Watch Cedric Burnside & Margo Cilker Go ‘Sittin’ On Top Of The World’ For ‘eTown’

Cedric Burnside and singer-songwriter Margo Cilker were the guests on a recent episode of nationally syndicated radio program eTown. Broadcasting from Boulder, Colorado, the collaborative finale saw Burnside, Cilker, hosts Nick and Helen Forster, as well as the eTown house band teaming for the standard, “Sittin’ on Top of the World.”

Written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon of blues act the Mississippi Sheiks, “Sittin’ on Top of the World” was recorded by the group in 1930. It has since become a standard, performed in nearly every style of American music including blues, bluegrass, country, folk and rock. The Grateful Dead included a version of “Sittin’ on Top of the World” on their 1967 self-titled debut album.

The recent performance on eTown had a definite blues swing, especially with Burnside — the grandson of hill country blues great R.L. Burnside — at the mic. Cedric and Nick Forster also reeled off bluesy guitar solos. Cilker played acoustic guitar and added a country twang to “Sittin’ on Top of the World.”

In the intro to the performance, Burnside noted that while he had played festivals where Cilker was on the bill, he had never performed with her before. But after hearing Cilker’s voice on eTown, he had hopes of a future collaboration.

“It was real cool to play a song with Margo. I have saw her, you know, two or three times on some of the same festivals. But we never played together, you know, we never collaborated on anything. So to get the chance to do that, and I think her voice and my voice really match each other, I think it’s a great recipe for something in the future.”

Watch Cedric Burnside and Margo Cilker team for “Sittin’ on Top of the World” on eTown below: