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R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005) was 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. He played music for much of his life but received little recognition before the early 1990s. In the latter half of that decade, Burnside recorded and toured with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal and introducing his music to a new fan base in the punk and
garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The st ...
scenes.


Life and career


1926–1959: Early years

Burnside was born in 1926 to Earnest Burnside and Josie Malone,Bruin, Leo (1981). Liner notes, ''R. L. Burnside Plays and Sings the Mississippi Delta Blues''
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/ref> in either Harmontown, College Hill, or Blackwater Creek, all of which are in the rural part of
Lafayette County, Mississippi Lafayette County is a county in the U.S. state of Mississippi. At the 2010 census, the population was 47,351. Its county seat is Oxford. The local pronunciation of the name is "la-FAY-et." The county's name honors Marquis de Lafayette, a Frenc ...
, near the area that would be covered by Sardis Lake a few years later. His first name is given variously as R. L.,Scott Barretta
"Burnside, R. L."
''The Mississippi Encyclopedia''. Ted Ownby and Charles Reagan Wilson, eds. University Press of Mississippi, 2017. p. 155. ''"His given name appears to have been R. L.; his friends often called him Rule or Rural."''
Rural, Robert Lee, Rule, or Ruel. His father left the family early on, and R. L. grew up with his mother, grandparents, and several siblings. He played the harmonica and dabbled with playing guitar, beginning at the age of 16. He said he first played in public at age 21 or 22. He learned mostly from
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 ...
, who had lived near Burnside since Burnside was a child. He first heard McDowell playing at age 7 or 8 and eventually joined his gigs to play a late set.Filmed interview. ''You See Me Laughin'' (see filmography), minutes 25–30. Other local teachers were his uncle-in-law Ranie Burnette, who was a popular player from Senatobia; the mostly unknown Henry Harden, Son Hibbler, Jesse Vortis, and Burnside's brother-in-law; and possibly Stonewall Mays.According to Axel Küstner, who met them both in 1978: Liner notes to 'Mississippi Delta Blues', 1982
discogsscan
Burnside cited church singing and fife-and-drum picnics as elements of his childhood's musical landscape, and he credited
Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post- war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...
,
Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list ...
, and
John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often i ...
as influences in adulthood. In the late 1940s he moved to Chicago, where his father had lived since he separated from his mother, in the hope of finding better economic opportunities. He found jobs at metal and glass factories, had the company of Muddy Waters (his cousin-in-law), and enjoyed the blues scene on
Maxwell Street Maxwell Street is an east-west street in Chicago, Illinois that intersects with Halsted Street just south of Roosevelt Road. It runs at 1330 South in the numbering system running from 500 West to 1126 West.Hayner, Don and Tom McNamee (1988). ''S ...
. But things did not turn out as he had hoped; within the span of one year his father, two brothers, and two uncles were all murdered in the city. Three years after coming to Chicago, Burnside went back south. He married Alice Mae Taylor in 1949 or 1950, his second marriage. He moved several times in the 1950s, between
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
, the
Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...
and the hill country of northern Mississippi. During his time in the Delta, he met bluesmen Robert Lockwood Jr. and Aleck "Rice" Miller. It seems it was around that time that Burnside killed a man, possibly at a
craps Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street c ...
game, was convicted of murder and incarcerated in Parchman Farm.McInerney, Jay. "White Man at the Door: One Man's Mission to Record the 'Dirty Blues' – before Everyone Dies." '' New Yorker'' (February 4, 2002), page 55. He would later relate that his boss at the time had arranged to release him after six months, as he needed Burnside's skills as a tractor driver.


