R.L. Burnside

A long-time staple of the blues scene (though only a more recent comer to fame), R.L. Burnside hailed from Harmontown, Mississippi. The son of sharecroppers, he had an early introduction to several important traditions in the Mississippi hill country, including not only the blues, but also traditional drum and fife performances. Before meeting and beginning his foray into the guitar (under the tutelage of blues singer-guitarist Fred McDowell), he tried his hand at the fife.

By the 1950’s, his early professional career in music would take him to Chicago, where he no doubt had numerous influences and connections. Most keen of these was Muddy Waters, though this is primarily through him dating Burnside’s first cousin, Anna Mae. Unfortunately, not everything would be positive with his stay. Numerous members of Burnside’s family were murdered (all within the span of a single year), and Burnside would return to Mississippi. 

The next several years would see Burnside performing in obscurity until two events. First, in August of 1967 he was recorded by George Mitchell, a blues researcher that was scouting Mississippi for undocumented talent. Mitchell was tipped off by two performers familiar with Burnside, and the collaboration led to his first “album” in 1969. Released by the Arhoolie label, it actually only featured Burnside on one side; the other side was dedicated to another blues artist, Joe Calicott. Burnside began to perform at occasional festivals in the Memphis area, bit mostly he continued to play locally in Mississippi.  Toward the end of the 1970s he made a couple of European tours.  Following this, the next big event in his career would be in 1980, when Burnside was chosen to be one of the four artists to release a single under Highwater’s first recording project. This was largely thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Key to these Highwater recordings was Burnside’s band, the Sound Machine. The band was made up of family members, and generally helped to blend his more soloistic country blues style with the more modern soul and funk influences provided by the rest of the band. The band was a mainstay of the area around northern Mississippi performing regularly at picnics, house parties, and at rural juke joints. However, the band’s most frequent performance venue was the Burnside home itself. A simple (though larger than normal) farming tenement just outside of Independence, that Burnside obtained due to his day job as a tractor driver, it provided shelter for him, his wife, and his twelve children. Several of the children even had families of their own sharing the house! 

During the 1980s he toured in the United States, The Netherlands, and France and was featured (along with Junior Kimbrough) in the Deep Blues documentary film.  After recording with High Water, Burnside would go to Fat Possum Records, where he would have a period of great productivity throughout the 1990’s, ending up releasing four albums under this new label. 

Burnside passed away in 2005 at the Saint Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, following several years of surgeries required due to a series of heart attacks. He was 78 years old. While Burnside’s career is one that is quite unconventional, his music still brings great joy to many that listen. Whether appearing solo or with his band, he was able to perform with an individuality that cannot often be seen elsewhere.