R.L. Burnside’s grandson, Cedric Burnside, announced a new album called I Be Trying, which is set to be released on June 25 through Single Lock Records. He also shared a new single named “The World Can Be So Cold.”

The new track is a guitar-and-vocal blues track that starts off not too unlike something Burnside’s grandfather would’ve made. However, “The World Can Be So Cold” is much more melodic, breaking out of the blues rhythm for a simple chords-drawn chorus. The blues playing is still there throughout the rest of it, that said, making for a unique balance between two styles.

It follows up a much more rhythmically-focused lead single titled “Step In,” which is aided by the presence of drums and an additional guitar player. “Step In” is calling for the Lord to ‘step in,’ pleading for divine intervention. He sings, “I feel, like I’m lost and cant be found/A boat with a hole, that’s slowly sinking down/Uh, like a bully, that put me to the test/Uh, got me paranoid and I can’t get no rest/Please Lord, step in.”

I Be Trying was recorded at Memphis’ iconic Royal Studios, featuring accompaniment from North Mississippi All-Stars’ frontman Luther Dickinson, Alabama Shakes’ bassist Zac Cockrell and New Orleans session drummer Reed Watson. Most of it is classic Mississippi Hill Country blues, carrying on the Burnside family tradition. North Mississippi All-Stars, which also includes Burnside’s uncle, Duwayne Burnside, featured Cedric Burnside on a couple of tracks from their 2019 album Up and Rolling. 

Burnside released two other loose singles recently, a 2020 collaboration with Steve Azar called “Coldwater,” and “The Other Side,” from the Texas Red soundtrack, featuring J.R. & The Allnighters. His last album, Benton County Relic (2018), was also his first solo album after years of playing as a touring musician stemming back to when he was 13 years old in his grandfather’s backing band. The album featured commercial standouts such as “We Made It” and “Hard to Stay Cool,” and saw a bit of modern blues rock underlying his Hill Country compositions.

I Be Trying Tracklist:

1. The World Can Be So Cold
2. Step In
3. I Be Trying
4. You Really Love Me
5. Love Is the Key
6. Keep on Pushing
7. Gotta Look Out
8. Pretty Flowers
9. What Makes Me Think
10. Bird Without a Feather
11. Hands Off That Girl
12. Get Down
13. Love You Forever