R.L. BURNSIDE - Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down 2000

R.L. BURNSIDE - Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down 2000

Blues

If ever there was list of artists who deserved to be recognized and appreciated, R.L. Burnside would certainly be near the top of that list.  I was in Paris when his song “It’s Bad You Know” went over the top, and brought long overdue recognition to this great man.  But in all honesty, R.L. can be a difficult artist not only to pin down, but he seldom, for my tastes, commits a consistent body of work to any release.

Here on ‘I Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down,’ he opens with three blistering numbers, all original, all unique ... and all fresh as can be.  But then comes “Nothing Man,” which is an outright theft of Slim Harpo’s “I’m A King Bee.”  “Too Many Ups” is nice and funky, quite original, and is wonderful in the way he’s made the song sound as if it was taken from a well worn vinyl record; though the hip hop scratch leaves me cold.  “Bad Luck City” is what it is, sort of forgettable, and “R.L.’s Story” has been done so many times, in so many ways in the past, that it is just a pointless exercise.  Now, for "Chain Of Fools" I will make an exception, as he blends traditional and modern blues with a street flavor, and I make that exception because this song feels real, as if he's giving it his honest take ... and anytime an artist does that, it usually works for me.

So where does that leave us, it leaves us with six outstanding numbers that are a true testament to the nature and spirit of the blues.  The songs are simple and well played, with the most exciting number being “My Eyes [Keep Me In Trouble],” and you’re going to have to give it a listen to hear what I mean, and feel the smile it brings to my face.  Yeah, R.L.’s albums need to be combed to sort out the choice material, but the process is well worth your while.
**
More than anything, the deep dark personal tales of R.L. Burnside are the lasting (and haunting) memories I get from Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down.  Both the album's opener "Hard Time Killing Floor" as well as "R.L.'s Story" tell the tale of how R.L.'s father, brothers, and other families members were murdered in Chicago.  Burnside's matter of fact style of storytelling here is breathtaking.

Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down is almost like the meshing of two worlds.  R.L.'s weary and unapologetic storytelling, which is of course mainly backed by a tight blues band, is also blended with bits and slices of electronic experimentation and DJ scratches.  Every once and so often you'll hear a digital loop or a blip-n-bleep sample in a song that has no business being there.  It's like the production crew was going a bit overboard every once and a while.  However, the experiments pay off way more often than they don't. 

There are also some more "traditional" blues songs to keep the album flowing, just like there's some light-hearted fare to keep the album from being impossibly dark.  "Laugh To Keep From Cryin'," "Miss Maybelle," "Pucker Up Buttercup," and the cover of "Chain of Fools" are some of the memorable tracks that achieve this with success.

But it's the sad songs, the real bluesy numbers, that have me coming back to Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down.  "Got Messed Up," "My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble," "Black Mattie," "Bad Luck City," and the title track are notable as some of R.L.'s best studio songs.  If you've been mulling over where to expand your Burnside collection to (or if you're wondering what the hell this old bluesman was all about) then start here.
**
01. Hard Time Killing Floor  5:09
02. Got Messed Up  5:06
03. Miss Maybelle  3:18
04. Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down  3:40
05. Too Many Ups  3:36
06. Nothin' Man  3:42
07. See What My Buddy Done  4:02
08. My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble  3:27
09. Bad Luck City  6:33
10. Chain of Fools  3:42
11. R.L.'s Story  6:17
12. Robert Belfour - Black Mattie   4:48
13. Paul Jones [Blues] - Pucker Up Buttercup   3:53
14. Kenny Brown - Laugh to Keep From Cryin'   3:36
**
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R.L.BURNSIDE - Mr. Wizard 1997

