R. L. Burnside
Encyclopedia
Not to be confused with R. H. Burnside
, stage director.
R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005), born Robert Lee Burnside, was an American
blues
singer, songwriter
, and guitarist
who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi
. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention until the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, Burnside repeatedly recorded with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal
and introducing his music to a new fanbase within the underground
garage rock
scene.
One commentator noted that Burnside, along with Big Jack Johnson
, Paul "Wine" Jones
, Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes and James "Super Chikan" Johnson
, were "present-day exponents of an edgier, electrified version of the raw, uncut Delta blues sound."
, in Lafayette County
, United States
. He spent most of his life in North Mississippi, working as a sharecropper
and a commercial fisherman
, as well as playing guitar
in juke joint
s and bars. He was first inspired to pick up the guitar in his early twenties, after hearing the 1948 John Lee Hooker
single
, "Boogie Chillen
" (which inspired numerous other rural bluesmen, among them Buddy Guy
, to start playing). He learned music largely from Mississippi Fred McDowell
, who lived nearby in an adjoining county. He also cited his cousin-in-law, Muddy Waters
, as an influence.
Burnside grew tired of sharecropping and moved to Chicago
in 1944 in the hope of finding better economic opportunities. He did find jobs at metal and glass factories, had the company of Muddy Waters and married Alice Mae in 1949, but things did not turn out as he had hoped. Within the span of one year his father, two brothers, and uncle were all murdered in the city, a tragedy that Burnside would later draw upon in his work, particularly in his interpretation of Skip James
's "Hard Time Killing Floor" and the talking blues
"R.L.'s Story", the opening and closing tracks on Burnside's 2000 album
, Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down.
Around 1959, he left Chicago and went back to Mississippi to work the farms and raise a family. He killed a man at a dice game and was convicted of murder
and sentenced to six months' incarceration
(in Parchman Prison
). Burnside's boss at the time reputedly pulled strings to keep the murder sentence short, due to having need of Burnside's skills as a tractor driver. Burnside later said "I didn't mean to kill nobody ... I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord."
His earliest recordings
were made in the late 1960s by George Mitchell
and released on Arhoolie Records
. Another album of acoustic material was recorded that year and little else was released before Hill Country Blues, in the early 1980s. Recorded between 1980 and 1984 by Leo Bruin in Groningen, Netherlands. An album's worth of singles
followed, released on ethnomusicology
professor Dr. David Evans' High Water
record label
in Memphis, Tennessee
.
, label Fat Possum Records
. Founded by Living Blues
magazine
editor Peter Redvers-Lee and Matthew Johnson
, the label was dedicated to recording aging North Mississippi bluesmen such as Burnside and Junior Kimbrough
.
Burnside remained with Fat Possum from that time until his death, and he usually performed with drum
mer Cedric Burnside, his grandson, and with his friend and understudy, the slide guitar
ist Kenny Brown, with whom he began playing in 1971 and claimed as his "adopted son."
In the mid 1990s, Burnside attracted the attention of Jon Spencer, the leader of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
, touring and recording with this group and gaining a new audience in the process.
Burnside's 1996 album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey
(recorded with Jon Spencer) gained massive critical acclaim, earning praise from music legends Bono
and Iggy Pop
. During this time he also provided the entertainment at private events such Richard Gere
's birthday party.
After the death of Kimbrough and the burning of Kimbrough's juke joint in Chulahoma, Mississippi
, Burnside quit recording studio material for Fat Possum, though he did continue to tour. After a heart attack
in 2001, Burnside's doctor advised him to stop drinking; Burnside did, but he reported that change left him unable to play..jpg)
Members of his large extended family continue to play blues in the Holly Springs area: grandson Cedric Burnside tours with Kenny Brown and most recently with Steve 'Lightnin' Malcolm as part of the 'Juke Joint Duo', while his son Duwayne Burnside has played guitar with the North Mississippi Allstars
(Polaris; Hill Country Revue with R. L. Burnside). Nephew Garry Burnside used to play bass guitar with Junior Kimbrough and in 2006 released an album with Cedric. In 2004, the Burnside sons opened Burnside Blues Cafe, located 30 miles southeast of Memphis at the intersection of U.S. Highway 78 and Mississippi Highway 7 in Holly Springs.
