R.L. Boyce (born August 15, 1955) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer, songwriter, and guitarist born and raised in

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, United States.

Life and career

He is a protege of

Hill country blues Hill country blues (also known as North Mississippi hill country blues or North Mississippi blues) is a regional style of country blues. It is characterized by a strong emphasis on rhythm and percussion, steady guitar riffs, few chord changes, unco ...

musicians including

R. L. Burnside R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005) was an American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played music for much of his life but received little recognition before the early 1990s. In the latter half of that decade, Bur ...

, and

Mississippi Fred McDowell Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904 – July 3, 1972), known by his stage name Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American hill country blues singer and guitar player. Career McDowell was born in Rossville, Tennessee, United States. His parents were f ...

. Boyce began his career in the early 1960s playing drums for his uncle, the

fife and drum A Fife and drum corps is a musical ensemble consisting of fifes and drums. In the United States of America, fife and drum corps specializing in colonial period impressions using fifes, rope tension snare drums, and (sometimes) rope tension bas ...

performer

Othar Turner Othar "Otha" Turner (June 2, 1907 – February 27, 2003) was one of the last well-known fife players in the vanishing American fife and drum blues tradition. His music was also part of the African-American genre known as Hill country blues. Earl ...

. Later he was the drummer for

Jessie Mae Hemphill Jessie Mae Hemphill (October 18, 1923 – July 22, 2006) was an American electric guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist specializing in the North Mississippi hill country blues traditions of her family and regional heritage. Life and career Hemp ...

and is heard on her 1990 album, ''Feelin' Good''. His debut album, ''Ain't the Man's Alright'', was released in 2013 and featured musicians including

Cedric Burnside Cedric O. Burnside (born August 26, 1978)''Jefferson Blues Magazine, Jefferson'' interview. Issue 141, March 2004Swedish original via Google Translate is an American electric blues guitarist, drummer, singer and songwriter. He is the son of blues ...

Luther Dickinson Luther Andrews Dickinson (born January 18, 1973) is the lead guitarist and vocalist for the North Mississippi Allstars and the son of record producer Jim Dickinson. He is also known for being the lead guitarist for The Black Crowes. He hosts ''G ...

, and Calvin Jackson. His second album release, ''Roll and Tumble'', was released on September 8, 2017, on Waxploitation Records. The album included the father and son double drumming team of

(R.L. Burnside's drummer and grandson) and Calvin Jackson. The album was produced by

The Black Crowes The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984. Their discography includes eight studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer Geo ...

and

North Mississippi Allstars North Mississippi Allstars is an American blues and southern rock band from Hernando, Mississippi, founded in 1996. The band is currently composed of brothers Luther Dickinson (guitar, lowebow, vocals) and Cody Dickinson (drums, keyboards, elect ...

, and David Katznelson. It was nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award in the Best Traditional Blues Album category. The cover of ''Roll and Tumble'' is a portrait of R.L. Boyce, painted by the contemporary artist

James Jean James Jean is a Taiwanese-American visual artist working primarily in painting and drawing. He lives and works in Los Angeles, where he moved from New York in 2003. Early life Jean was born in Taiwan and raised in New Jersey. During his early e ...

Studio albums

* ''Ain't the Man's Alright'' (Sutro Park, 2013) * ''Roll and Tumble'' ( Waxploitation Records, 2017) * ''Rattlesnake Boogie'' (Waxploitation, 2018) * ''Ain't Gonna Play Too Long'' (Waxploitation, 2018)

Documentaries featuring Boyce

*''

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey'' (2003) featured the song "Shortnin'/ Henduck Traditional" by Otha Turner which included Boyce on bass and snare drums. *''M for Mississippi'' (2008) included an interview with Boyce *''Moonshine & Mojo Hands'' (2014) included an interview with Boyce *''I Am The Blues'' (2015) included a performance by Boyce

Awards and honors

* 2018: Grammy nomination for

Best Traditional Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Traditional Blues Performance and was twice awarded to individual tracks rather than albums. The award w ...

* 2018:

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

nomination for Traditional Blues Male Artist * 2018: Blues Music Award nomination for Best Emerging Artist Album (''Roll and Tumble'') * 2022: Blues Music Award nomination for Traditional Blues Album (''Boogie w/ R.L. Boyce Live)'' * 2023: recipient of a

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

awarded by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

References

External links

* *
2001 interview with RL Boyce and Jessie "Chip" Daniels at 50 Miles of Elbow Room
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyce, R.L. 1955 births 20th-century African-American male singers African-American rock musicians American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Country blues musicians Juke Joint blues musicians Blues musicians from Mississippi People from Como, Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Mississippi Living people 21st-century American guitarists African-American guitarists 21st-century African-American male singers National Heritage Fellowship winners 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers