Mississippi Hill Country bluesman Cedric Burnside has shared his brand new single “Pretty Flowers” while “ushering the genre into a beautifully Black future” (Ebony).
Written by the two-time GRAMMY nominee while on the road in 2018, “Pretty Flowers” tells the story of a man looking back at his past mistakes with women and recognizing that he’s learned important lessons over the years while growing into a loving, supportive partner. Throughout the coming-of-age love song, flowing extended guitar riffs become one with Burnside’s vocals, like the convergence of hill and horizon in the distance, sending listeners into a wide open Mississippi field full of many beautiful, blooming flowers.
“Basically, in my life, and in my past, I’ve had problems with relationships… and there are things I’d change about the way I personally handled them,” says Cedric of the inspiration behind the track. “In relationships, I tend to not make it very far… usually because of my music and travel. ‘Pretty Flowers’ is a song where I can let people know that I’m happy where I’m at and that things are going well, and that I’m learning those lessons.”
Despite his busy touring schedule and past mistakes throughout his three-decade career recounted on “Pretty Flowers,” Burnside is deeply grateful for his capacity to support and be present for his wife and three daughters today. In fact, his youngest daughter Portika sings background vocals on the title track of his upcoming album.
About family, Burnside says, “I have been there, and I will be there.” That’s for certain about the past, present, and future of the North Mississippi Hill Country blues, too. Burnside shares “Pretty Flowers” two weeks ahead of the release of I Be Trying, his latest project in a career of carrying the storied tradition into the modern day, a genre both southern and Mississippian, local and universal.
With a release on the artist-run Southern independent label Single Lock Records on June 25th, the collection unmistakably charts a path forward for the Mississippi blues of a modern South.