on September 1, 2005 at the age of 78. Services were held at Rust College
in Holly Springs, which is also where services were held for his friend, Junior Kimbrough, who died in 1998, with burial in the Free Springs Cemetery in Harmontown. Around the time of his death, he resided in Byhalia
, Mississippi
and his immediate survivors included:
Burnside had a powerful, expressive voice and played both electric
and acoustic guitar
s (both with a slide and without). His drone-based style was a characteristic of North Mississippi hill country blues rather than Mississippi Delta blues
. Like other country blues musicians, he did not always adhere to 12
- or 16-bar blues patterns, often adding extra beats
according to his preference. He called this "Burnside style" and often commented that his backing musicians needed to be familiar with his style in order to be able to play along with him.
His earliest recordings, like those of John Lee Hooker
, sound very similar in their vocal and instrumental style. Many of his songs do not have chord changes
, but use the same chord
or repeating bass line
throughout. He often played in open G tuning, using fingers only- no pick. His vocal style is characterized by a tendency to "break" into falsetto
briefly (usually at the ends of long notes).
Like the bluesman T-Model Ford
, Burnside utilized the stripped-down element of his music, playing up the rawness, emphasizing his image as a lifelong hard-drinking man, and singing songs of swagger and rebellion. Burnside collaborated in the late 1990s with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion on the album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey
. Consequently, he gained the attention of many within this underground music scene, cited as an influence by Hillstomp
and covered on record by The Immortal Lee County Killers
. Burnside's "Skinny Woman" was also interpolated into the song "Busted
" by fellow Fat Possum musicians The Black Keys
, who have listed Burnside as an influence on their music.
He also knew many toasts (African American narrative folk poems such as "Signifying monkey
" and "Tojo Told Hitler") and frequently recited them between songs at his live concerts and on his recordings.
/ Christina Ricci
film
, Black Snake Moan is infused with countless Burnside nods, including: the Reverend R. L. character and when Jackson plays the blues toward the end of the film, he thanks "Ced" and "Kenny" - Cedric Burnside (Burnside's grandson) and Kenny Brown (Burnside's "adopted son"), who were primary sidemen through the 1990s and early 2000s. Cedric and Kenny are also part of Jackson's band in the juke joint scene.
"It's Bad You Know," and "Shuck Dub" were featured in the HBO series The Sopranos
. Also "It's Bad You Know," was featured in Eastbound & Down
.
"Got Messed Up" was featured in the FX series Rescue Me
during an opening montage on Season 5 Episode 18, "Carrot".
A Burnside poster can be seen on both walls in brothers Drake and Josh's room in the Nickelodeon
sitcom, Drake & Josh
.
R. H. Burnside
Robert Hubber Thorne Burnside was an American actor, director, producer, composer, and playwright. He was artistic director of the 5,200-seat New York Hippodrome from 1908 to 1923. He wrote and staged hundreds of dramas, musicals and theatrical spectacles.-Biography:Burnside was born in Glasgow,...
, stage director.
R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005), born Robert Lee Burnside, was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi
Holly Springs, Mississippi
Holly Springs is a city in Marshall County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 7,957 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Marshall County. A short drive from Memphis, Tennessee, Holly Springs is the site of a number of well-preserved antebellum homes and other structures and...
. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention until the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, Burnside repeatedly recorded with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal
Crossover (music)
Crossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...
and introducing his music to a new fanbase within the underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
scene.
One commentator noted that Burnside, along with Big Jack Johnson
Big Jack Johnson
Big Jack Johnson was an American electric blues musician.One commentator noted that Johnson, along with R. L...
, Paul "Wine" Jones
Paul "Wine" Jones
Paul "Wine" Jones was an American contemporary blues guitarist and singer.One commentator noted that Jones, along with R. L...
, Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes and James "Super Chikan" Johnson
Super Chikan
James "Super Chikan" Johnson is an American blues musician, based in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He is the nephew of fellow blues musician Big Jack Johnson....
, were "present-day exponents of an edgier, electrified version of the raw, uncut Delta blues sound."
