Lucky 13 Recordings, 2013
By Phillip Smith;
March 8, 2014
After touring and playing with Jimbo Mathus for over a year, Kent Burnside (Grandson of R.L. Burnside) has decided to take the next step, form his own band, and introduce his own brand of Blues music, served up trance-style. Thank goodness he did. His debut album, My World is So Cold, is quite good. Joining front man singer/guitarist Burnside in the studio is guitarist J.J. Holiday, keyboardist Eddie “Cheneddie” Baytos, bassist Justin Valdivia, and David Gray Kimbrough on drums and percussion.
A funky backing rhythm, along
with Burnside’s raw vocals and slide
guitar, make “Country Boy” a fun and interesting album opener. One of the more
interesting selections is his cover of Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful”, first
recorded by Howlin’ Wolf. Burnside
injects a bus load of soul into the song and does a tremendous job of tackling
this one. I love the way he sprinkles
these little bluesy licks of psychedelia into the song, which sound like little
globs of backwards masking.
Burnside brings
it down to a sad slow sway with title track, “My World is So Cold”, about being
tossed aside by his woman, and the hurt that goes along with being alone. When this one plays, I just want to close my
eyes, and listen. I love the way it
slowly builds to a climax bringing all the musicians together in a beautifully constructed
jam. Another slow and emotional song is “I
Miss You”, written for his grandpa. The first half of the song is performed acoustically
with the only sounds coming from Burnside
and his guitar. Later, the rest of the
band join in, bringing a touch of electricity with them. While on the subject of his grandfather, Burnside, again pays homage, playing R.L’s song “Miss Maybelle”. You can hear the family trademark sound
coming through on this one. Burnside
tears it up on the guitar, and Baytos
hammers the ivories in this powerful cover.
Like Sly Stone with a case of the blues, Burnside delivers a fantastic performance on “Walkin’ Blues”, the
final track on My World is So Cold. I love the funky guitar riffs, and the
infectious rhythm. This track may be my favorite, but making that call was
tough, as I found all the songs to be outstanding. I really do look forward to hearing more from
Kent Burnside.