1960–1990: Part-time musician

He spent the next 45 years, not unlike his early years, in Panola and
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
counties, in northern Mississippi. At first he kept to particularly remote dwellings, working into the 1980s as a
sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...
growing cotton and soybean, as a commercial
fisherman A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recre ...
on the
Tallahatchie River The Tallahatchie River is a river in Mississippi which flows from Tippah County, through Tallahatchie County, to Leflore County, where it joins the Yalobusha River to form the Yazoo River. The river is navigable for about . At Money, Mississi ...
, selling his catch from door to door, and as a truck driver. Later he moved closer to Holly Springs. After coming back to Mississippi, and especially after marrying,Bruin, Leo, and Laundre, Kent. Liner notes of ''Mississippi Hill Country Blues''. Swingmaster CD 2201
scan 1scan 2
/ref> he picked more local gigs, playing guitar in
juke joint Juke joint (also jukejoint, jook house, jook, or juke) is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans in the southeastern United States. A juke join ...
s and bars (some under his management), at picnics and at his own open house parties, and at an occasional festival. His career boomed in the last twenty years of his life. His earliest recordings were made in 1967 by George Mitchell, then a graduate student of journalism. Mitchell and his wife went on a 13-day summer trip in Mississippi, which resulted in the first recordings of several country blues artists. He came to Burnside's house near Coldwater on the advice of fife player and maker
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. Ear ...
.George Mitchell; David Evans. Arhoolie 1042 (1969) liner notes (scans
12
Mitchell wrote that Fred McDowell had not told him about Burnside, likely because Burnside posed "big-time competition".Booklet of ''The George Mitchell Collection'' (2007), FP 1114. Quoted in Six of the songs, played on an acoustic guitar lent by Mitchell, were released on
Arhoolie Records Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States (it is actually located in Richmond Annex but has an El Cerrito postal address.) The label was founded ...
after two years; nine others are on later records. Another album of acoustic material was recorded in 1969 for
Adelphi Records Adelphi Records is an American independent record label founded in 1968 and incorporated in 1970 by Gene Rosenthal. History The label name was crafted by Rosenthal to suggest a combination of the Greek oracle, nearby Adelphi, Maryland, as well as ...
, not to be released until thirty years later. Recordings from 1975 had a similar fate.Wolf LP 120.917 leaflet
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These recordings featured Burnside playing acoustic guitar and singing, and a few tracks had harmonica accompaniment by W.C. Veasey or Ulysse Red Ramsey. Although not recorded, by that time Burnside also played electric guitar. His early repertoire came from hill country and Memphis favorites,
John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often i ...
,
Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post- war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...
, hits by
Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...
and
Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ...
, and sides by Yank Rachell,
Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list ...
, and Lonesome Sundown. In 1969 he performed for the first time outside the United States, at a program in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
with Lightnin' Hopkins and John Lee Hooker. As a solo performer, he made three tours in Europe, appearing before enthusiastic audiences.Evans, David (1980). Notes to High Water 410 EP
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, and to ''Sound Machine Groove'', 1981/1997
scan
.
In 1974 he played at the
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to Ne ...
, the first of nine of these festivals at which he performed. Also in 1974, Tav Falco filmed Burnside in the Brotherhood Sportsmen's Lodge, a juke joint he ran at the time near
Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=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 to the Alps has m ...
. His performance featured the
slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...
ist Kenny Brown, Burnside's friend and understudy, whom he began tutoring in 1971 and claimed as his "adopted son". In 1978 Burnside was filmed by
Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...
in what remained mostly outtakes of the television documentary ''The Land Where the Blues Began''. A series of recordings in 1979 by the musicologist David Evans for his record label
High Water Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tabl ...
was the first to feature Burnside's Sound Machine, which included his sons Duwayne and Daniel on guitar, his son Joseph on bass, and his son-in-law Calvin Jackson on drums.
Part 1
The band was active mostly in home settings but also joined Burnside in Europe in 1980 and 1983. They offered a rare fusion of
rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
and
urban 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 African ...
,
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid ...
, R&B and
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...
, which appealed to young Mississippians; their sets included covers of songs by
Jimmy Rogers Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several popu ...
,
Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...
,
Albert King Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...
and
Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include " Baby, I Love ...
. An EP, ''Sound Machine Groove'', was released by Evans's label in the US but had next to no distribution. Apart from it, one full album of the same title, a debut of sorts, was licensed for prompt European release by
Disques Vogue Disques Vogue was a jazz record company founded in France by Léon Cabat and Charles Delaunay in 1947, the year after the American Vogue label ceased. They originally specialized in jazz, featuring American performers such as Sidney Bechet, ...
, and another hour's worth was released by the Memphis label Inside Sounds in 2001. From 1980 to 1986, Burnside recorded for the Dutch label Old Swingmaster and for the French label Arion, mostly solo or with harmonica accompaniment: Johnny Woods served on some occasions (he also recorded as a lead artist, with guitar accompaniment by Burnside);
Curtis Salgado Curtis Salgado (born February 4, 1954, in Everett, Washington, United States) is a Portland, Oregon-based blues, blues rock, and blue-eyed soul singer-songwriter. He plays harmonica and fronts his own band as lead vocalist. Career Salgado b ...
served once in a New Orleans session. Selections focused on hill country material and starker, less danceable songs by Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. The results were four more LP releases and a videotape under his name, all in European markets. In the mid-1980s Burnside retired from farm work and became more busy with the music. For about 12 years he worked with
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
–based harpist Jon (Joni) Morris Neremberg (or Nuremberg). He appeared before American crowds at such occasions as the
1982 World's Fair The 1982 World's Fair, officially known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition (KIEE) and simply as Energy Expo '82 and Expo '82, was an international exposition held in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Focused on energy and e ...
, the
1984 Louisiana World Exposition The 1984 Louisiana World Exposition was a World's Fair held in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It was held 100 years after the city's earlier World's Fair, the World Cotton Centennial in 1884. It opened on Saturday, May 12, 1984, and ende ...
, and the 1986
San Francisco Blues Festival The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was the one of the longest running blues festival in the United States. History Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the ...
, between international tours. By the mid-1980s he toured about "once a year or maybe twice", and by one report in 1985 he had been to Europe 17 times. Recordings from his time with Morris were eventually released on two records, both produced by M.C. Records and Louis X. Erlanger: ''Acoustic Stories'' (a session from 1988) and ''Well, Well, Well'' (a 2001 compilation of informal recordings provided by Morris).


