New Albums
CEDRIC BURNSIDE
I Be Trying
RL Burnside’s spirit comes alive on his grandson’s mesmerising ninth LP
SINGLE LOCK
8/10
On the heels of The Black Keys’ Mississippi Hill Country blues homage Delta Kream comes Cedric Burnside’s bone-dry, stunningly pure I Be Trying, cut at Willie Mitchell’s hallowed Royal Studios in Memphis by his son Boo Mitchell. Like RL Burnside, his granddaddy and mentor, Cedric spins off filigreed guitar licks that change shape as they unreel and lyrics so concise they make haikus seem long-winded. Cedric and North Mississippi Allstars guitarist Luther Dickinson lock horns kinetically on “Step In” and “Keep On Pushing”, and Alabama Shakes’ Zac Cockrell lays down the album’s lone bassline on the polyrhythmic chugger “Pretty Flowers”; otherwise, I Be Trying sounds as stark and untamed as a field recording, belying the perfectionism with which it was made.