R.L.BURNSIDE - Mr. Wizard 1997

Blues

After Burnside's breakthrough recording TOO BAD JIM, he collaborated with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in 1996 for A ASS POCKET OF WHISKEY, which merged Spencer's post-modern punk-blues with Burnside's gritty traditionalism. On the following year's MR. WIZARD, Spencer and company are present on only two tracks, but Burnside's Mississippi homeboys prove that they can rock just as ferociously on the other seven. As on ASS POCKET, MR. WIZARD's electrifying Chicago/Delta combo platter is amplified into an unerring sonic death ray capable of obliterating anything that crosses it's path, by virtue of its piledriving riffs and jackhammer rhythms.
Burnside opens the album unaccompanied, with a powerful spiritual tune, "Over the Hill." When the band kicks in, the guitars of Burnside and his disciple Kenny Brown interlock for an unrelenting assault that utilizes repeating patterns, cutting, distorted tones, and savage, maniacal slide work. Drummer Cedric Burnside (R.L.'s grandson) lives up to the task of matching all this electric blues fury with his simple, driving approach. MR. WIZARD is probably the best example of the controlled chaos that is an R.L. Burnside concert.
From CD Universe.
**
R.L. Burnside- (Vocals, Guitar);
Kenny Brown, Judah Bauer- (Guitar);
Jon Spencer- (Guitar, Theremin);
Cedric Burnside- (Drums).
**
01. Over The Hill (4:19)
02. Alice Mae (3:29)
03. Georgia Women (3:47)
04. Snake Drive (6:54)
05. Rollin' & Tumblin' (4:39)
06. Out On The Road (3:57)
07. Highway 7 (6:02)
08. Tribute To Fred (3:33)
09. You Gotta Move (2:53)
**
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R.L. BURNSIDE, Ranie BURNETTE and Johnny WOODS - Going Down South 1998

R.L. BURNSIDE, Ranie BURNETTE and Johnny WOODS - Going Down South  1998

Blues

One of the greatest of the "delta" bluesmen, Burnside has been my favorite since I first heard the Arhoolie acoustic record. R.L. "Rural" Burnside was born on November 21, 1926 in Oxford, Mississippi. He died on September 1, 2005. Like Fred McDowell, he was from the northern Mississippi hill country, rather than the actual delta. Burnside learned some guitar from McDowell as well as from Son Hibbler, Ranie Burnette, Willie Thomas, and Jessie Vortis, who were all neighbors of his. He was also influenced by John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters. He lived in Chicago and Memphis before settling in Mississippi in 1959. He opened a small bar where he played his music and sold homemade whiskey. After his first recordings in 1967, he did not tour or record until 1979. Like most of the Delta bluesmen, he did a lot of hard work, including picking cotton and plowing fields. He did not really receive much attention until his Fat Possum records were released in the mid-nineties. The Fat Possum label has been single-handedly responsible for a recent revolution in awareness of and access to modern Delta blues music (or more accurately North Mississippi Hill Country blues music). Burnside is the most well-known of all the Fat Possum artists. He toured into his last years, with Kenny Brown on second guitar and his grandson, Cedric Burnside, on drums. He came to VZD's in OKC on September 5, 1997 for two shows. I went to both shows, which were both awesome. I got to meet him and talk with him. When shaking hands he said "Proud to meet you", which I think is what he usually says to everyone he meets. I got to see him again when he came to Tulsa for the Blues Festival in May, 1999. Still cookin'. The First Recordings record is some of the best acoustic blues guitar ever recorded and my top favorite record of all time. I would also recommend picking up Too Bad Jim and Come On In for starters. Wish I was in Heaven Sitting Down, is also cool. Be sure to check out the Fat Posssum documentary DVD, You See Me Laughin', which covers Burnside and the rest of the gang. Burnside rocks and grooves.