1991–2005: Commercial success and declining health

In the late seventies or early eighties Burnside was introduced and struck a partnership with
Junior Kimbrough David "Junior" Kimbrough (July 28, 1930 – January 17, 1998) was an American blues musician. His best-known works are "Keep Your Hands off Her" and "All Night Long". Early life Kimbrough was born in Hudsonville, Mississippi, and lived in the no ...
. Roughly a decade later, his own "Burnside Palace" had shut down and the family lived next to the Kimbroughs' new "Junior's Place" in Chulahoma, Mississippi and collaborated with the counterpart musical family. The music writer Robert Palmer, teaching for a time in the University of Mississippi in Oxford, frequented the scene with some celebrity musicians, which led to the making in 1990 of the documentary ''
Deep Blues ''Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads'' is a British documentary film, released in 1991, and made by music critic and author Robert Palmer and documentary film maker Robert Mugge, in collaboration with David A. Stewart and his brot ...
'', in which Burnside was prominently featured. Burnside began recording for the
Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of O ...
, label
Fat Possum Records Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...
in 1991. The label, dedicated to recording aging north Mississippi bluesmen such as Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, was founded by two students who had been attending their performances for some years—Peter Redvers-Lee, editor of ''
Living Blues ''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van Si ...
''
magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combina ...
, and Matthew Johnson, a writer for the magazine. Burnside remained with Fat Possum from that time until his death. Their first output was ''Bad Luck City'' (1992), featuring the Sound Machine. The next, ''Too Bad Jim'' (1994), was recorded at Junior's Place and produced by Palmer, with support from Calvin Jackson and Kenny Brown. Robert Palmer. Liner notes to ''Too Bad Jim'', 1994.
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After Jackson moved to Holland,Cedric Burnside and Kenny Brown. Interview. '' Jefferson Blues Magazine'', Issue 141, March 2004
Swedish original
via Google Translate
Burnside found a new stable band and would usually perform with Brown and drummer Cedric Burnside, his grandson. R.L. played his first art museum gig when
Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
nominee/producer Larry Hoffman brought him to Baltimore to play the
Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...
in February, 1993 as the feature of a Baltimore Folk Music Society concert. In a New York concert around the release of the documentary ''Deep Blues'', he attracted the attention of Jon Spencer, the leader of the
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was an American three-piece rock band from New York City, formed in 1991. The group consisted of Judah Bauer on guitar, backing vocals, harmonica and occasional lead vocals, Russell Simins on drums and Jon Spe ...
. He started touring with this group in 1995, both as an
opening act A opening act, also known as a warm-up act, support act, or supporting act, is an entertainment act (musical, comedic, or otherwise), that performs at a concert before the featured act, or "headliner". Rarely, an opening act may perform again a ...
and sitting in, gaining many new fans. The 1996 album '' A Ass Pocket of Whiskey'' was recorded with Spencer's band and was marketed for their audience, but was credited to Burnside. It gained critical acclaim and received praise from
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...
and
Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the " Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band The Stooges, who wer ...
; ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' magazine wrote that "it sounds like no other blues album ever released" and an author there picked it for a year's end critics' poll, but ''
Living Blues ''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van Si ...
'' opined that it was "perhaps the worst blues album ever made."Cited in After parting ways with the Blues Explosion, the label turned to produce music in which recorded materials were
remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
ed by producer
Tom Rothrock Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
with an eye to
techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...
,
downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...
and hip-hop listeners. The experiment started with a track in ''Mr. Wizard'' (1997), an album based on a variety of sessions, and matured into a full album with '' Come On In'' (1998). The recording artists themselves heard only the final product, but they conceded that with time they came to like it, in part influenced by its popularity. Burnside continued to tour, perhaps more extensively than ever. He opened for the
Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar, programming). ...
, was a musical guest on ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late night talk show, late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity i ...
'' and on HBO's ''
Reverb Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...
'', provided entertainment at private events such as
Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...
's birthday party, and participated in shared or showcase bills with other Fat Possum artists, notably T-Model Ford, Paul "Wine" Jones, CeDell Davis, Robert Cage and
Robert Belfour Robert "Wolfman" Belfour (September 11, 1940 – February 24, 2015) was an American blues musician. He was born in Red Banks, Mississippi. When he was a child, his father, Grant Belfour, taught him to play the guitar, and he continued his tutel ...
. An influx of visitors and young musicians were attracted to Junior's Place, but it burned down in 2000. Documentary coverage of his contemporaneous life and work expanded too. Bradley Beesley filmed the 60-minute ''Hill Stomp Hollar'', a film about Burnside and other Fat Possum artists, that received a positive response at the 1999 SXSW Film Festival premiere, but that was not approved for release by the label. Much of Beesley's footage and many of his interviews became part of the 77-minute ''You See Me Laughin'', directed by Mandy Stein; it was released by Fat Possum in 2003. A 1999 date at Paris' "l New Morning club, with Brown and Cedric, was an occasion at which the French blues singer Sophie Kay (also known as Sophie Kertesz) filmed a 52-minute documentary. Before long, however, Burnside was in declining health. He had an ear infection and underwent
heart surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to cor ...
in 1999. As his tours decreased to a minimum, ''Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down'' (2000) was released, which relegated guitar work to other players (
Rick Holmstrom Rick Holmstrom (born May 30, 1965) is an American electric blues and rhythm and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Holmstrom has previously worked with William Clarke, Johnny Dyer, and Rod Piazza. He is currently the bandleader for Mavis ...
,
Smokey Hormel Smokey Hormel (born circa 1959)Cohen (2017) quotes Hormel as saying he was "4 or 5 ears old when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles was "a big hit on the radio"; the song was released in America in December 1963. is an American guitarist ...
, John Porter) but used Burnside's vocals. After a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...
in 2001, his doctor advised him to stop drinking; Burnside did, but he reported that change left him unable to play. Fat Possum rebounded with ''A Bothered Mind'' (2004), an album that used previously recorded guitar tracks, and included collaborations with
Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician ...
and
Lyrics Born Tsutomu "Tom" Shimura (born September 2, 1972), better known by his stage name Lyrics Born (formerly Asia Born), is a Japanese-American rapper, singer, and producer. He is one half of the duo Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker. Early life Sh ...
. These remix albums received mixed reviews, some describing the results as "unnatural" while others lauded the playful spirit, or "the way it yokes authentic blues feeling to new technology". Commercially, the remixes were successful; each surpassed its previous in Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart, as they stayed there for 12–18 weeks' periods (but none entered into the more competitive
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...
), and two tracks from ''Come On In'' were included in ''The Sopranos'' soundtrack. "Let My Baby Ride" off ''Come On In'' received significant airplay and an ensuing music clip was slotted in MTV's ''
120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After its cancellation, M ...
''; the album's "Rollin' & Tumblin'" accompanied a 2002
Nissan , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun brands ...
TV commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
. But the live, unremixed album ''Burnside on Burnside'' (2001) peaked at number 4 of Billboard's Blues Albums chart and was nominated for a Grammy. - the last article to catch Burnside as an active bandleader, recorded in January 2001 with Brown and Cedric. In between, Fat Possum licensed and released ''First Recording'' (2003), comprising George Mitchell's 1967 recordings in its fullest edition yet, in traditional format. In addition, the 1990s and 2000s saw release of several recordings from previous decades by other labels (see above), as well as a couple of new recordings by
HighTone Records HighTone Records was an American independent record label based in Oakland, California, United States. HighTone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry ...
.


