RL Burnside | Artist

R. L. Burnside was an American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist born 1926 in Harmontown, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life but received little recognition before the early 1990s when he began recording and touring with Jon Spencer. Burnside learned the blues mostly from Mississippi Fred McDowell, who lived near him since Burnside was a child. He first heard McDowell playing at age 7 or 8 and eventually joined his gigs. In the late 1940s he moved to Chicago with his father, in the hope of finding better work opportunities, where he found jobs at metal and glass factories. Burnside was attracted to the Maxwell Street blues scene, accompanied by his cousin-in-law Muddy Waters. In the early 50's he moved back to the Mississippi delta and, around that time, was convicted for killing a man at a craps game. Incarcerated in Parchman Farm, he would later relate that his boss at the time arranged his release after six months, as he needed Burnside's skills as a tractor driver. His earliest recordings were made in 1967 by George Mitchell who went on a 13-day summer trip in Mississippi, which resulted in the first recordings of several country blues artists. Six songs, played on an acoustic guitar lent by Mitchell, were released on Arhoolie Records after two years, and nine others are on later records. Another album of acoustic material was recorded in 1969 for Adelphi Records, released thirty years later. A series of recordings in 1979 by the musicologist David Evans for his record label High Water 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. Burnside released ten 'studio' albums up to his death in 2005, after which a number of archival collections were released. Standout albums include Too Bad Jim, Mississippi Hill Country Blues, A Ass Pocket of Whiskey, Mr Wizard, Acoustic Stories and Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down. At a New York concert around the release of the documentary Deep Blues, he attracted the attention of Jon Spencer, leader of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. He started touring with this group in 1995, both as an opening act and sitting in, gaining a much wider new audience. In 2014 Burnside was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis.

Artist Website: fatpossum.com/artists/r-l-burnside

Featured Albums: RL Burnside

Related Artists: The Sound Machine, Jon Spencer, Junior Kimbrough

Video Clips: Burnside's Blues, Walkin' Blues, It's Bad You Know