Early life and career
Burnside was born in Harmontown, MississippiHarmontown, Mississippi
Harmontown is an unincorporated town in Lafayette County in the U.S. state of Mississippi. In the hill country of North Mississippi, Harmontown is located in the northwest corner of Lafayette County, just off MS 310 and just to the north of Sardis Lake. Towns surrounding Harmontown include Oxford,...
, in Lafayette County
Lafayette County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,744 people, 14,373 households, and 8,321 families residing in the county. The population density was 61 people per square mile . There were 16,587 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He spent most of his life in North Mississippi, working as a sharecropper
Sharecropping
Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land . This should not be confused with a crop fixed rent contract, in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a fixed amount of...
and a commercial fisherman
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher 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 fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
, as well as playing guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
in juke joint
Juke joint
Juke joint is the vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African American people in the southeastern United States. The term "juke" is believed to derive from the Gullah word joog, meaning rowdy or disorderly...
s and bars. He was first inspired to pick up the guitar in his early twenties, after hearing the 1948 John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Boogie Chillen
Boogie Chillen
"Boogie Chillen" is an electric blues song written by John Lee Hooker. It is considered one of the genre's most important and influential recordings for the forthcoming rock 'n' roll.-Origins:...
" (which inspired numerous other rural bluesmen, among them Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...
, to start playing). He learned music largely from Mississippi Fred McDowell
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Fred McDowell known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American Hill country blues singer and guitar player.-Career:...
, who lived nearby in an adjoining county. He also cited his cousin-in-law, Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, as an influence.
Burnside grew tired of sharecropping and moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1944 in the hope of finding better economic opportunities. He did find jobs at metal and glass factories, had the company of Muddy Waters and married Alice Mae in 1949, but things did not turn out as he had hoped. Within the span of one year his father, two brothers, and uncle were all murdered in the city, a tragedy that Burnside would later draw upon in his work, particularly in his interpretation of Skip James
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter, born in Bentonia, Mississippi, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
's "Hard Time Killing Floor" and the talking blues
Talking blues
Talking blues is a form of country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict....
"R.L.'s Story", the opening and closing tracks on Burnside's 2000 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down.
Around 1959, he left Chicago and went back to Mississippi to work the farms and raise a family. He killed a man at a dice game and was convicted of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
and sentenced to six months' incarceration
Incarceration
Incarceration is the detention of a person in prison, typically as punishment for a crime .People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a crime, and different jurisdictions have differing laws governing the function of incarceration within a larger system of...
(in Parchman Prison
Mississippi State Penitentiary
Mississippi State Penitentiary , also known as Parchman Farm, is the oldest prison and the only maximum security prison for men in the state of Mississippi, USA....
). Burnside's boss at the time reputedly pulled strings to keep the murder sentence short, due to having need of Burnside's skills as a tractor driver. Burnside later said "I didn't mean to kill nobody ... I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord."
His earliest recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
were made in the late 1960s by George Mitchell
George Mitchell (musician)
George Mitchell, was a Scottish musician, best known for having devised the long-running The Black and White Minstrel Show....
and released on Arhoolie Records
Arhoolie Records
Arhoolie Records is a small record label run by Chris Strachwitz. The label was founded by Strachwitz in 1960 as a way for him to record and publish previously obscure "down home blues" artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Snooks Eaglin and Bill Gaither...
. Another album of acoustic material was recorded that year and little else was released before Hill Country Blues, in the early 1980s. Recorded between 1980 and 1984 by Leo Bruin in Groningen, Netherlands. An album's worth of singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
followed, released on ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
professor Dr. David Evans' High Water
High Water Recording Company
High Water Recording Company is a US record label founded in 1979 by Dr. David Evans and the Memphis State University.The label first issued only singles, since 1983 also LPs of recordings by blues-, gospel- and jazz-artists of the Memphis area produced by Dr. Evans. Almost all of those recordings...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
.
Later life and career
In the 1990s, he appeared in the film Deep Blues and began recording for the Oxford, MississippiOxford, Mississippi
Oxford is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1835, it was named after the British university city of Oxford in hopes of having the state university located there, which it did successfully attract....
, label Fat Possum Records
Fat Possum Records
Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording hitherto unknown Mississippi blues artists . Recently, Fat Possum has signed younger rock acts to its roster...