Death and legacy

Another heart attack in November 2002 resulted in a surgery in 2003, and short-circuited any future career plans he had. Yet Burnside continued as guest singer on occasions, such as at
Bonnaroo Music Festival The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a farm in Man ...
, 2004, his last public appearance. He died at St. Francis Hospital in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
, on September 1, 2005, at the age of 78. Services were held at
Rust College Rust College is a private historically black college in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Founded in 1866, it is the second-oldest private college in the state. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, it is one of ten historically black college ...
, in Holly Springs, with burial in the Free Springs Cemetery, in Harmontown. Around the time of his death, he resided in
Byhalia, Mississippi Byhalia , is a town in Marshall County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,302 as of the 2010 census. History Byhalia was founded in the 1830s and named after Byhalia Creek, which flows past the site. Geography According to the U ...
. His immediate survivors included: *His wife: Alice Mae Taylor Burnside (1932–2008), married 1949 *His daughters: Mildred Jean Burnside (1949–2010), Linda Jackson, Brenda Kay Brooks, and Pamela Denise Burnside *His sons: Melvin Burnside, R.L. Burnside Jr. (1954–2010), Calvin Burnside, Joseph Burnside, Daniel Burnside, Duwayne Burnside, Dexter Burnside, Garry Burnside, and Rodger Harmon *His sisters: Lucille Burnside, Verelan Burnside, and Mat Burnside *His brother: Jesse Monia *His 35 grandchildren: Cedric Burnside *32 great-grandchildren Members of his extended family continue to play blues in the Holly Springs area and in wider circles: *His son Duwayne Burnside has played guitar with the
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, ele ...
(''Polaris''; ''Hill Country Revue with R. L. Burnside''). He has operated music venues named after Burnside and Alice Mae in Chulahoma, Memphis,
Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...
, and Holly Springs. *His grandson Cedric Burnside has released six albums with four musical partners and toured with Kenny Brown and others. *His son Garry Burnside used to play bass guitar with Junior Kimbrough, North Mississippi Allstars, and Hill Country Revue; in 2006 he released an album with Cedric. *His son-in-law Calvin Jackson (died 2015) recorded with blues musicians of Burnside's generation and younger. *His grandson Kent Burnside is also a touring blues musician. Kent is currently touring with the Flood Brothers and released an album with them in 2016. *His grandson Cody (died 2012) was also a musician. Kenny Brown has released four albums and toured with the family and his own band. Burnside won one W. C. Handy Award in 2000 (Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year), two in 2002 (Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year; Traditional Blues Album of the Year, ''Burnside on Burnside''), and one in 2003 (Traditional Blues Male Artist of The Year); he had 11 unsuccessful nominations in 8 years for the awards, starting in 1982, as well as one for a Grammy. Several of the
Mississippi Blues Trail The Mississippi Blues Trail was created by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the birth, growth, and influence of the blues throughout (and in some cases beyond) t ...
markers, which have been erected since 2006, mention him. In 2014 he was inducted to the
Blues Hall of Fame The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum located at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to blues music. Started in 1 ...
in Memphis. Burnside's fellow Fat Possum musicians
The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing thei ...
credit him as an influence and interpolated his "Skinny Woman" into their track " Busted". The Black Keys would perform two Burnside covers on their album Delta Kream in 2021 featuring Kenny Brown. Brown along with bassist Eric Deaton would also join The Black Keys for their 2022 tour (supporting the release of Dropout Boogie) to perform the Burnside covers live. The electronica musician St. Germain used samples of Burnside's "Nightmare Blues" throughout the track "How Dare You", on his 2015 album.


