{"id":159428,"date":"2026-06-09T15:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=159428"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T20:54:11","slug":"inside-the-hill-country-blues-guitar-workshop-with-kenny-brown-garry-burnside-cary-hudson-and-eric-deaton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/inside-the-hill-country-blues-guitar-workshop-with-kenny-brown-garry-burnside-cary-hudson-and-eric-deaton\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Hill Country Blues Guitar Workshop with Kenny Brown, Garry Burnside, Cary Hudson, and Eric Deaton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For generations, North Mississippi Hill Country Blues<\/strong> has been passed from musician to musician the old fashioned way\u2014at front porches, juke joints, family gatherings, and long nights spent watching another player\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

That same spirit remains at the center of the Guitar Workshop<\/strong> connected to the 2026 North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic<\/strong>, where four musicians deeply tied to the tradition\u2014Kenny Brown<\/strong>, Garry Burnside<\/strong>, Cary Hudson<\/strong>, and Eric Deaton<\/strong>\u2014will guide students through the unique language of Hill Country blues during a four-hour clinic on Thursday, June 25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than functioning like a formal classroom, the workshop centers on direct interaction between students and musicians who learned the style firsthand from older generations of Mississippi<\/strong> blues artists.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can Google these licks now,\u201d Hudson explained during a recent interview. \u201cBut there\u2019s something about learning them from somebody who learned them from somebody else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hudson\u2014who hails from down in Sumrall, Mississippi, but founded roots-rock band Blue Mountain<\/strong> in Oxford<\/strong> in the early-90s\u2014described the workshop as part of a much longer musical lineage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI consider myself to be part of a Mississippi lineage,\u201d he said. \u201cOne person shows another person. That\u2019s magic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few musicians embody that lineage more directly than Kenny Brown. Widely regarded as one of the defining guitarists of the Hill Country blues tradition, Brown began absorbing the music as a child while hearing artists like Otha Turner<\/strong> and Napolean Strickland<\/strong> perform near his family home in Nesbit, Mississippi. As a teenager, he apprenticed under Mississippi Joe Callicott<\/strong> before later becoming the longtime musical partner of R.L. Burnside<\/strong>, who famously referred to Brown as his \u201cadopted son.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, Brown helped carry the Hill Country sound to audiences around the world through performances and recordings alongside artists including Junior Kimbrough<\/strong>, Jessie Mae Hemphill<\/strong>, T-Model Ford<\/strong>, Cedell Davis<\/strong>, and the North Mississippi Allstars<\/strong>. More recently, Brown appeared on The Black Keys\u2019 Grammy-nominated album Delta Kream<\/strong><\/em>, recorded with Eric Deaton and the band in Nashville<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown and his wife Sara also remain among the driving forces behind the Hill Country Picnic itself, helping preserve and promote the region\u2019s blues culture for new generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garry Burnside offers students another direct connection to the roots of the music. As the youngest son of R.L. Burnside and a former member of Junior Kimbrough\u2019s Soul Blues Boys<\/strong>, Burnside grew up immersed in the rhythms and phrasing that define the Hill Country sound. Performing publicly since childhood, he developed a style that blends traditional Hill Country blues with rock and other Southern influences while remaining grounded in the groove-heavy approach associated with his father\u2019s music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Left to right: Justin Showah, Cary Hudson, Nathan Robbins, and Eric Deaton. Photo by Jean Frank.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hudson and Deaton both emphasized that groove\u2014rather than flashy technique\u2014as one of the workshop\u2019s central lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more about the groove,\u201d Hudson said. \u201cIt\u2019s not really an opportunity to show off licks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hudson noted that one of the key adjustments he made as a player involved learning to abandon a flat pick in favor of fingerstyle playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne thing I had to learn was playing with my fingers instead of a pick,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s an important part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deaton teaches from that same perspective. Currently touring as the bassist with The Black Keys<\/strong>, Deaton has participated in the workshop for more than a decade and said the sessions are intentionally designed to feel personal and informal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey divide the workshop group into about three or four groups of people,\u201d Deaton explained while preparing for a tour stop in Portland, Oregon. \u201cYou usually end up teaching three or four classes of anywhere from two to five people at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smaller format allows instructors to spend focused time with each participant regardless of experience level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just try to have several Hill Country type things for them to learn,\u201d Deaton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Hudson, Deaton avoids heavily structured lessons or written materials during the clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t write anything for them either,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just sit there and absorb what you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That approach reflects the way many Mississippi musicians originally learned the style themselves\u2014by spending time around older players and gradually absorbing the rhythms, phrasing, and feel that cannot easily be written down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are things you can\u2019t really notate,\u201d Hudson said. \u201cYou have to know the language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workshop regularly attracts everyone from beginners to seasoned regional musicians looking to deepen their understanding of Hill Country blues. Deaton recalled teaching fellow musicians over the years who specifically wanted to strengthen that side of their playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all know different stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially those of us who haven\u2019t come up in the blues thing, there\u2019s things you can show those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workshop continues to stand out because of both the atmosphere that Brown & company create, and this rare opportunity for practicing musicians to learn directly from players on the top of their field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Picnic workshop is always interesting, and I enjoy meeting all the people,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThere is a lot of knowledge to be gained at the workshop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the four instructors, the clinic represents far more than a guitar lesson. It remains an opportunity to preserve a uniquely Mississippi tradition in the same way it has always survived – through direct human connection, shared experience, and the passing of knowledge from one musician to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For generations, North Mississippi Hill Country Blues has been passed from musician to musician the old fashioned way\u2014at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123909,"featured_media":159723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32036],"tags":[936,944,5890,18406,1961,2271,10567,2018,2274,435,5,18129,34851,1988,1252,34850,397,4005,4,909,34852,1551,4162],"class_list":["post-159428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-mississippi-hill-country-picnic","tag-blue-mountain","tag-cary-hudson","tag-cedell-davis","tag-delta-kream","tag-eric-deaton","tag-garry-burnside","tag-guitar-workshop","tag-jessie-mae-hemphill","tag-junior-kimbrough","tag-kenny-brown","tag-mississippi","tag-mississippi-joe-callicott","tag-napolean-strickland","tag-nashville","tag-north-mississippi-allstars","tag-north-mississippi-hill-country","tag-north-mississippi-hill-country-picnic","tag-otha-turner","tag-oxford","tag-r-l-burnside","tag-soul-blues-boys","tag-t-model-ford","tag-the-black-keys"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DSC2411-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C2048&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159428"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159737,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159428\/revisions\/159737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}