. Founded by Living Blues
Living Blues
Living Blues is a bi-monthly magazine focused on covering the African American blues tradition, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van Singel. Alligator Records owner and founder Bruce Iglauer was also one of the...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
editor Peter Redvers-Lee and Matthew Johnson
Matthew Johnson
Matthew Johnson or Matt Johnson may refer to:* Matt Johnson , voice of Rodney on the animated series The Life & Times of Tim* Matt Johnson , Canadian ice hockey player in the National Hockey League...
, the label was dedicated to recording aging North Mississippi bluesmen such as Burnside and Junior Kimbrough
Junior Kimbrough
David "Junior" Kimbrough was an American blues musician. His best known work included "Keep Your Hands Off Her" and "All Night Long". Music journalist Tony Russell stated "his raw, repetitive style suggests an archaic forebear of John Lee Hooker, a character his music shares with that of fellow...
.
Burnside remained with Fat Possum from that time until his death, and he usually performed with drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
mer Cedric Burnside, his grandson, and with his friend and understudy, the slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
ist Kenny Brown, with whom he began playing in 1971 and claimed as his "adopted son."
In the mid 1990s, Burnside attracted the attention of Jon Spencer, the leader of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are an American alternative rock trio, formed in 1991 and based out of New York City, New York. The band consists of Judah Bauer on guitar, backing vocals, harmonica and occasional lead vocals, Russell Simins on drums and Jon Spencer on vocals, guitar and theremin...
, touring and recording with this group and gaining a new audience in the process.
Burnside's 1996 album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey
A Ass Pocket of Whiskey
A Ass Pocket of Whiskey is a collaborative album by the American Mississippi Hill Country Bluesman R. L. Burnside and the American punk blues band Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, released on Matador Records on 18 June 1996...
(recorded with Jon Spencer) gained massive critical acclaim, earning praise from music legends Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
and Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
. During this time he also provided the entertainment at private events such Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
's birthday party.
After the death of Kimbrough and the burning of Kimbrough's juke joint in Chulahoma, Mississippi
Chulahoma, Mississippi
Chulahoma is an unincorporated community in Marshall County in the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is located in the hill country of northern Mississippi.-Culture:...
, Burnside quit recording studio material for Fat Possum, though he did continue to tour. After a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in 2001, Burnside's doctor advised him to stop drinking; Burnside did, but he reported that change left him unable to play.
North Mississippi Allstars
North Mississippi Allstars is a Southern rock/blues jam band from Hernando, Mississippi, founded in 1996. The band is composed of brothers Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson , and Chris Chew...
(Polaris; Hill Country Revue with R. L. Burnside). Nephew Garry Burnside used to play bass guitar with Junior Kimbrough and in 2006 released an album with Cedric. In 2004, the Burnside sons opened Burnside Blues Cafe, located 30 miles southeast of Memphis at the intersection of U.S. Highway 78 and Mississippi Highway 7 in Holly Springs.
Death
Burnside had been in declining health since heart surgery in 1999. He died at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
on September 1, 2005 at the age of 78. Services were held at Rust College
Rust College
Rust College is a historically black liberal arts college located in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Located approximately 35 miles southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, it is the second-oldest private college in the state...
in Holly Springs, which is also where services were held for his friend, Junior Kimbrough, who died in 1998, with burial in the Free Springs Cemetery in Harmontown. Around the time of his death, he resided in Byhalia
Byhalia
Byhalia is the name of several populated places in the United States.* Byhalia, Mississippi* Byhalia, Ohio...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and his immediate survivors included:
- His wife: Alice Mae Taylor Burnside (married 1951); died November 16, 2008
- Daughters: Mildred Jean Burnside, Linda Jackson, Brenda Kay Brooks, and Pamela Denise Burnside;
- Sons: Melvin Burnside, R.L. Burnside Jr., Calvin Burnside, Joseph Burnside, Daniel Burnside, Duwayne Burnside, Dexter Burnside, Garry Burnside, and Rodger Harmon
- Sisters: Lucille Burnside, Verelan Burnside, and Mat Burnside
- Brother: Jesse Monia
- 35 Grandchildren
- 32 Great-Grandchildren
Style
Burnside had a powerful, expressive voice and played both electric
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
s (both with a slide and without). His drone-based style was a characteristic of North Mississippi hill country blues rather than Mississippi Delta blues
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
. Like other country blues musicians, he did not always adhere to 12
Twelve bar blues
The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular chord progressions in popular music, including the blues. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics and phrase and chord structure and duration...