Style

Burnside had a powerful, expressive voice, that did not fail with old age but rather grew richer, and played both electric and
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
, with and without a
slide Slide or Slides may refer to: Places * Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998 * ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018 *''Slide'', by Patrick Glees ...
. His
drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...
-heavy style was more characteristic of
North Mississippi 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 ...
than
Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...
. Like other country blues musicians, he did not always adhere to strict 12- or 16-bar blues patterns, often adding extra beats to a measure as he saw fit. Lou Erlanger. Liner notes to ''Acoustic Stories'' (1989/1997) His
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular rec ...
s are often based on the
fife and drum blues Fife and drum blues is an American folk music form derived from country blues, martial music tradition, and African rhythms. It is performed typically with one lead fife player and a troop of drummers. Unlike a drum corps, the drum troop is lo ...
of north Mississippi. As was the case with his role model
John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often i ...
, Burnside's earliest recordings sound quite similar to one another, even repetitive, in vocal and instrumental styling. Many of these songs eschew traditional chord changes in favor of a single chord or a simple
bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, dub and electronic, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played (in jazz and some ...
pattern that repeats throughout. Burnside played the guitar
fingerstyle Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plectr ...
—without a pick—and often in open-G tuning.Arhoolie 1042 (1969) leaflet
scan
His vocal style is characterized by a tendency to "break" briefly into
falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous e ...
, usually at the end of long notes. Like his contemporary T-Model Ford, Burnside favored a stripped-down approach to the blues, marked by a quality of rawness. He and his later managers and reviewers maintained his persona as a hard-working man leading a life of struggle, a heavy drinker, latent criminal singing songs of swagger and rebellion. Burnside knew many toasts—African American narrative folk poems such as " Signifying monkey" and "Tojo Told Hitler"—and fondly recited them between songs at his concerts and on recordings. He narrated long
joke A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, ...
s in concerts and social events,E.g. on ''Well, Well, Well'' (2001) and ''Burnside on Burnside'' (2001) and many sources noted his quick wit and charisma.


Discography


Studio albums

* ''Sound Machine Groove'' (1981) * ''Plays and Sings the Mississippi Delta Blues'' (1981) * ''Mississippi Hill Country Blues'' (1987) * ''Skinny Woman'' (1989) * ''Bad Luck City'' (1992) * ''Too Bad Jim'' (1994) * '' A Ass Pocket of Whiskey'' (1996) * ''Mr. Wizard'' (1997) * ''Acoustic Stories'' (1997) * '' Come On In'' (1998) * ''Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down'' (2000) * '' A Bothered Mind'' (2004)


Live albums

* ''Mississippi Blues'' (1984) * ''Burnside on Burnside'' (2001)


Compilation albums

* ''Going Down South'' (1999) * ''My Black Name a-Ringin (1999) * ''Well, Well, Well'' (2001) * ''Raw Electric'' (2002) * ''No Monkeys on this Train'' (2003) * ''First Recordings'' (2003) * ''Rollin' and Tumblin': the King of Hill Country Blues'' (2010) * ''Long Distance Call'' (2019)


Films

*''Honky Tonk'' (1974), by Tav Falco *''The Land Where the Blues Began'' (1979) by Alan Lomax, John Melville Bishop, and Worth Long in association with the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television **''American Patchwork: Songs and Stories of America'', part 3: "The Land Where the Blues Began" (1990), North Carolina Public TV, a lightly re-edited version of "The Land Where the Blues Began" (1979)
''The Land Where the Blues Began'' (2010)
restored original version, DVD containing two additional performances by Burnside *'' Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads'' (1991), directed by Robert Mugge *''Hill Stomp Hollar'' (1999), by Bradley Beesley *
Un jour avec... R. L. Burnside
' (1999/2001), by Sophie Kertesz, produced and distributed by Ciné-Rock, Paris *''You See Me Laughin': The Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen'' (2002), released by Fat Possum Records in 2005, produced and directed by Mandy Stein, Oxford, Mississippi: Plain Jane Productions, Fat Possum Records *''Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour'' (2005), directed by Max Shores, Alabama PBS, featuring an interview with Burnside and information about the Holly Springs music community *'' Big Bad Love'' (2001), directed by Arliss Howard, with soundtrack songs by Burnside and a cameo live performance, MGM/IFC Films *'' Holy Motors'' (2012), directed by Leos Carax, with an accordion and drum cover of "Let My Baby Ride" by Docteur L


Further reading

*Dessier, Matthieu (2006). ''The Real Deal: Experiencing Authenticity in the Music of R.L. Burnside''. M.A. thesis. University of Mississippi. *Smirnoff, Marc, ed. (2008). ''The'' Oxford American ''Book of Great Music Writing''. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas.


Notes


References


External links

*
Fat Possum artist website




{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnside, R. L. 1926 births 2005 deaths 20th-century African-American male singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Country blues musicians Juke Joint blues musicians Blues musicians from Mississippi Fat Possum Records artists People from Lafayette County, Mississippi People from Holly Springs, Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Mississippi People from Byhalia, Mississippi African-American guitarists