Cedric Burnside

Biography

Cedric O. Burnside (born August 26, 1978) is an American electric blues guitarist, drummer, singer and songwriter. He is the son of blues drummer Calvin Jackson and grandson of blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist R. L. Burnside.
Amongst many others, Burnside has played drums, either live or on record, with R. L. Burnside, Jessie Mae Hemphill, John Hermann, Kenny Brown, Richard Johnston, Jimmy Buffett, T-Model Ford, Paul "Wine" Jones, Widespread Panic, Afrissippi, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

Early life and education

Burnside was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, to Calvin Jackson and Linda Burnside, and raised in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in the house of his grandfather, R. L. Burnside, and the extended family. By the age of 13, he began to tour with his grandfather's band, as a drummer. He had overlapped his father's time in the band, and would eventually replace him on the drums.

Career

In 2002, Burnside played on Richard Johnston's debut album, Foot Hill Stomp. Burnside followed this two years later by playing percussion on Johnston's Official Bootleg #1 album.
A short-term partnership of Cedric with Garry Burnside (his uncle two years elder) in 2006, saw them record The Record, billed as Burnside Exploration. They had tour dates as opening act and jam partners for Widespread Panic.
Later in 2006 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Burnside teamed up with Lightnin' Malcolm, and they both toured and recorded the Juke Joint Duo album. In 2008 they released Two Man Wrecking Crew, on which Jason Ricci played harmonica and Etta Britt performed backing vocals. It won a Blues Music Award for 'Best New Artist Debut' in 2009. The duo also toured with the Big Head Blues Club, a collaboration which led to them jointly recording the album, 100 Years Of Robert Johnson in 2011, to mark the centennial of the birth of Robert Johnson.

Another collaboration followed, this time with his younger sibling, Cody Burnside, plus his uncle, Garry Burnside, which created the Cedric Burnside Project. From 2011 he recorded and toured with Trenton Ayers. In 2011, The Way I Am album was released. Burnside's brother, Cody, died in 2012, and their father followed in 2015.
In late 2012 he recorded the album Allison Burnside Express×Express15 January 2013 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Backtrack3:552Do You Know What I Think?5:053Why Did I Do It?4:524Southshore Drive4:325Fire It Up3:456Minnissippi Blues3:387Nutbush City Limits4:498Stanky Issues2:409That Thang4:1610Hidden Charms3:4211Going Down4:17 with Bernard Allison, released in 2014.
Burnside's 2013's Hear Me When I Say, and the later Descendants of Hill Country (2015), were issued under the Cedric Burnside Project name and using the guitar playing of Ayers. The latter was funded using a Kickstarter campaign.
Burnside has had cameo appearances in three films – Tempted and Big Bad Love (both 2001), and Black Snake Moan (2006).
Burnside has performed with Lightnin' Malcolm at Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival (2008), Memphis in May, Notodden Blues Festival (both 2009), and Voodoo Experience (2010).
In 2018 he released the album Benton County Relic×Benton County Relic14 September 2018 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1We Made It3:352Get Your Groove On2:233Please Tell Me Baby3:374Typical Day3:205Give It to Me4:326Hard to Stay Cool5:347Don't Leave Me Girl3:428Death Bell Blues4:379There Is So Much4:0410Call on Me3:5311I'm Hurtin2:4912Ain't Gonna Take No Mess3:34, which he recorded with Brian Jay of Pimps of Joytime. Benton County Relic was nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019.

Awards and honors

In 2013, Burnside won the Memphis Blues Award as 'Drummer of the Year' for the third time.
Burnside won his fourth overall, and third consecutive Blues Music Award in May 2014, in the category of 'Instrumentalist - Drums'. He won the award again in 2019, and 2020.
The album Descendants of Hill Country, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2016 for Best Blues Album.
Benton County Relic was nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019.
He is a recipient of a 2021 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
For his album I Be Trying×I Be Trying21 June 2021 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1The World Can Be So Cold3:262Step In2:353I Be Trying3:334You Really Love Me4:155Love Is the Key3:106Keep on Pushing3:067Gotta Look Out3:298Pretty Flowers2:519What Makes Me Think4:2910Bird Without a Feather3:3111Hands Off That Girl5:3612Get Down3:2713Love You Forever3:42, Burnside won the Best Traditional Blues Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in 2022.
Hill Country Love was nominated for a 2025 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album and a Libera Award for Blues Record.

External links and further reading

Official Website
2014 interview with Burnside Archived 2014-08-27 at the Wayback Machine
Extended discography at CD Universe
"Interview. Matthew Joseph with Cedric Burnside and Lightnin' Malcolm, musicians". Clio.lib.olemiss.edu. Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
"Mississippi Hill Country Blues, The Next Generation", Living Blues. Issue 189, April 2007.
Cedric Burnside coverage by WXPN Mississippi Blues Project
Cedric Burnside at AllMusic
Cedric Burnside at IMDb