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Topic: R.L. Burnside Dead at 78 Return to archive
September 1st, 2005 10:11 PM
Ten Thousand Motels R.L. Burnside Dead at 78

by Paul Cashmere
undercover.com
2 September 2005

Blues great R.L. Burnside has died in a Memphis hospital at the age of 78. Burnside was born on November 21, 1926 and died on September 1.

A fund has been set up to benefit is widow Alice Mae.

Fans can contribute by sending donations to:

Freeland & Freeland Trust Account
Burnside Memorial
P.O. Box 269
Oxford, MS 38655
662-234-3114

Here is Burnside's latest bio from his label Fat Possum Records:

R.L. Burnside was born in Layfayette County, near Oxford, Mississippi in 1926. As a young man R.L. moved North into the neighboring Marshall County and began sharecropping. Inspired by John Lee Hooker's '50s hit "Boogie Chillun'," R.L. began singing blues and playing guitar. In addition to the Hooker 45 rpm there were other local forces that influenced R.L as well, such as Mississippi Fred McDowell and Ranie Burnette. Fed up with the hopelessness of sharecropping, Burnside migrated to Chicago in hopes of finding economic opportunity. Chicago did not work out. In the span of one month R.L.'s father, brother and uncle were murdered. Check out "Hard Time Killing Floor" and the closing "R.L.'s Story" for R.L's take on his early years in Chicago. Around 1959 he returned to Mississippi to again work the farms and raise a family. He also started to play music at night and on weekends.


R.L.'s first recordings appeared on a 1967 Arhoolie compilation. Although R.L. preferred electric guitar, the fashion of the day dictated that he be recorded acoustically. These recordings earned Burnside enough of a reputation to play festivals and tours at home and abroad. Throughout the '70s and '80s R.L. played with a family band consisting of sons Joseph and Daniel as well as son-in-law Calvin Jackson, known as the Sound Machine. Though a local favorite R.L. and the Sound Machine were barely known outside of North Mississippi.

This all began to change for R.L. in the early '90s when the documentary film based on author Robert Palmer's book Deep Blues featured R.L. as one of its highlights. Subsequently Palmer produced R.L.'s Too Bad Jim for the fledgling Fat Possum label. Along with Junior Kimbrough's All Night Long, Too Bad Jim wasone of the most important and influential blues albums of the '90s.

Too Bad Jim brought R.L. to the attention of post-punk musician Jon Spencer. R.L. toured extensively with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and this led to the collaboration between the two, the result was A Ass Pocket of Whiskey, a teenageparty record. Ass Pocket of Whiskey made R.L an unlikely champion in the indie rock world.

In 1997 R.L. released Mr. Wizard, Fat Possum's debut record on their new distribution label Epitaph. The album featured R.L's hardcore touring mates, grandson Cedric Burnside and adopted son Kenny Brown.

In 1998 R.L. released Come On In, which pitted his raw blues against modern electronica, courtesy of producer Tom Rothrock (Beck, Elliot Smith). The album was a critical and commercial success, and one of its tracks, "It's Bad You Know," became a respectable radio hit and was featured in The Sopranos and on its soundtrack.

It's the year 2001 and R.L. Burnside is still breaking down boundaries, and bringing the blues to where it's never gone before. Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down is R.L.'s story. Listen up.

[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels]
September 1st, 2005 10:21 PM
T&A Bummer! I was just listening to a great RL show from 2001 the other day. The great ones left are few and far between....
September 1st, 2005 10:46 PM
Bloozehound just today I was jamming to n mississppi all stars version of "going down south"
September 1st, 2005 11:01 PM
Angiegirl Yeah, that's sad. Saw him give an excellent show in Amsterdam, probably about 9 years ago.
September 2nd, 2005 12:50 AM
Sir Stonesalot Aw man.

I loved that guy.

Well, he's got some good people to jam with where he's going now.
September 2nd, 2005 03:02 AM
ListenToTheLion Burnside's A ass pocket of whiskey with Jon Spencer is the funniest record I've ever heard.
September 2nd, 2005 03:51 AM
beer from Mojo 1 / 2005

MOJO: When it comes to vices?

R.L. I don't have any of them. I like drinking some corn whiskey but that's not a vice.

MOJO: The last time you cried was..?

R.L. so long ago I can't remember.

MOJO: Your most treasured possession?

