Cedric Burnside: ‘I want people to know that they’re not by themselves’

“I was writing this album due to some things that I have been through over the last seven or eight years, with myself, with other people and family and friends,” explains the 42-year-old singer-songwriter, drummer and guitarist who comes from a renowned line of Mississippi blues performers.

“I put my feelings out there, good and bad. I went through a bunch of stuff in my life, I’m sure everybody has, but I was always able to pick myself up and dust myself off and start again. That’s why I named this album I Be Trying because all we can do every day is try our best, and I want people to know that they’re not by themselves.”

Burnside found himself going through a lot of soul searching after losing his brother, Cody, and father, Cedric Jackson, within three years of each other as well as several friends. He says he was looking for positives then, “and even more now” in the wake of the Covid pandemic. “I wrote this album before the pandemic [but] a lot of the songs on it can relate to times that are happening now,” he says. “It’s kind of the way the universe put it out there. During the pandemic I lost a couple more friends but overall I just wanted to let people know that despite what you go through, you’ve got to be strong. It’s not always easy, I can definitely say that, but it all works out for you in the end.”

The album also includes a cover of Bird Without a Feather by his grandfather, R L Burnside, with whom he toured at the age of 13, as well as fellow Mississippi Hill country blues exponent Junior Kimbrough’s Keep Your Hands Off Her.

“I always try to pick a song by Big Daddy to put on my album,” says Burnside, referencing his grandfather, “just to let people know where I got it from and to show my appreciation of him opening the doors for the Burnside family and other musicians that love this style of music. I always pay tribute to Mr Junior Kimbrough as well because I grew up playing at his jook joint and he showed me the ropes on the road as well as music.”

I Be Trying was recorded with Boo Mitchell and Luther Dickinson at Royal Studios in Memphis, a facility steeped in history. Once owned by Hi Records, it has played host over the past 50 years to the likes of Buddy Guy, Al Green, Solomon Burke, Otis Rush, Keith Richards and Rod Stewart.

“That place has definitely got some mojo,” says Burnside. “I’ve known Boo Mitchell, the owner of Royal Studios, since I was 15 years old. Boo is quite a bit older than me but we always talked about doing stuff together. Time prevented us from doing it (in the past), but it was so good to do it there. Royal Studios has got a really big history, just walking in there and looking at all the platinum albums on the wall and all the pictures, wow, energy just runs through you, man. We went in there and knocked it out in three days, we did about 19 or 20 songs and we took 13 of those songs and came up with I Be Trying.”

Burnside has twice been nominated for a Grammy award, for his albums Descendants of the Hill Country and Benton County Relic. He says the recognition came as a surprise. “I didn’t expect this music to take me as far as it has, I am very grateful, I didn’t think I would ever be nominated for a Grammy,” he says. “To be nominated twice is just amazing to me. It made me want to work twice as hard, it helped me in my career to make more money and to build my craft the way I want it.

“I have to say this last Grammy nomination was more of me putting down the ideas in my head as opposed to somebody else doing it for me. I always played drums and let the guitar player that was playing with me first do the music and I had to let them play was what comfortable for them but it wasn’t what I heard in my head, although it sounded good. I just thank the universe and Single Lock Records for letting me be me. I known I’m kind of different to everybody else out there. With fans, it’s been pretty damn great, they’re still enjoying my music, but there’s a lot more that I’ve got to put out there that they haven’t heard.”

Latterly Burnside has branched out into acting, appearing in the title role in the film Texas Red. Although he’d had bit parts before, he says playing a major role was “quite different”. “First off, I had to get myself in the mind set of doing something that was back in the 1930s and 40s, which was wild times back then,” he explains. “Then I had to get myself in the mind set of what this guy was going through. He was an African American, along with a friend of his, who was taking money but not getting caught. They were chased by an angry posse. To make a long story short, it was a time when racism was pretty common and you didn’t really think about it, you were just glad to make it home alive. So I had to put myself in that mind set which was hard to do. I had read about racism but to put myself in that position I had to dig deep. But it was good to do the movie, it was really a learning experience and I think I’d like to do more acting in the future.”

I Be Trying is out on Friday June 25. www.cedricburnside.net