From the Red Lick Catalog;
"This is pure, undiluted Mississippi Hill Country blues recorded in the early 80s. RL. Burnside's here - not with the juke joint stompin' blues he does at Fat Possum but with five beautifully crafted solo country blues played with feeling.
The first track is one of the finest, most moving performances I've ever heard him play - just a rolling little acoustic rhythm that sounds like a mix between John Hurt and Skip James with RL gently working on the words in a resigned, drawl. It's highly effective both musically and lyrically - four minute masterpiece in my opinion. For Going Away Blues" he plays on his electric guitar for a choogle with Curtis Salgado on harp - it's a bustling little number performed in a manner that reminds me of Jessie Mae Hemphill's blues.
RL then slips on the slide for an evocative run-in with Muddy's "Can't Be Satisfied" - a raw-boned, rattling rendition with lots of exhuberant slide work and it's a nice tribute to one of his heroes. Salgado sits in again on an unexpurgated "Stackolee" which features RL clanging out the riff on electric guitar. Then it's back to acoustic slide for quiet reflective version of "Walking Blues" - it's backporch stuff sung with real feeling and reverance.
When you hear Burnside playing like this, you realise just how important he is - authentic Mississippi bluesmen of his calibre are a rarity.
Ranie Burnette, as you'll hear, is a singer and guitarist in the Mississippi Fred McDowell mould. Although not as aggressive in the rhythm department, he makes that guitar swing and his tough little rasping vocals compliment his playing style perfectly. It's no surprise that Burnette used to be Fred's most serious rival at the local dances. You can just imagine him playing "One String Blues" at a Saturday night juke with Abe young working like crazy on harp - and there's no denying the McDowell influence on "Hungry Spell" where Raney uses the guitar as a rhythmic percussive instrument.
Burnette plays five songs on this CD including two intense, pure Mississippi blues - the driving "Coal Black Mattie" with it's drone like guitar rhythm and the slow emotional "Lonesome Moon Blues" with it's ominous churchbell tone on the bass strings and the mysteriously sad lyrics. Beautiful music.
Harmonica player Johnny Woods is Fred McDowell's old sparring partner and on this album he plays solo harp and sings on three numbers as well as working as a duo on two tracks with RL Burnside. They tear the juke joint down with the uptempo "My Jack Don't Drink No Water" and then on "Suzanna" RL pumps out the tune Big Joe Williams style while Johnny lets rip with some typical high-powered harp interplay.
Almost as exciting is "Going Up The Country" where he really gets stuck in - stompin' his foot, playing that harp like a man posessed and hollering out the song like the real authentic Mississippi bluesman he is. These are three great country bluesmen with one of those albums that discerning blues fans will treasure."
**
(# 1, 4, 5, 10 and 11 by R.L. Burnside, vocals and guitar. Curtis Salgado, harmonica on # 4 and 10. Recorded in New Orleans, February 6, 1986.
# 2, 7, 12 and 14 by Ranie Burnette, vocals and guitar. Recorded November 1980 in Groningen, The Netherlands.
# 3 and 13 by Johnny Woods, vocal and harmonica. Recorded on August 19, 1981 at R.L. Burnside's house near Coldwater, Mississippi.
# 6 by Ranie Burnette, vocals and guitar. Abe 'Keg' Young, harmonica. Recorded on August 22, 1981 in Senatobia, Mississippi.
# 8, 9 and 15 by Johnny Woods, vocals and harmonica. R. L. Burnside, guitar on # 9 and 15. No harmonica on # 9. Recorded November 1984 in Groningen, The Netherlands. 1980, 1981 and 1984 sessions recorded by Leo Bruin.)
**
01. Going down south    4.20
02. Miss Maybelle    5.03
03. So many cold mornings (Johnny Woods)    3.24
04. Going away blues    3.33
05. Can't be satisfied    3.29
06. One string baby    2.40
07. Hungry spell    4.02
08. Going up the country    (Johnny Woods)    2.04
09. My Jack don't drink no water (Johnny Woods)    5.34
10. Stack O'Lee and Billy Lyons    4.57
11. Walking Blues    3.16
12. Coal black Mattie    4.40
13. She's loving another man (Johnny Woods)    2.47
14. Lonesome moon Blues    3.58
15. Suzanna Blues (Johnny Woods)    4.31
**
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R.L. BURNSIDE - Well... Well... Well 2001

R.L. BURNSIDE - Well... Well... Well 2001
Label: M.C.
Recorded between 1986 and 1993

