Lafayette County, Mississippi sharecropper R.L. Burnside came to Chicago in the 1950s to find a better life, but almost immediately was jolted by the murder of his father, brother, and uncle. Returning to Mississippi, he was later convicted of murder himself, and these events would inform his pioneering brand of electric blues. He wouldn’t reach any fame until the 1990s, however, when he signed with Oxford, Mississippi label Fat Possum Records. His landmark 1994 album, Too Bad Jim, was produced by renowned musicologist and writer Robert Palmer, and his brilliantly titled (if sometimes grating) 1996 work, A Ass Pocket of Whiskey, was a collaboration with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, bringing him a whole new generation of fans.
In the final years of his life before his 2005 passing, Burnside was a critically beloved musician who toured the world and supported a large family. One of the many grandchildren he took in was six-year-old Cedric Burnside, who moved with his mother into R.L.’s two-room house on the outskirts of Holly Springs, Mississippi. Cedric says the facilities weren’t exactly modern. “We had to haul water from our neighbor’s well, a half mile away,” he recalls. “We’d clean out a gallon milk jug, put water in it, and carry three or four of them in a belt around our shoulders.” They also cooked their food atop a wood burning stove, he notes. “It was real old-school.”
The 30-year-old Cedric now supports his own family as a drummer, and has found popularity recording and touring with guitarist Lightnin’ Malcolm. The pair released their Delta Groove debut, 2 Man Wrecking Crew, in October to critical acclaim. The album’s first track, “R.L. Burnside”, pays homage to his grandfather, whom Cedric says raised him “like a father.”
“If I said I didn’t get no ass whuppin’, I’d be lying,” he says. Other times, it was sage advice; after hearing that some of Cedric’s friends were beating up their girlfriends, R.L. replied, “If you’ve got to beat ‘em, you don’t need ’em.”
Cedric took up the drums around age seven, and before long, R.L. had enlisted him in his backing band on tour. On the road, he gave his grandson a first-rate education. “He taught me how to pack my clothes for the road,” remembers Cedric, who now lives in a Hickory Flat, Mississippi trailer with his wife and three daughters. “He told me to bring Vienna sausages, so if it was late at night I would have something to snack on.”
Springfield, Missouri native Malcolm was also a protégée of R.L.’s, and he and Cedric began playing regularly together after Cedric departed an act called Burnside Exploration, which also featured his uncle, Gary Burnside. Calling themselves Juke Joint Duo, Cedric and Malcolm took turns singing, with the latter specializing in tight electric guitar riffs and virtuoso solos.
After releasing a self-produced, eponymous CD to little fanfare, last year the pair was discovered by Randy Chortkoff, head of the LA-based Delta Groove label. Impressed by a May performance at Clarksdale, Mississippi club Ground Zero, Chortkoff signed them immediately. Two weeks later, the guys were in Nashville, working with famed producer David Z., known for his work with Prince, as well as for producing Fine Young Cannibals’ classic “She Drives Me Crazy.”
The breezy, funk-infused work features songwriting from both Malcolm and Burnside, and is largely electric, 
although Burnside plays acoustic guitar on the tracks which he sings. The album won’t be confused with anything of R.L.’s, as it largely eschews his driving, experimental sound in favor of more up-tempo songs with obvious hooks. It’s often danceable, and though Malcolm’s melodies go down easier, Burnside’s stories are often memorable. “Don’t Just Sing About the Blues” was inspired by the time his car broke down and he was forced to hitchhike back home with an armful of groceries. “It was miserable hot. The sun got to me while I was on the side of the road, thumbing,” he says. “Finally somebody brought me back home, and I felt so bad I thought I had to write a song about this, it was mandatory!”
The pair has already had some brushes with fame. Cedric contributed to the soundtrack of the 2006 Craig Brewer film Black Snake Moan (the film’s main character was very loosely based on R.L.) and even had a cameo in the movie. In January, the guys opened for bluesman Buddy Guy at his Chicago club, Legends, and last year they even played a few shows with Jimmy Buffett after the “Cheeseburger in Paradise” crooner attended one of their shows in New Orleans and was blown away. Though Cedric and Malcolm were barely familiar with his music, they jumped at his invitation to open for him.
Burnside says that though the signing with Delta Groove has been something of a boost—“Since the CD has been out, the crowds have been getting bigger”—the constant touring wears them down. “I love it, but just like any other job, it gets tiring,” he says, adding that they are on the road six or seven months out of the year at this point. “Sometimes you’re driving all day, and you might have to be at the club at nine or 10, so you don’t have time to go to the hotel and take a shower. Then that night you don’t get enough sleep, but you have to get up early again to make it to the next gig.”
He pushes on partly because he loves the rush (“I love to see the people dance,” he says. “They love to stomp up dust in those juke joints”), and partly because, like his grandfather before him, he’s got mouths back home in Mississippi to feed. But perhaps his most pressing concern is to carry on the torch of his grandfather. “I just really want to keep my granddad’s music alive,” he says, adding that it’s not especially difficult to do, considering that, for a convicted murderer anyway, quite a few people remember R.L. fondly. “People talk to me at shows, and they remember he used to tell jokes all the time and keep people laughing,” he says. “He was a kind-hearted guy. Beyond just his music, people loved his company.”
Listen: Various tracks [at myspace.com]
Tags:R.L. Burnside, Cedric Burnside, Lightnin’ Malcolm
Read more articles like this:
Album review: B.B. King, One Kind Favor
Bo Diddley: The Originator
Ron Franklin: Born and Bred on a Road Trip
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The Juke Joint Duo: Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm
by: Ben Westhoff
In the final years of his life before his 2005 passing, Burnside was a critically beloved musician who toured the world and supported a large family. One of the many grandchildren he took in was six-year-old Cedric Burnside, who moved with his mother into R.L.’s two-room house on the outskirts of Holly Springs, Mississippi. Cedric says the facilities weren’t exactly modern. “We had to haul water from our neighbor’s well, a half mile away,” he recalls. “We’d clean out a gallon milk jug, put water in it, and carry three or four of them in a belt around our shoulders.” They also cooked their food atop a wood burning stove, he notes. “It was real old-school.”
The 30-year-old Cedric now supports his own family as a drummer, and has found popularity recording and touring with guitarist Lightnin’ Malcolm. The pair released their Delta Groove debut, 2 Man Wrecking Crew, in October to critical acclaim. The album’s first track, “R.L. Burnside”, pays homage to his grandfather, whom Cedric says raised him “like a father.”
“If I said I didn’t get no ass whuppin’, I’d be lying,” he says. Other times, it was sage advice; after hearing that some of Cedric’s friends were beating up their girlfriends, R.L. replied, “If you’ve got to beat ‘em, you don’t need ’em.”
Springfield, Missouri native Malcolm was also a protégée of R.L.’s, and he and Cedric began playing regularly together after Cedric departed an act called Burnside Exploration, which also featured his uncle, Gary Burnside. Calling themselves Juke Joint Duo, Cedric and Malcolm took turns singing, with the latter specializing in tight electric guitar riffs and virtuoso solos.
After releasing a self-produced, eponymous CD to little fanfare, last year the pair was discovered by Randy Chortkoff, head of the LA-based Delta Groove label. Impressed by a May performance at Clarksdale, Mississippi club Ground Zero, Chortkoff signed them immediately. Two weeks later, the guys were in Nashville, working with famed producer David Z., known for his work with Prince, as well as for producing Fine Young Cannibals’ classic “She Drives Me Crazy.”
The breezy, funk-infused work features songwriting from both Malcolm and Burnside, and is largely electric,
although Burnside plays acoustic guitar on the tracks which he sings. The album won’t be confused with anything of R.L.’s, as it largely eschews his driving, experimental sound in favor of more up-tempo songs with obvious hooks. It’s often danceable, and though Malcolm’s melodies go down easier, Burnside’s stories are often memorable. “Don’t Just Sing About the Blues” was inspired by the time his car broke down and he was forced to hitchhike back home with an armful of groceries. “It was miserable hot. The sun got to me while I was on the side of the road, thumbing,” he says. “Finally somebody brought me back home, and I felt so bad I thought I had to write a song about this, it was mandatory!”
The pair has already had some brushes with fame. Cedric contributed to the soundtrack of the 2006 Craig Brewer film Black Snake Moan (the film’s main character was very loosely based on R.L.) and even had a cameo in the movie. In January, the guys opened for bluesman Buddy Guy at his Chicago club, Legends, and last year they even played a few shows with Jimmy Buffett after the “Cheeseburger in Paradise” crooner attended one of their shows in New Orleans and was blown away. Though Cedric and Malcolm were barely familiar with his music, they jumped at his invitation to open for him.
Burnside says that though the signing with Delta Groove has been something of a boost—“Since the CD has been out, the crowds have been getting bigger”—the constant touring wears them down. “I love it, but just like any other job, it gets tiring,” he says, adding that they are on the road six or seven months out of the year at this point. “Sometimes you’re driving all day, and you might have to be at the club at nine or 10, so you don’t have time to go to the hotel and take a shower. Then that night you don’t get enough sleep, but you have to get up early again to make it to the next gig.”
He pushes on partly because he loves the rush (“I love to see the people dance,” he says. “They love to stomp up dust in those juke joints”), and partly because, like his grandfather before him, he’s got mouths back home in Mississippi to feed. But perhaps his most pressing concern is to carry on the torch of his grandfather. “I just really want to keep my granddad’s music alive,” he says, adding that it’s not especially difficult to do, considering that, for a convicted murderer anyway, quite a few people remember R.L. fondly. “People talk to me at shows, and they remember he used to tell jokes all the time and keep people laughing,” he says. “He was a kind-hearted guy. Beyond just his music, people loved his company.”
Listen: Various tracks [at myspace.com]
Tags:R.L. Burnside, Cedric Burnside, Lightnin’ Malcolm
Read more articles like this:
Album review: B.B. King, One Kind Favor
Bo Diddley: The Originator
Ron Franklin: Born and Bred on a Road Trip
by: Ben Westhoff
published: February 4, 2009
in column: Introducing
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