R.L. Burnside was born in Harmontown (Lafayette County) near Oxford Mississippi in November 21, 1926. He moved around the Holly Springs and Independence area making a living doing farm work. By the 1950s he was singing blues and playing guitar which he learned from older local musicians such as “Mississippi” Fred McDowell and Ranie Burnette. Burnside played solo at juke joints and house parties performing versions of blues hits by Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers Elmore James and Howlin’ Wolf, themselves all Mississippi bluesmen. Then, during the 1950s, a restless Burnside spent several years outside of music seeking a better life in Chicago and Memphis.
Around 1959 he returned to Mississippi to again work the farms and raise a family with his wife Alice. He also got back to playing music at night and on weekends.
R.L. Burnside made his first recordings in 1967 with George Mitchell and several of these songs appeared on a compilation on Arhoolie. They were powerful country blues and earned Burnside enough of a reputation to play some festivals and short tours. Burnside’s electric guitar was broken at the time so he recorded on an acoustic. This caused him to be seen as an old-fashioned country blues artist when actually he had been updating and expanding the blues from the time he first began playing.
By the early 1970s, his wife Alice would sing with him on stage and most of their children also began singing or playing instruments. Soon R.L.’s sons, Joseph and Daniel along with brother-in-law Calvin Jackson formed the Sound Machine which became R.L.’s regular backing band. Burnside and his band would hold crowds of young dancers with their grooves including a growing number of local white kids.
Throughout the 1980s R.L. was a major figure in the Mississippi juke joint scene but he was barely known outside of the state. Things started to change for him in 1990, when respected journalist Robert Palmer along with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics journeyed to Holly Springs to film ‘Deep Blues,’ the movie that brought attention to the vibrant but still largely undocumented contemporary blues scene in Mississippi. R.L. was a highlight of the film and his appearance led to his Robert Palmer produced debut on the then fledgling Fat Possum records, Too Bad Jim. Along with Junior Kimbrough’s All Night Long, Too Bad Jim was one of the most important and influential albums of the 1990s. He was playing electric raw north-Mississippi hill country-blues at its finest. No one had recorded music like this before and it quickly met with great acclaim.
The critical success of Too Bad Jim brought R.L. to the attention of post-punk icon Jon Spencer who started taking R.L. out on tour and turning him on to a whole new audience. By this time his band consisted of his grandson Cedric on drums and his “adopted son” Kenny Brown on guitar. They had no bass player but their sound was full and R.L.’s charisma won over young crowds that had never heard blues before. All of this led to the recording of A Ass Pocket of Whiskey, where he was backed by Jon Spencer and his band The Blues Explosion. That album sold well and made R.L. the unlikely hero of the indie-rock world.
A Ass Pocket of Whiskey was followed by Mr. Wizard which featured his touring band and then in 1998 he released Come On In which pitted his rawness against modern electronica courtesy of producer Tom Rothrock (Beck Elliot Smith). The album was a complete success both critically and commercially. One of its tracks (‘It’s Bad You Know’) was even a respectable radio hit and was featured in the gangster TV show and soundtrack for ‘The Sopranos.
Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down (2000) contains some of Burnside’s best singing ever. At 73 years old his voice had maturity and depth while his phrasing was detailed and emotional.
Despite his advancing age and health problems Burnside toured regularly with a trio that included his grandson Cedric on drums and Kenny Brown on guitar.
He died September 1st 2005 in his hospital room at the St. Francis Hospital in Memphis Tennessee. He was 78.
Discography:
Sound Machine Groove (Vogue, 1981)
Plays and Sings the Mississippi Delta Blues (Swingmaster, 1981)
Mississippi Blues (Arion, 1984)
Hill Country Blues (Swingmaster, 1987)
Skinny Woman (Lollipop, 1989)
Bad Luck City (Fat Possum, 1994)
Too Bad Jim (Fat Possum, 1994)
A Ass Pocket of Whiskey (Fat Possum, 1996)
Mr. Wizard (Fat Possum, 1997)
Come On In (Fat Possum, 1998)
My Black Name a-Ringin’ (Genes, 1999)
Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down (Fat Possum, 2000)
Burnside on Burnside (Fat Possum, 2001)
A Bothered Mind (Fat Possum, 2004)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
