CEDRIC BURNSIDE & LIGHTNIN' MALCOLM "2 MAN WRECKING CREW" Liner Notes by Scott Dirks

On paper, it doesn’t seem like it would work. A fair-haired young guitarist who wouldn’t look out of place at a frat party, and a young black man who would fit right in with the crowd at a 50 Cent show, forming a two-man band to play music that takes a primitive hill country blues tradition and mixes in elements of Jimi Hendrix, the jam band scene, funk and more.

But music isn’t made on paper. And when you read between the lines, it all begins to make sense.

Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm have each been living the blues for a lifetime, and have the chops to prove it. Burnside is the grandson and long-time drummer behind the late Mississippi blues legend R.L. Burnside. He began playing in Delta juke joints and on concert stages at age 13. Steve “Lightnin’” Malcolm was raised in rural Missouri, and was drawn into the blues while still a child, when, in his words, “I was 7 or 8, and the grown folks was parked out on the road listening to music and carryin’ on. They put on a tape called ‘Muddy Waters Greatest Hits’, and when I heard that voice shootin’ out of that speaker, I was shocked. I fell in love with it, and I promised myself then and there that if I grew up to be a man, I was gonna try to do that!”

Malcolm started out singing and playing drums – the latter laying the foundation for the propulsive rhythm in everything he’s done since. By the age of 10 he had his first guitar, and a couple of years later he was sneaking into local honkytonks and jukes, sitting in with anyone who would let him. Before long his quest for the blues led him to North Mississippi, where he fell under the spell of local blues legends Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, and Otha Turner at Kimbrough’s world famous juke joint outside Holly Springs. He immersed himself in a style unique to that region, known to blues fans around the world as North Mississippi hill country blues, a distinctive cousin of Delta blues that draws elements from the fife and drum cadences linked directly back to the West African dance traditions. As played with electric guitars and drums, it becomes a churning, droning exercise of tension and release, hypnotic and sensual, and as perfect a vehicle as has ever been created for dancing at a sweaty Saturday night juke joint.

Malcolm got a lifetime’s worth of on-the-job training from the elder statesmen of the style, and also formed alliances with the other young turks on the scene, such as the North Mississippi Allstars, Jimbo Mathus, Kenny Brown, Kenny and David Kimbrough Jr., and most importantly, Cedric Burnside.

For Cedric, this music is as much a part of his life as his own heartbeat. As grandson of blues master R.L. Burnside, and son of drummer Calvin Jackson, Cedric says that as a youngster, “My granddad used to play out on the porch, and we'd have house parties every weekend…We just stomped up dirt." Born in 1978, he grew up listening to as much funk and hip-hop as blues, and incorporates all of it into a relentless, driving style of drumming that is perfect for the traditional hill country blues, and at the same time contemporary, fresh and relentlessly funky. When Malcolm, who’d by then earned the nickname “Lightnin’”, spent some time living in the Burnside home a few years ago, Cedric began jamming with him regularly, if informally, laying the foundation for their future collaboration. They soon teamed up - two men, driven by the blues and raising a hell of a racket with just drums, a guitar, and two voices. Their independently released debut CD in 2007, “Juke Joint Duo”, quickly began making waves in the blues world far beyond North Mississippi.

In May of 2008, Delta Groove C.E.O. Randy Chortkoff became aware of the duo for the first time, when they sat in at the informal jam stage outside the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, where the 3rd Annual Delta Groove Blues Revue was being held. Chortkoff was so enthralled by the duo’s propulsive music that before the day was out he was making arrangements to record them, and by the next day had enlisted veteran producer David Z.

Initially there was talk of simply doing a state-of-the-art re-recording of the “Juke Joint Duo” CD, but as it turned out Burnside and Malcolm had already built up a fresh cache of strong new material, so only a couple of songs were carried over for their debut release on Delta Groove, “2 Man Wrecking Crew”. Adding some variety to the mix, harmonica wizard Jason Ricci was brought in to play on a few songs – another detail that on paper might not seem to make sense, until one considers that early in his career Ricci spent a year playing the North Mississippi juke joints as a member of Junior Kimbrough’s band, and has known Cedric Burnside for over a decade.

But forget about what’s on paper. The results speak for themselves: this is some of the most riveting, compelling, booty-shaking music being created today. And for the most part, it’s all Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm – a true two man wrecking crew. - Scott Dirks

Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm THANKS:
We want to thank all our family, friends and fans all over the world for all your help and love. Thank you for staying loyal to this music. Our music is dedicated to the memory of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough always and forever.