R.L. My family, they mean more to me than anything.And music, I grew up on my own alot, it was always there for me.

MOJO: When we die..?

R.L. We is gone. I believe in God. I believe I'm going to Hell because we all end up there for awhile. It scares me because I don't want to go.

MOJO: I'd like to be remembered as...?

R.L. I am now, because I'm about right.


-


September 2nd, 2005 04:11 AM
waaghals Very sad indeed, a great loss!
September 2nd, 2005 04:12 AM
egon i heard luther vandross is dead as well...?
September 2nd, 2005 08:25 AM
Nasty Habits A friend of mine played slide guitar with him for a tour and I actually got to have a drink with RL one night. He told some great stories and really did have a FOUL mouth.

I'll have at least one for Mr. Burnside tonight, I think.

September 2nd, 2005 09:00 AM
polksalad69 RIP RL

http://community.webshots.com/photo/117623449/117623759MPTdfZ
September 2nd, 2005 01:21 PM
FPM C10 FUCK. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

Isn't this world shitty enough ALREADY?

I loved RL.

SS, I have a copy of "You See Me Laughin'" for you. DVD of all the Fat Possum guys. It's yer birthday present.



NEW YORK - R.L. Burnside, one of the last, great Mississippi bluesmen, whose raw, country blues was discovered late in his life, has died. He was 78.
Burnside died Thursday morning at the St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. His health had been declining for some time, said Matthew Johnson, owner of Burnside's record label, Fat Possum.
A sharecropper early in life, Burnside wasn't recorded until his 40s, and didn't become a professional musician until 1991, when he was signed by Fat Possum. Popular with younger acts like the Beastie Boys and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Burnside remained, as Johnson once said, "incorruptible because he just doesn't care."
After the 1992 live album "Bad Luck City," Fat Possum released "Too Bad Jim" in 1994. Burnside's raw, John Lee Hooker-style, one-chord progression blues on songs like "Death Bell Blues" and "Shake 'Em on Down" received critical acclaim.
He released over a dozen albums and toured worldwide, though he performed less after heart surgery in 1999. His last record was 2004's "A Bothered Mind."
Burnside was born in the Mississippi Delta town of Harmontown on Nov. 23, 1926. He spent most of his life in the north Mississippi hills working as a sharecropper and fisherman.
In the 1940s he moved to Chicago where he was taught how to play guitar by Mississippi Fred McDowell and later met Muddy Waters. But Burnside left the city after his father and two of his brothers were killed there.
When Burnside moved back to Mississippi, he shot a man who he said was trying to run him off his home. He was convicted and served six months in jail before a plantation foreman got him out to work the cotton harvest.
"It was between and the Lord, him dyin'," Burnside said of the murder in a 2002 New Yorker article. "I just shot him in the head."
Burnside was first recorded in 1968 by folklorist George Mitchell. Though he played locally in Mississippi for decades, he didn't garner considerable attention until 1991. He was the first act signed to Fat Possum, a label that has since become famous for rejuvenating lost - or previously nonexistent - blues and country careers.
"He was the essential Fat Possum artist," said Johnson, whose roster also includes Johnny Cash, the Black Keys,Top of Form 1
Bottom of Form 1

He was just playing in Junior Kimbrough's club, not for a career, not for any of that. Just 'cause he wanted to.
"He never really wanted a career, never said he did. We just sort of gave him one."
Burnside never practiced and never "jumped through hoops" but had "a great attitude," Johnson added.
Burnside is survived by his wife, Alice Mae, twelve children and numerous grandchildren.
September 2nd, 2005 02:16 PM
monkey_man That sucks! I saw him open for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at the Fillmore in the 90's.
September 2nd, 2005 11:43 PM
Bloozehound think i'll jamm out to some "ass pocket full of whiskey" in his honor

was that not the coolest album title ever
September 2nd, 2005 11:49 PM
exile
quote:
Ten Thousand Motels wrote:
In 1998 R.L. released Come On In, which pitted his raw blues against modern electronica, courtesy of producer Tom Rothrock (Beck, Elliot Smith). The album was a critical and commercial success, and one of its tracks, "It's Bad You Know," became a respectable radio hit and was featured in The Sopranos and on its soundtrack.





This was a great album, i bought it also. I was not a great fan but enjoyed that album most definitely
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