- or 16-bar blues patterns, often adding extra beats
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
according to his preference. He called this "Burnside style" and often commented that his backing musicians needed to be familiar with his style in order to be able to play along with him.
His earliest recordings, like those of John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
, sound very similar in their vocal and instrumental style. Many of his songs do not have chord changes
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
, but use the same chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
or repeating bass line
Bassline
A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...
throughout. He often played in open G tuning, using fingers only- no pick. His vocal style is characterized by a tendency to "break" into falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto 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 edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
briefly (usually at the ends of long notes).
Like the bluesman T-Model Ford
T-Model Ford
James Lewis Carter Ford is an American blues musician, using the name T-Model Ford. Unable to remember his exact date of birth, he began his musical career in his early seventies, and has continuously recorded for the Fat Possum label, then switched to Alive Naturalsound Records. His musical style...
, Burnside utilized the stripped-down element of his music, playing up the rawness, emphasizing his image as a lifelong hard-drinking man, and singing songs of swagger and rebellion. Burnside collaborated in the late 1990s with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion on the album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey
A Ass Pocket of Whiskey
A Ass Pocket of Whiskey is a collaborative album by the American Mississippi Hill Country Bluesman R. L. Burnside and the American punk blues band Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, released on Matador Records on 18 June 1996...
. Consequently, he gained the attention of many within this underground music scene, cited as an influence by Hillstomp
Hillstomp
Hillstomp is a punk blues duo from Portland, Oregon, known for unique versions of traditional material and energetic live performances.In December 2005, their album The Woman that Ended the World was named Album of the Year by Portland alternative weekly Willamette Week.Hillstomp credits RL...
and covered on record by The Immortal Lee County Killers
The Immortal Lee County Killers
The Immortal Lee County Killers were an American rock band from Auburn, Lee County, Alabama. Playing in the punk blues style, as well as garage punk, the band consisted of Chetley "Cheetah" Weise on vocals/guitar, plus assorted musicians over its roughly three incarnations.Weise had formerly...
. Burnside's "Skinny Woman" was also interpolated into the song "Busted
The Big Come Up
-Personnel:*Dan Auerbach - guitar, vocals*Patrick Carney - drums, producer*Patrick Boissel - album cover design*Robert Kramer - album cover design, photography*Dave Schultz - mastering...
" by fellow Fat Possum musicians The Black Keys
The Black Keys
The Black Keys are an American rock duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. The band was formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. As of October 2011, the band has sold over 2 million albums in the U.S....
, who have listed Burnside as an influence on their music.
He also knew many toasts (African American narrative folk poems such as "Signifying monkey
Signifying monkey
The Signifying Monkey is a character of African-American folklore that derives from the trickster figure of Yoruba mythology, Esu Elegbara. This character was transported with Africans to the Americas under the names of Exu, Echu-Elegua, Papa Legba, and Papa Le Bas. Esu and his variants all serve...
" and "Tojo Told Hitler") and frequently recited them between songs at his live concerts and on his recordings.
Selected albums
- First Recordings (recorded in the late 1960s by George Mitchell; re-released by Fat Possum Records in 2003)
- Mississippi Hill Country Blues (released 1984 by Swingmaster)
- Too Bad Jim (produced in 1992 by Robert PalmerRobert Palmer (author/producer)Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. was a 20th century American writer, musicologist, clarinetist, saxophonist, and blues producer...
) - Well, Well, Well (songs and interviews from 1986–1993, released in 2001 on MC Records)
- A Ass Pocket of WhiskeyA Ass Pocket of WhiskeyA Ass Pocket of Whiskey is a collaborative album by the American Mississippi Hill Country Bluesman R. L. Burnside and the American punk blues band Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, released on Matador Records on 18 June 1996...
