Cedric Burnside was born in Memphis on August 26, 1978 and raised in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in the home of his grandfather R.L. Burnside, with his father Calvin Jackson already an established blues drummer. By age 13 he was touring the world behind his grandfather's band, eventually taking over the drum stool from his own father. This episode explains what makes Hill Country blues mechanically different from Chicago blues, why its hypnotic single-chord drone puts the burden of movement on the drummer, and how Cedric absorbed that inherited groove by osmosis before deliberately expanding his toolbox with gigs alongside Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kenny Brown, T-Model Ford, Widespread Panic, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Jimmy Buffett.

The discussion follows his move to the front of the stage with Burnside Exploration alongside his uncle  ...