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Cedric Burnside at the West Theatre on Dec. 3. Photo by Jill Fisher.

One of the best parts of traveling is experiencing the distinctive and culturally rich music of wherever a journey takes us. From the Mariachi bands of Mexico,  Fado of Portugal, the bagpipes of Scotland, Mele of Hawaii to any number of other locales, the variety deepens our appreciation of the culture that produces it. Much of it provides an educational lesson.

Because the United States is so vast, it too has regionally characteristic music. Although popular music tends to blur the boundaries, we can discover such locally specific music right here through the dedication of touring musicians.

A case in point is the Cedric Burnside concert at the West Theatre last Wednesday, Dec. 3. I knew nothing about him.

All I had heard was that he played the blues and is the grandson of the legendary Mississippi bluesman R. L. Burnside (1926–2005). That was enough for me to want to take in this show.

Evidently, I was in the minority since the theater was almost sold out and the welcome he received was tremendous. These were avid CB fans!

When Burnside took the stage (solo), he introduced his music as “Mississippi  Hill Country Blues,” saying we would learn to know what that is. Did we ever!

Within moments I understood this was not the blues of BB King, Buddy Guy, Albert Cummings, or even our Minnesota bluesman Maurice Jacox. No, this was something far deeper, more rooted and, if it isn’t too non-PC to say, more primitive.

And I was in for a visceral lesson in these blues as he entertained us with song after song that conveyed this regional style of country blues known for its emphasis on strong rhythm and percussive guitar.

Some music scholars have called it “hypnotic boogie,” while some musicians claim it as “cotton patch style.” 

That is exactly what I heard — droning tunes using very few chords, with repetitious lyrics and a heavy, somewhat different rhythm.

Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, he started with “The World Can Be So Cold” from his 2021 album I Be Trying. It had a nice finale that made it memorable. He next sang “Hard To Stay Cool” from his 2018 album Benton County Relic. He spoke of “the big man” and played “Mellow Peaches,” which his grandpa composed.

CB followed that up with “You’ve Got To Move” from his most recent album, Hill Country Love (2024).

These songs were pretty long so there weren’t that many. At the close of almost every song, CB exclaimed “Well, well, well!”

A long-time fan told me this is what his grandfather did as well.

Cedric Burnside and band

Our local blues expert, Rebecca Lindquist, explained to me that Mississippi Hill Country Blues derives its distinctive sound from the early music of enslaved Africans. More specifically the music can be traced to West Africa, Senegal in particular.

Although she admitted that it wasn’t her favorite form of blues music, hearing it live made a strong positive impression on her.

A musician friend was rapturous about the sophisticated polyrhythmic aspects of these songs while another observed that Burnside was using a two-finger picking style on his guitar, which added to the singularity of this regional sound.

CB was certainly an engaging entertainer. He told us the titles of his songs, joking about the lyrics at times. Nor was he adverse to telling a rather blue joke, which got a laugh from the audience.

Before the intermission, he played an instrumental number with a slide that emulated the sound of a train. I found that to be quite extraordinary.

Burnside is an affable down to earth character, who came out to meet and greet during the intermission and after the show. He was willing to have his picture taken with numerous folks, who lined up, eager to praise him. No wonder he said that he’d love to get back here to play for us again someday.

After the break, CB was joined by Kody Shade Harrell, who like Burnside, is from Mississippi, born in the small town of Buzzard Roost. He played electric guitar which he made sound like a bass with low- pitched funky rhythms.

Joe Eagle, a native of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, was the drummer backing the guitarists up. He is the founder of Eagle Music & Media Academy, the mission of which is to keep the Delta’s raw, musical heartbeat alive.

The trio played “Closer” from Burnside’s 2024 Hill Country Love album and “We Made It,” a track on his 2018 Benton County Relic album.

Eagle’s driving drums raised the polyrhythmic beats to an even more intense level. It didn’t take long for the area in front of the stage to be filled with dancers who joyfully responded to this Mississippi music.

The energized crowd called for an encore, of course, so the group came back on stage to play Junior Kimbrough’s tune “Hands Off That Girl.”

All in all, it was a great night of unforgettable roots music.

Later in the week, on Friday, Dec. 5, the Curmudgeon and I got over to Earth Rider’s tap room, Cedar Lounge to hear Misisipi Mike’s “weekend primer” set that preceded a show by Dedrick Clark of the Social Animals.

Dedric Clark and Tony Peterson

That band is new to me, but I’ve learned it has a Cloquet connection and that it got its start in Duluth. He was joined by Social Animals band member Tony Peterson. They drew quite the crowd of young folks and I can understand why. Dedrick has a unique and powerful voice that put across his original lyrics effectively.

It was unfortunate that circumstances led us to leave the show early. I’m certain we missed much good music but trust we’ll have the opportunity to see Clark and Peterson again with the rest of their bandmates sometime in the not-too-distant future.

I want to also share that the Mahon Brothers, Jacob and Owen, performing as a duo, began their December residency at Zeitgeist on Tuesday, Dec. 2. It was a low-key gig with minimalist music that let us enjoy how these sibling harmonize.

I noted that Owen sang both high and low harmonies around Jacobs lead vocals. Jacob told us that many of the tunes they would be playing on this evening were covers of the Grateful Dead. He added they would be covering the songs of different nationally-known bands and/or musicians in each of the weeks ahead and would take suggestions as to which bands they should consider.

Robert Hunter, the lyricist/singer-songwriter who is best known for his collaboration with the Grateful Dead, composed several of the tunes the brothers played. These included “Cross the Lazy River,” “Easy Wind,” “That’s The Deal” and one of Jacob’s favorites, “Mr. Charlie Told Me So.”

One of the songs that generated some discussion was “Shake It Sugaree,” which was not to be confused with Elizabeth Cotton’s “Sugaree.” A legal/financial conflict between the Dead and Cotton arose due to this confusion but Jacob explained that the songs were actually completely different melodically and lyrically, only sharing the name Sugaree in the title. The dispute was eventually resolved and the Dead recorded another of Cotton’s songs.

Jacob and Owen Mahon 

By the time they took a break, the boys had pretty much exhausted their repertoire of Dead songs, so we got to hear their cover of “Big River” by Johnny Cash, along with a variety of other covers and original songs.

Owen took the vocal lead on at least one song, possibly his own composition. It was interesting to see Jacob taking up a squeeze box for an instrumental number before the end of the evening.    

The exciting news is that the latest (and long-awaited) Saltydog CD, Run In A Gan, (pronounced as Runnin’ Again) will be released on Friday, Jan 9, at the Turf Club in St. Paul. Saltydog has top billing with Between Howls and the group Hot Like Mars opening for them. The doors open at 7 pm and you can bet I will be there.

It’s too bad that this must-see concert is going up against Homegrown’s Winter Fiasco, but there you have it, too many hard choices for us live music buffs!

UPCOMING: Lots of seasonal music to be had in the weeks ahead. I wish I could identify some associated with Hanukkah, which starts on Friday evening, Dec.14, but I have yet to see anything posted along those lines.

Happy Hanukkah in any case!