a video where the guitarist met the 11-year-old ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ semi-finalist Harry Churchill and asked him if he wanted to join his June 4 James Burton & Friends UK live show in London.
The young musician was quite surprised after seeing May in the Zoom connection. Then, the Queen member shared his offer, saying:
“I was thinking about what we could do. The show is one thing, but it is not all of what is holding on. I have this crazy idea. I’m doing a tribute show to my hero, who is James Burton. I don’t know if you are familiar with his work, but he was one of the first people that I saw to bend strings like we do.
So, he is an influence on all of us. We are doing this tribute to him, which is coming to. It is in the London Palladium on Sunday. And I thought you might like to come. I also thought you might like to play. If you are up for it, that’s the deal.”
In excitement, Churchill quickly replied:
“Yeah, that’s very good. Thank you so much.”
May’s statement related to the concert was also included under the video:
“This concert, centered around my hero James Burton, one of the most influential guitar players of all time, is something we’ve been wanting to do ever since we played together in Nashville in 2019. It’s for a great man and a great cause – and best of all, we all get to play with James Burton!“
Still, it doesn’t mark the guitarist’s first interaction with Harry. During his audition for ‘Britain’s Got Talent,’ Churchill played Brian’s guitar parts from ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘We Will Rock You.’ Upon seeing his performance, the rocker commented on Instagram:
“Harry rocks! [I] had to post this – congratulations Harry Churchill on smashing it tonight on ‘Britain’s Got Talent!’ Go kill’ em!”
Besides Brian May, the James Burton & Friends UK live show will include other names, such as Van Morrison, Albert Lee, Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter, Ronnie Wood, John Oates, Arielle, Kingfish, and Toby Lee. The young guitarist is one of the performers now that he’s accepted the offer.
Here is the video of how the Queen legend invited Harry to perform with him via Zoom.
