Cedric Burnside

Cedric Burnside - Dingwalls, Camden - 04/06/19

The annual Future Juke Festival of 21st Century Blues brought a select group of artists to the London stages from the end of May through to the beginning of July. The second of these was the award winning Cedric Burnside. The 40-year-old still calls Mississippi his home where he was raised by his grandfather, the late singer/songwriter/guitarist R.L. Burnside. Cedric has the blues running through his veins, more specifically, the North Mississippi country variant which emerged from his homeland and has been knocking on his door from the day he was born.

This classy venue was packed to the rafters on a Tuesday night which was very satisfying especially as the very popular ‘Rockin’ The Blues’ gig was competing for punters and attracting many blues tinged rock fans less than a mile away.

The night intensified as it progressed, with Cedric opening the show solo, seated and demonstrating that not only is he an award winning drummer, his acoustic guitar work would have made his grandfather so proud. Although for the first half hour Cedric was seated there was real energy in the performance and indeed the songs which was fully appreciated by the respectful audience. He was completely at ease in this environment and he even took time out to tell a joke after a couple of songs. Earlier in the evening Todd Albright had given us a short but impressive 12 string acoustic set and Cedric invited him back to join him on stage for one number.

You can tell immediately that Cedric Burnside is the real deal, especially if you are a fan of North Mississippi country blues with an edge. He satisfied the old school blues fans who insist on traditional blues and nothing less with his opening solo acoustic set and also brought the blues alive for a new generation of fans brought up on the likes of White Stripes, Black Keys and more recently Picturebooks. To this end, Burnside increases the intensity and goes electric. Burnside’s compatriot Brian Jay is introduced to the proceedings and warms the drum stool for what will bring this show to a cracking climax. I have seen many impressive drum and guitar combos, but these two impressed me more because they not only ignited the flame in their own performance but also brought the audience to life. With ‘We Made It’, the opening track from Burnside’s 2018 Grammy nominated album ‘Benton County Relic’, and without any vocal encouragement, perhaps it was the message on Cedric’s t-shirt that was having an impact, everyone in the room was adhering to ‘getcha groove on’; the place was buzzing and the audience forgot about everything else for an hour and thoroughly lost themselves in the groove.

The intensity found room to increase a notch further when Burnside and Jay switched positions. Much of Burnside’s musical schooling came in this very position when he replaced his father, Calvin Jackson, and began touring and playing drums with his grandaddy from the age of thirteen. He has been the the recipient of the Blues Music Awards honour as drummer of the Year five times, including three consecutive years to 2014 and being honoured again in 2019. Brian Jay on slide guitar and adding his own vocals whipped up the audience even more especially in the groove of ‘Wash My Hands’ and a cover of his grandfather’s ‘Skinny Woman’. Surely the night was still young, unfortunately not and this truly remarkable evening was brought to a close, back to the real world.

This was my first experience of catching Cedric Burnside live, although he is no stranger here in England. He expressed how extremely grateful he was to be invited back here so soon after his last visit and there is no doubt that he will be back, sooner rather than later hopefully.

What a great show. Didn't know what to expect. Blew me away. Will definitely see him again. If you like bluesand great musicians, go see him.Thank you Cedric for a great night of music.