Singer-songwriter, guitarist and drummer Cedric Burnside is continuing the legacy and tradition of North Mississippi’s storied Hill Country blues with modern flair and distinction. Burnside is currently touring behind his album Hill Country Love, released Apr. 5, the followup to his 2022 album I Be Trying that won a Grammy Award in the traditional blues category.
Bringing more honesty and vulnerability to this album than ever before in his music, rich history and culture propels the listening experience beyond simple entertainment. At the age of 13 Burnside went on the road to drum for his grandfather, the legendary and pioneering blues artist R.L. Burnside, whom he affectionately calls his “Big Daddy.” Growing up under the influence and guidance of Junior Kimbrough, Jessie Mae Hemphill and Otha Turner is an inseparable part of who the blues musician is today.
“I don’t really write my music for the accolades, you know? I really write my music because I want people to know where I come from, for one. And also, I want people to be able to relate to me. I didn’t just win that Grammy for myself. I thought about my Big Daddy R.L. and all the other old cats that I grew up around that really showed me the ropes,” says Burnside. “So to be able to win that Grammy for the Hill Country area was really a beautiful thing for me, because it’s never been done before.”
Hill Country Love is composed of 14 tracks that Burnside says can appeal to anyone from any walk of life. Personal life experiences and those of family and friends heavily influenced the material, and it gave him a chance to “be more of me,” he says. In addition to better expressing himself, Burnside wanted to show how much his songwriting and guitar playing have grown since his last award-winning album.
Throughout all of his work a connection to the land and people where this style of blues originated is prominently featured, and that sense of place is taken a step even further in Hill Country Love. The entire album was recorded over the course of two days with a makeshift recording setup in an old building that was formerly a legal office in Ripley, Mississippi. The small town of about 5,000 people sits in Tippah County, known as the birthplace of the Hill Country blues. Originally Burnside was looking at this building to open a juke joint, and he discovered it had great acoustics. The idea came to him to record there because he loved the sound.
“To me, growing up just watching my Big Daddy, you know, do his thing. I have heard great recordings sitting on the porch and sitting in the front room,” says Burnside.
Producer Luther Dickinson, co-founder of the North Mississippi Allstars and son of the legendary Memphis producer and musician Jim Dickinson, set up his recording equipment amongst rubbish in the empty room, and the pair quickly knocked out the album.
“We just got a bunch of snacks and everything we wanted to drink, and we cracked a bunch of jokes and just, you know, the atmosphere was really, really good and rich. Before we knew it, the first day we had laid down about eight tracks, and then the second day we went in and finished the album and had some time to spare to listen to everything,” says Burnside.
The title track “Hill Country Love” expresses the spirit and customs of Mississippi, nodding to the house party tradition in the area—of which L.R. threw many. “Juke Joint” is a tribute to the local nightlife that largely contributed to Burnside’s personal and musical growth in his early youth. Keeping faith through temptation and tribulations is at the heart of “Closer,” something that he feels is a universal experience.
Although he wears his influences close to his heart, Burnside declares he’s an “inheritor” rather than an “imitator” of the blues he draws from. There’s a modern infusion of rock, R&B and hip-hop elements that keep an ear toward the future of blues. However, many agree that much of the music we have today actually owes its history to the genre.
“My Big Daddy would say blues is the root of all music. I didn’t really understand that concept of it for a long time until I got in my older 20s. It really, really hit me that my Big Daddy was right. Blues is the root of all music,” says Burnside.
WHAT: Cedric Burnside, Scott Low
WHEN: Tuesday, Apr. 30, 6 p.m. (doors)
WHERE: The Foundry
HOW MUCH: $17 (adv.), $20
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