Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
The journey does not necessarily take you where you want to go, but where fate and dedication understand you were always going to be; whether in the straits of adoration and consuming hard work, or in the valley surrounded by the Hill Country Love that insists on holding you in its thrall…you are where you are meant to be and influencing all who want to be standing in the same spot.
Cedric Burnside’s pedigree is indisputable, his time at the forefront of the genre is irrefutable, the name alone carries history, the music so much more, and as he releases his latest album, Hill Country Love, that chronicle of vibrant
The album is an epic encounter, it is a love, a tenderness and irresistible devotion to the past, but also the acknowledgement that the future always beckons with an intrigue of the possible unconventional, the active original in waiting.
Through Time the listener unearths tracks such as Juke Joint, Love You Music, the truth of meeting that one person or situation which requires Coming Real To You, the heady opener of I Know, the exceptional Toll On Your Life, and the album title track of Hill Country Love, the roots of expression unburden themselves and breathe life at the top of the hill, the subset of the Hill Country Blues and the outstanding beauty that reveals to those willing to look as the stunning backdrop of Northern Mississippi.
Love what you do, or allow another soul to discover it, lay down your life for the journey ad it will keep you alive for ever, that is the point of the art that Cedric Burnside provides, and like the man, like the journey, the album is an odyssey of ideas, a compulsion of philosophy and directions.
Hill Country Love, the wonderful follow up to I Be Trying, is dynamic, it is rich in its standing…it is a testament to the heritage, to the future, and it is fantastic.
Cedric Burnside releases Hill Country Love on April 5th via Provogue Records/Mascot Label Group.
Ian D. Hall