RJ’s Grill & Bar saw a full house April 6 for the appearance of a north Mississippi musical legend with blues in his bloodline.
Duwayne Burnside is a guitar virtuoso and gifted singer/songwriter who, along with his band, delivered three hours of Mississippi cotton patch blues for the Port City Blues Society’s monthly concert.
The performance was the second installment of the Blues by Budweiser 2024-25 concert series sponsored by MK Distributors.
In addition to his being a former member of the North Mississippi Allstars from 2001 to 2004, a Grammy nominee and an accomplished musician in his own right, he is also one of 14 children of legendary north Mississippi bluesman R.L. (Robert Lee) Burnside.
R.L. Burnside, along with Junior Kimbrough, Joe Ayers and Kenny Brown, are credited with developing the unique rhythmic style of cotton patch soul blues. Among those in the crowded room at RJ’s was a well-known fixture on the local Pine Bluff music scene, Detroit Johnny Johnson.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Johnson toured the world as a young man with Robert Nighthawk and associated with many of the great blues icons.
“I knew R.L. Burnside,” Johnson said. “He was influenced by Lightning Hopkins, Houston Stackhouse, Sun House, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters but he and his best friend Junior Kimbrough founded Hill Country Blues. R.L. liked the country life, country living and country women and was satisfied staying home on the farm. He earned his living driving tractors and farm equipment so he was never without money.”
Representing the Port City Blues Society, Dave Sadler introduced the younger Burnside.
“As a young man he learned a few guitar licks and chords from his father but proved a quick study and soon began playing with Junior Kimbrough and his group, the Soul Blues Boys, at Junior’s juke joint in Chulahoma,” Sadler said. “When he joined his dad’s band, Sound Machine Groove, he further honed his skills as a guitarist and showman. He continues to keep the Mississippi hill-style blues flourishing.”
Reared at his father’s feet, immersed in the blues lifestyle, Duwayne Burnside came by his gifts naturally. His upbringing in Holly Springs near Memphis gave him opportunities early on to sit in and play alongside Little Jimmy King, Albert King, B.B. King and Bobby Blue Bland.
The 56-year-old Burnside’s music maintains an independent authenticity and originality all his own.
Over the course of the show, Burnside introduced his own compositions as well as sharing some of his father’s hypnotic classics such as “Poor Black Mattie,” “Shake ’em on Down” and “Goin’ Down South.” He also drew from Kimbrough’s songs with “You Better Run” and let the rhythm section loose to show off with syncopated funk on Kimbrough’s “All Night Long.”
He spiced up the evening with Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn numbers, displaying guitar work equal in stature of those two great masters of the six-string.
During the show’s final hour, local keyboardist Pops Cooper sat in with the band.
Burnside was asked about plans for the future.
“We’re playing New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest on May 3 and starting a three-week European tour in October. Last week, I sat in and played with Buddy Guy and his son at Buddy’s ‘Legends’ club in Chicago,” he said.
The four-piece group drove back to Holly Springs following the show to be home for their weekly Sunday afternoon performance at Duwayne’s Burnside Bar & Grill. A regular guest at these occasions is Brown, 72, still making music with the young folks.
In addition to his contributions on the albums of many other well-known artists, Burnside’s discography contains 1998’s “Mississippi Mafia Live at the Mint” and 2022’s “Acoustic Burnside.”
Referencing the Grammy-nominated “Acoustic Burnside,” he said of the solo record, “Playing stripped down like this, you can hear the music come right out of my heart because that’s where my daddy put it.”