(1996, featuring the Jon Spencer Blues ExplosionJon Spencer Blues ExplosionThe Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are an American alternative rock trio, formed in 1991 and based out of New York City, New York. The band consists of Judah Bauer on guitar, backing vocals, harmonica and occasional lead vocals, Russell Simins on drums and Jon Spencer on vocals, guitar and theremin...
) - Mr. Wizard (1997)
- Acoustic Stories (1997)
- My Black Name A-Ringin (1999)
- Burnside on Burnside (a critically acclaimed 2001 live albumLive albumA live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
recorded in the Crystal BallroomCrystal Ballroom (Portland, Oregon)Crystal Ballroom, originally built as Cotillion Hall, is a historic building in Portland, Oregon, United States. Cotillion Hall was built in 1914 as a ballroom, and dance revivals were held there through the Great Depression...
on Portland, OregonPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
's Burnside Street) - Come On In (1998) (remixed material)
- Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down (2000) (remixed material)
- A Bothered Mind (2004) (remixed material)
Films
- Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the CrossroadsDeep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the CrossroadsDeep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads is a documentary film, released in 1992, and made by David A. Stewart in conjunction with his brother John J. Stewart, in collaboration with music critic and author Robert Palmer and documentary film maker Robert Mugge. The film provided insight...
(1991). Directed by Robert MuggeRobert MuggeRobert Mugge is an American documentary film maker. He specializes in films about music and musicians.Mugge was born in Chicago and grew up primarily in the Washington, D.C. area. He received a B.A... - The Land Where the Blues Began (1978) Restored original version, DVD contains two additional R.L. Burnside performances
- American Patchwork: Songs and Stories of America, part 3: "The Land Where the Blues Began" (1990). Written, directed, and produced by Alan LomaxAlan LomaxAlan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
; developed by the Association for Cultural Equity at Columbia University and Hunter College. North Carolina Public TV; A Dibb Direction production for Channel Four. This is a lightly re-edited version of "The Land Where the Blues Began" (1978) made by Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long in Association with Mississippi Authority for Educational Television - You See Me Laughin': The Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen (2003; released by Fat Possum Records in 2005). Produced and directed by Mandy Stein. Oxford, Mississippi: Plain Jane Productions, Inc; Fat Possum Records.
- Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour (2005) Directed by Max Shores, Alabama PBS, featuring interview with Burnside and information about the Holly Springs music community.
In popular culture
The 2007 Samuel L. JacksonSamuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
/ Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Black Snake Moan is infused with countless Burnside nods, including: the Reverend R. L. character and when Jackson plays the blues toward the end of the film, he thanks "Ced" and "Kenny" - Cedric Burnside (Burnside's grandson) and Kenny Brown (Burnside's "adopted son"), who were primary sidemen through the 1990s and early 2000s. Cedric and Kenny are also part of Jackson's band in the juke joint scene.
"It's Bad You Know," and "Shuck Dub" were featured in the HBO series The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
. Also "It's Bad You Know," was featured in Eastbound & Down
Eastbound & Down
Eastbound & Down is an American comedy television series broadcast on HBO, starring Danny McBride as Kenny Powers, a former professional baseball pitcher, who after an up and down career in the major leagues is forced to return to his hometown middle-school in Shelby, North Carolina, as a...
.
"Got Messed Up" was featured in the FX series Rescue Me
Rescue Me (TV series)
Rescue Me is an American television drama series that premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004, and concluded on September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse.The show...
during an opening montage on Season 5 Episode 18, "Carrot".
A Burnside poster can be seen on both walls in brothers Drake and Josh's room in the Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
sitcom, Drake & Josh
Drake & Josh
Drake & Josh is an American sitcom that premiered on the Nickelodeon television network on January 11, 2004, which follows the lives of two stepbrothers. It stars Drake Bell and Josh Peck as stepbrothers Drake Parker and Josh Nichols, respectively. Both actors had played roles in The Amanda Show,...
.
External links
- Fat Possum artist website
- Mabe, Ed. R. L. Burnside: One Badass Bluesman. Nov. 1999.
- Slade's R. L. Burnside page
- Juke Joint Music
- http://www.nmallstars.com/
- Illustrated R. L. Burnside discography