Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It is Hard To Stay Cool when the world abuses your right to tell your story, when all it wants is for the vast majority of the population to keep quiet, dutiful in its silence, and ready to face the criticism of the so called anointed few when you should speak up in defence of another human being, or be outspoken when Government deserves its reckoning. It is hard to stay cool and serene in such moments of anguish and pain, but then the music you create, the art you employ, can speak volumes and be a source of inspiration to others fighting the same silent battle.
It may be hard to stay cool but the celebrated grandson of the legendary Bluesman R. L. Burnside, the superb and ingenious Cedric Burnside, manages to provide a resolute shelter of calm in a world where loss and pain is arguably the place where we see the most damage in life.
We get through such times with either the help of friends and loved ones, or the soul taking charge and making sense of the world through the sound in which the music we love, by doing so we cast off aspersions caused in our name, we perhaps find a reason to get angry, to come to terms with the cruellest of tricks played by Time and its companion, life.
Cedric Burnside’s special quality in the Blues is undoubtable, an honesty that avoids many, seeps out like volcanic lava, destroying the once crumbling path, but making it fertile for future generations to look upon and grow their own strength from. This 2015 Grammy-nominated Blues player strikes a cord which is beautifully balanced and heart-felt, one of resilience, one of knowing that whilst we can employ change, it is with regret that not everything in life is possible to hold forever; and with the tug of the Blues which provides comfort, the new album Benton County Relic is a piece of art which deserves framing and loving.
In moments of introspection and delivery, songs such as Get Your Groove On, Typical Day, Hard To Stay Cool, Don’t Leave Me Girl, Death Bell Blues and I’m Hurtin are presented with flourish, they give hope in the sadness that surrounds us and becomes the glow to which we flock too in times of our own personal times of needing a shoulder to lean upon.
A tender recording steeped in honest reflection, Benton County Relic is the pride of the Blues.
Cedric Burnside’s Benton County Relic is on sale now.
Ian D. Hall