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Charlie Burg had just transferred to Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music when he first met Andrew Idarraga and Benji Sheinman in 2017. They shared a shift at People’s Place, but, more importantly, a love for music.

Idarraga and Shienman were both freshmen in the Newhouse School’s Bandier Program when they started a management company and were on the hunt for artists to work with. After hearing Burg’s project “One, Violet,” the management duo believed they had found their man, and convinced Burg to work with them.

“They were like, ‘we can help you build your music career, because this music has got a lot of potential’,” Burg said.

5 years later, Burg is about to embark on his first headlining tour — with Idarraga and Sheinman still at his side — as a part of their management company, Dionysian Artist Management. Burg will be making his return to Syracuse on Oct. 15 at the Westcott Theater for his “Infinitely Tall Tour.”

Before SU, though, Idarraga and Sheinman were unsure of what path to take. Idarraga said he thought he wanted to be a professional drummer. But throughout his college years, Idarraga realized his passion for managing other artists.

“Benji and I created a management company when we were 19 and didn’t even really know what managing was. We just knew that it was something that we could do,” Idarraga said. “There’s so many talented people in Syracuse, and then to meet Charlie at the right time … it was honestly very serendipitous.”

After Burg agreed to let Idarraga and Sheinman manage him, the three of them continued building Burg’s career throughout college. In the spring semester of their senior year, Burg, Idarraga and Sheinman started negotiating record deals and received offers that allowed them to financially support themselves. These offers made everything seem more real for them, and they realized this was a career they could continue after they graduated.

That spring semester also brought Burg’s first big gig — a Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was the middle of midterms season, but Burg, Idarraga and Sheinman got special permission from their professors to miss three days of classes to attend.

“That was the first thing that kicked us in the direction of (knowing) this wasn’t going to be just a side project,” Sheinman said.

After graduating from SU in 2019, the three of them moved to Brooklyn, taking both knowledge and connections from Syracuse. The trio have found alumni in most of their professional relationships, Idarraga said.

“There are Syracuse people at Sony (our publisher), there are Syracuse people at Fader (our) label, and there are Syracuse people in our agency,” Idarraga said. “We really owe it all to ‘Cuse.”

After graduation, Burg booked a tour as the supporting act for Ashe, and the three of them set off, playing 30 shows across the U.S.

Today, Burg has over 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify. His most streamed song, “I Don’t Wanna Be Okay Without You” has over 56 million streams.

Despite his recent success, Burg traces his first inspirations to his childhood, when he began singing and playing guitar and piano.

Growing up in Detroit, MoTown had a big influence on his music style. When he was young, Burg looked up to artists like Al Green, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye as his biggest influences. Later in life, The Strokes, Coldplay and Taylor Swift also became inspirations for him.

Burg has continued to build his discography since graduating and says that his songs, “Philips Bicycle,” which was the first one he produced himself, and “97 Avalon” are most special to him.

“(‘Philips Bicycle’) is like an early, early blueprint of my style — my production style and my song writing style,” Burg said. “(‘97 Avalon.’) is kind of (an accumulation) of like a bunch of influences, and it just came out in the perfect way to me.”

The support tour with Ashe was just the beginning for Burg, as it led to his upcoming tour, which kicked off in early October. Burg, Idarraga and Sheinman said they owe it all to SU.

“The Syracuse music scene in particular was so special to me,” Burg said. “It was the first time I really felt like I was part of a music community, like an active part of it, and it’ll just always hold such a special place in my heart and I’m really excited to have a show there.”

Published on October 12, 2022 at 11:10 pm

Contact Shantel: sguzma01@syr.edu | @shantelguzman2