Don't miss these Blues heavyweights in an awesome double-headlining tour.

CEDRIC BURNSIDE, grandson of the legendary R.L. Burnside, son of drummer great Calvin Jackson, is widely regarded as one of the best drummers in the world. Growing up at his grandfather's side, he began touring at age 13, playing drums for "Big Daddy" on stages around the globe. Cedric was born in 1978 and raised around Holly Springs, Miss., and has been playing music all his life, developing a relentless, highly rhythmic charged style with strong hip-hop and funk influences.

"I write about my life, my kids, and everyday things. I try to stick to the truth," Cedric says. Just 27 years old, he recalls growing up without a radio or a TV. "My granddad used to play out on the porch, and we'd have house parties every weekend. Johnny Woods would come over and blow harmonica, and he'd drink two or three gallons of corn liquor. We just stomped up dirt."

In addition to "Big Daddy," Cedric has also played with, among countless others, Junior Kimbrough, Kenny Brown, North Mississippi Allstars, Burnside Exploration, Bobby Rush and Widespread Panic. In 2006 he was featured in the critically acclaimed feature film, Black Snake Moan, playing drums alongside Samuel L. Jackson. (The film is a tribute to R.L. Burnside, and gives many nods to the late bluesman.) Cedric has teamed up with guitarist Lightnin' Malcolm and is proving to be a powerful vocalist and great songwriter. Cedric is a special talent that has brought new life and energy to the blues, and is loved by fans around the world.

Bluesman LIGHTNIN' MALCOLM is one of the leading, younger generation artists on the scene today. Born in rural Missouri, Malcolm enjoyed the freedom of country life, quickly learning to entertain himself and others around him. Growing up in a little village called Burgess in a country house next to the KCS Railroad that ran from Kansas City to New Orleans, the train has always been a theme in Malcolm's music, as well as the inspiration for the steady, insistent bass rhythms of rural dance music.

"I remember I was 7 or 8, and the grown folks was parked out on the road listening to music and carryin' on," recalls Malcolm. "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 is a reckless live performer has lived and breathed music his whole life, traveling and playing in a slashing, rhythmic style, with deep soulful vocals. Malcolm has played over the years with many of the best Mississippi blues artists, such as Cedell Davis, R.L. Burnside, Hubert Sumlin, Jessie Mae Hemphill, T Model Ford, Jr. Kimbrough, Robert Belfour, Big Jack Johnson, Sam Carr and Otha Turner. Skilled on guitar, bass, and drums, Malcolm is an in demand session player with a telepathic sense of how to follow the older archaic styles, and is especially noted for his old-fashioned, church "shout" style on drums.

One day back in 1970, a 20-year old RICK ESTRIN had the opportunity to play harmonica with Muddy Waters and his band at the Sutherland Hotel on 47th and Drexel in Chicago's South Side. During the break, Muddy called Estrin over, shook his finger in his face, and shouted, "You outta sight boy! You play like a MAN boy! You got that sound boy, I KNOW that sound when I hear it, that's MY sound!"

Today, singer/harmonica player/songwriter Rick Estrin ranks among the very best harp players in the blues world. His work on the reeds is at once deep in the tradition of harmonica masters Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Walter Jacobs while at the same time pushing that tradition forward. The Associated Press called his harp playing, "endlessly impressive." The great guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. (who was schooled by Robert Johnson and who played on most of Little Walter's Chess recordings) told Estrin, "Little Walter would be very proud of you."

For more than 30 years and nine albums, Rick fronted the jumping, swinging Little Charlie & The Nightcats, featuring guitarist Little Charlie Baty. But now, with Baty's recent retirement from touring, Estrin -- along with the Nightcats longtime rhythm section of J. Hansen and Lorenzo Farrell and fiery guitarist Kid Andersen -- is ready to take the lead on his own. Rick Estrin & The Nightcats' sound, while still swinging the blues, is a harmonica-driven, rocking, guitar-fueled rave-up. The band performs the well-known, well-loved songs from Estrin's massive catalog, and will introduce plenty of new material along the way.

Rick's seemingly effortless command of the harmonica is matched only by his soulful vocals and remarkable original songs. Ever since he started performing his own material, it has become increasingly clear that Rick Estrin is a songwriter of unparalleled skill. His quick wit, coifed hair, pencil-thin mustache and sharp attire inform his songs in a way Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Willie Dixon and Elvis Presley would all be proud of. Blues Revue declared, "Estrin sits on one of the finest blues catalogs of any band on the planet. His carefully wrought lyrics penetrate human weakness with the precision of a boxer, though more often than not, he chooses to leave you laughing after the blow's been struck."

His songs have been favorably compared with those of Willie Dixon and the songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller. Estrin won the 1993 Blues Music Award for his composition, My Next Ex-Wife and has written songs for a growing legion of famous fans. Three of his songs found their way onto Grammy-nominated albums: Don't Put Your Hands On Me (from Koko Taylor's Force Of Nature), I'm Just Lucky That Way (from Robert Cray's Shame + A Sin), and Homely Girl (from John Hammond's Trouble No More). Other artists who have covered Estrin songs include Little Milton, Rusty Zinn, Kid Ramos and Mark Hummel. "I like songs that tell stories," Rick says, "songs that are well-crafted and meaningful." Besides Dixon and Leiber and Stoller, Estrin cites Sonny Boy Williamson II, Percy Mayfield and Baby Boy Warren as his major songwriting influences. Billboard noted that Rick writes "fabulous, remarkable original material."

Besides Estrin's songwriting and musical skills, he is among the greatest live showmen around. "People don't go out to see people who look like them," says Rick. "They want to see something special. I was schooled in this business to be a showman, and that's what you get when you come to see me perform." The Chicago Sun-Times noted, "It's tough to stay in your seat when Estrin and his musical cohorts get cooking."