Biography
Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Duwayne Burnside grew up as one of fourteen children of the legendary North Mississippi musician R.L. Burnside and his wife Alice. Since the early 1990s he has appeared regularly with the North Mississippi Allstars, the band led by Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson. Although his father supplied Duwayne’s earliest guitar instruction, the younger Burnside absorbed the lessons rapidly and soon performed alongside club proprietor Junior Kimbrough and the Soul Blues Boys. Raised in Holly Springs, he lived within easy reach of Memphis; once he could travel there he quickly sat in with Little Jimmy King, Albert King, B.B. King, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and additional artists. He also joined his father’s ensemble Sound Machine Groove, sharpening both his instrumental technique and stage presence. With that group he cut sides for Hightone and Fat Possum Records before relocating to Memphis, where he launched his own establishment, Burnside Kitchen and Grill, beside Highway 61. There he scheduled the entertainment, prepared the meals, dispensed beverages, and featured his own band each week.
In 1998 Duwayne journeyed to Los Angeles to cut his debut release, Live at the Mint, credited to Duwayne Burnside & the Mississippi Mafia. Upon his return he stepped away from the club trade and resettled in Holly Springs. His first onstage appearance with the North Mississippi Allstars took place in 2001 in Birmingham, Alabama, an event that initiated steady road work with the group. He contributed to their third album, Polaris, and appears on two of the band’s EPs. In 2004 he opened a fresh Burnside Blues Cafe in Holly Springs and assembled a new ensemble that blended soul blues with hill country blues. Releases issued under his own name comprise Live at the Mint (1998) and Under Pressure (2005), both on B.C. Records. A project honoring his father’s career and recordings is still in preparation. One of R.L. Burnside’s final requests—before his death at age eighty in 2005—was to share the stage with his son at the large-scale Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee. Duwayne Burnside maintains an active touring schedule, sustaining the vitality of North Mississippi hill-country blues.
In 1998 Duwayne journeyed to Los Angeles to cut his debut release, Live at the Mint, credited to Duwayne Burnside & the Mississippi Mafia. Upon his return he stepped away from the club trade and resettled in Holly Springs. His first onstage appearance with the North Mississippi Allstars took place in 2001 in Birmingham, Alabama, an event that initiated steady road work with the group. He contributed to their third album, Polaris, and appears on two of the band’s EPs. In 2004 he opened a fresh Burnside Blues Cafe in Holly Springs and assembled a new ensemble that blended soul blues with hill country blues. Releases issued under his own name comprise Live at the Mint (1998) and Under Pressure (2005), both on B.C. Records. A project honoring his father’s career and recordings is still in preparation. One of R.L. Burnside’s final requests—before his death at age eighty in 2005—was to share the stage with his son at the large-scale Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee. Duwayne Burnside maintains an active touring schedule, sustaining the vitality of North Mississippi hill-country blues.
Albums
Singles
Live
