artist info

Ever since Rock & Roll and Blues Hall of Famer Elvin Bishop first hit the scene with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band back in 1965, he’s blazed his own musical trail. Whether he was playing raw, eye-popping blues, or penning the evergreen radio hit "Fooled Around and Fell In Love," or touring the world for decades delivering his original, good-time countrified blues, Bishop has always inspired his fans with his rowdy guitar playing and witty, slice-of-life songs. Rolling Stone calls Bishop “a legendary guitarist” whose playing is “impeccable and spirited…a distinguished American player.”

“Rousing, down-home, feel-good music…spunky rhythms and razor-sharp slide…Bishop’s a superb guitarist of great strength and skill…a rockin’ good time.” – Guitar World

On the title track of his latest album, “Can’t Even Do Wrong Right,” legendary blues guitarist, songwriter and singer Elvin Bishop spins a tale of a not-too-smart criminal getting caught by his own foolish missteps. The shaggy dog story, fueled by Bishop’s down-home delivery and deep blues slide guitar, is an affirmation of the Chicago Sun-Times’ ebullient praise: “It’s impossible not to like Bishop. He’s always singing something lowbrow and uplifting.” With his buoyant and deceptively loose-sounding ensemble behind him, he’s also playing some of the most spirited and distinctive blues slide guitar today.

When Cedric Burnside prepared to record Hill Country Love (released 4/2025), the follow-up to his 2021 Grammy-winning Best Traditional blues album I Be Trying, he set up shop in a former legal office located in a row of structures in the seat of Tippah County, Mississippi, a town with 5,000 residents that’s known as the birthplace of the Hill Country Blues style. The 14 songs on the record were finished in two days, but in addition to being satisfied with the sound, Burnside believes that Hill Country Love represents real creative progress.

Certainly, plenty of things have happened in Cedric Burnside’s life since he went on the road at age 13, drumming for his grandfather, the pioneering bluesman R.L. Burnside. His two albums before I Be Trying – 2015’s Descendants of Hill Country and 2018’s Benton County Relic – were both nominated for Grammys. He received a National Heritage Fellowship, the country’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts and was recently recognized with the 2024 Mississippi Governor's Art Award for Excellence in Music. He has performed and recorded with such diverse musicians as Jimmy Buffett, Bobby Rush, and Widespread Panic. He’s also appeared in several films, including Tempted and Big Bad Love (both released in 2001) and the 2006 hit Black Snake Moan, and he played the title character in 2021’s Texas Red.