Blues

(((A REAL CHARACTER with an affable, toothless smile, R.L. Burnside, the Mississippi hill country bluesman and ex-con, passed on at a hospital in Memphis on September 1 at age 78. For most of his life, Burnside was an undiscovered talent who made a living as a sharecropper, playing guitar on the side. It wasn't until he was in his 60s that the upstart Mississippi label, Fat Possum, recorded a bunch of kickass records controversially matching his raw and feisty electric blues sound with rock and hiphop remixes. Burnside found a whole new audience, not only outside the Mississippi juke joints where he was paid $3 and some whiskey per gig, but beyond the blues festival circuit as well...))).
Article from: The Stranger.
**
M.C. Records released Well... Well... Well... (MC-0042) on March 27. The sales and reviews have been great! M.C. Records has placed over 10,000 copies worldwide and growing. Check out who's playing the CD (that we know of)!
The CD was played on the syndicated radio program "American Routes" in April. The show is aired on over 100 stations from coast-to-coast. R.L. was just on N.P.R.'s morning edition (March 26) and Conan O'Brien in February.
"...different from his recent Fat Possum recordings...these recordings, utilizing mostly just guitar, harmonica and percussion, emphasize Burnside's roots. Covers of "Staggolee" and John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen" can stand up to any previous artist's versions. Not just for blues fans...will appeal to fans of Beck, Moby and Ani DiFranco."
From New York Newsday.
**
"Well, Well, Well isn't your typical studio release. ...there is plenty of new material here.  All of it achieves an instant intimacy. The disc should serve the growing legend of R.L. Burnside well."
By Howard Owens, Ventura County Star.
**
M.C. Records' previous release by R.L. Burnside, Acoustic Stories (MC-0034), was a 1998 W.C. Handy Nominee for Blues Reissue of the Year.
Well...Well...Well....one of the best albums in the last 10 years crossing all genres of music."
From Revue Magazine.
**
You might think a collection of bootlegs featuring R.L. Burnside is less than interesting, or maybe even a cynical way for Burnside and M.C. Records to cash in on his current popularity without having to release any new material. You might think that, but you'd be woefully mistaken. A fascinating, scattershot collection of tunes and interviews, recorded between 1986 and 1993, Well...Well...Well offers a uniquely personal window into one of blues music's most gifted performers. Many of the recordings are transferred directly from tapes made in sheds and out-of-the-way venues, with Burnside, often using only his voice and a rusty guitar, playing and telling stories detailing a bluesman's woes.
Check out the risqué, boom-box recording of "Staggolee," a traditional tune that Burnside lays into while boozing it up with fellow bluesmen Jon Morris and Curtis Salgado in an old New Orleans shotgun house. Or Muddy Waters's "Can't Be Satisfied," recorded in the same house by Burnside, this time sober and all by his lonesome. He's nursing a cold, and his voice is grainy, his guitar sublime as he entertains himself with a loose, lonely rendition. There are proper live venue recordings as well, like the slow chug of his own "Nightmare Blues," performed to an enthusiastic crowd at the Queen Street Playhouse in South Carolina. There are also recordings taken from performances in Holland ("Poor Boy" in a large theater at The Hague, and two others recorded in a shed just outside Gieterveen, near the house where his then-girlfriend lived) and Athens, Greece, where Burnside digs into Chester Burnette's "How Many More Years" and Willie Dixon's "My Babe." Taken as a whole, this odd assortment acts an illuminating document of Burnside's dusty Delta roots.
By Matthew Cooke.
**
R. L. Burnside- (Vocals, Guitar);
Curtis Salgado- (Harmonica, Background Vocals);
Calvin Jackson- (Drums).
**
01. Charlestown Interview 1:00
02. How Many More Years 4:00
03. Goin Down South 2:31
04. Stagolee 4:42
05. Can't Be Satisfied 2:46
06. Boogie Chillen 2:45
07. Nightmare Blues 4:22
08. Rolling & Tumbling 4:41
09. Grazing Grass Rap 1:32
10. Last Night 2:33
11. Mellow Peaches 3:24
12. Forty Four Pistol 6:27
13. Bad Luck Monkey Rap 6:33
14. My Babe 3:01
15. Poor Boy 3:23
16. Just Like A Woman 3:24
17. Goin Away Baby 4:53
18. Mojo Hand 1:12
**
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R.L.BURNSIDE - My Black Name A-Ringin' 1999

R.L.BURNSIDE - My Black Name A-Ringin' 1999
Label: Genes Records

Blues
 
I hadn't heard of R. L. Burnside until recently when a friend told me to check his stuff out. I bought this album due to that suggestion and all I can say is I can't believe what I've been missing! Every song is masterfully played, the vocals deep and reminiscent. The most powerful aspect of the Blues is that we, the audience, know that what we are hearing comes from experience. The truthfullness in Mr. Burnside's singing and playing is amazing. This album will get inside your head. For Blues fans this is one Bluesman to put on your list and this album deserves a place there as well. A word of note: If you like this album you might be thrown off by the stuff Burnside does for Fat Possum which is a hell of a lot different from what you hear here.
By Ryan Costantino.
**
13 acoustic songs written and/or arranged by R.L. Burnside and performed in the Delta blues tradition. The performance featured on this release was recorded on October 1969 and it captures Burnside in his earlier, pre-electric, pre-techno, pre-rap, pre-experimentational years. The tempo is slow and thoughtful comprised mostly of single notes with a somewhat quickened rhythmic tempo. Stylistically, the CD follows in the tradition of Robert Nighthawk, Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James and John Lee Hooker. The CD is almost mesmerizing and is sure to appeal to traditional Delta blues fans and fans of acoustic blues alike.
By  "deepbluereview".
**
Rising like a ghost out of the north Mississippi cotton lands, the voice of R.L. Burnside is higher and thinner on these previously unreleased 1969 recordings than on his contemporary work. And his guitar's acoustic and sparer than the rhythmic juggernaut he commands today. Nonetheless, these 13 songs cut as close to the bone as his best Fat Possum CD, Too Bad Jim. They also capture Burnside just before he came into his own as an artist, flashing the influence of Lightnin' Hopkins, Fred McDowell and others like a hand of trump cards. Most important, the sparse field-style recording technique allows the poignance in Burnside's voice to thoroughly soak the lyrics of tunes like "Nine Days in Jail" and "MyBlack Name A-Ringin'," speaking volumes about life in the Jim Crow South in which these songs were put to tape.
A mesmerizing, moving performance.
          
This previously unreleased 1969 recording captures a youthful R.L. Burnside in the process of honing his now well-established Mississippi blues style. The music here, like all of Burnside's catalog, is part of the juke joint tradition, in which steady riffing is embellished as it motors along. Unlike the tough, electric blues band sound of Burnside's later recordings, My Black Name... features Burnside alone with his acoustic guitar, occasionally backed by harmonica player Red Ramsey and second guitarist Jesse Vortis. The blues master's voice is soulful and warm, lending a quiet dignity to these spare songs, some of which Burnside still plays today. A must for any fan of raw blues, My Black Name A-Ringin' is a legend captured in the making.
By Tad Hendrickson.
**
R.L. Burnside - Vocals, Guitar
Jesse Vortis - Guitar
Red Ramsey - Harmonica
**
01. Going Down South     3:16  
02. Two Trains Runnin'      2:49  
03. Sat Down On My Bed And Cried    2:49  
04. Nine Days In Jail    4:36  
05. Long Haired Doney    4:11  
06. Hobo Blues    4:1
07. My Black Name a-Ringin'    2.27
08. Catfish Blues    2:52  
09. See My Jumper    3:56  
10. Peach Tree Blues    3:41  
11. Goin' Away Blues    3:33  
12. Poor Boy    3:02  
13. Tom Wilson's Place     3:11  
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