R.L. Burnside - Acoustic Stories

Size: 190 MB
Time: 34:31
File: Flac
Released: 1997
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

1. When My First Wife Left Me (3:39)
2. Death Bell Blues (2:52)
3. Skinny Woman (2:11)
4. Monkey In The Pool Room (2:55)
5. Hobo Blues (3:31)
6. Walking Blues (3:15)
7. Long Haired Doney (3:08)
8. Poor Black Mattie (3:54)
9. Meet Me In The Bottom (2:14)
10. Miss Glory B (3:07)
11. Kindhearted Woman Blues (3:39)

This W.C. Handy nominated recording was made in 1988 in a small recording studio in New York City during a freezing February snow storm. Acoustic Stories captures R.L. in an honest intimate setting, no overdubs and completely live! The 11-song collection seethes with original rhythms, sinuous vocals and mythic story telling that defines the deep Delta sound.

Acoustic Stories FLAC

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R.L. Burnside - Introducing R.L. Burnside

Released: 2021
Size: 130.3 MB
Time: 55:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

1. Shake 'Em on Down [4:49]
2. Alice Mae [3:31]
3. Goin' Down South [4:49]
4. Nothin' Man [3:42]
5. Walkin' Blues [4:28]
6. Let My Baby Ride [3:00]
7. Peaches [4:19]
8. It's Bad You Know [4:58]
9. Snake Drive [3:45]
10. Highway 7 [6:04]
11. Miss Maybelle [3:18]
12. Someday Baby [3:16]
13. Poor Black Mattie [2:06]
14. Cummins Prison Farm [2:52]

R.L. Burnside is a truly original blues artist and an American treasure. He hails from the hill country of North Mississippi. And in the hills, they play a different style of blues – pulsating, hip-thrusting, single-chord, groove blues. No eight and 12-bar I-IV-V progressions with a turnaround here. It’s all about the groove. Hill-country blues are designed, for the most part, to keep hordes of hill folk packed into juke joints, dancing and partying until the corn whiskey runs out. Yes, the North Mississippi hill country style of blues absolutely rocks. And R.L. Burnside is the master. Born in Lafayette County, Mississippi, in 1926, Burnside’s sharecropping family moved north to Marshall County soon after he was born. As a young boy, Burnside’s first introduction to the blues was at the feet of his neighbor, Mississippi Fred McDowell. At 16, Burnside began playing guitar. He learned by watching and listening to McDowell. At 21, he began performing at juke joints and house parties with McDowell and another mentor, Ranie Burnette. Burnside’s first recordings belied his juke joint roots. George Mitchell recorded him on solo acoustic guitar in 1967 for the folk/blues label Arhoolie. Mississippi Delta Blues, Volume II featured Burnside on one side and Joe Callicott on the other (these have recently been re-released by Fat Possum). The album garnered Burnside recognition with the folk/blues crowd, and he was booked in the U.S., Canada, and Europe as a solo hill-country blues artist. The ’70s killed the careers of many blues men, including Burnside. He toured occasionally in Europe, but returned to Mississippi, and sharecropping, to support his wife, Alice Mae, and his 14 children. Burnside continued to play his music in the juke joints surrounding his home in Marshall County. In the late ’70s, he put together the Sound Machine Groove with his sons, Joseph and Daniel, and his son-in-law, Calvin Jackson. The band featured a more traditional juke joint format – electric bass, electric guitar, drums.

Introducing R.L. Burnside

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R.L. Burnside - My Black Name A-Ringin'

Size: 105,4 MB
Time: 44:43
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1999
Styles: Acoustic Blues
Art: Full

01. Goin' Down South (3:16)
02. Two Trains Runnin' (2:49)
03. Sat Down On My Bed And Cried (2:51)
04. Nine Days In Jail (4:36)
05. Long Haired Doney (4:11)
06. Hobo Blues (4:12)
07. My Black Name A-Ringin' (2:27)
08. Catfish Blues (2:52)
09. See My Jumper Hangin' On The Line (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)

R.L. Burnside has been playing the blues since the '50s, but providing for his large family (he would eventually have 13 children) and his love for his hometown kept him from supporting himself with his music until the '80s. These recordings were made in 1969 when blues musician Big Joe Williams led a carload of Adelphi Records filmmakers and sound engineers on a tour through the blues country from Chicago south to Mississippi. Burnside was one of the highlights of the trip, and the crew ended up setting up camp near his home for some time to record. My Black Name A-Ringin' presents Burnside in a stripped-down, acoustic form and shows his native north hill country style as well as some early influences. Each song shows off a different facet of his style: "Goin' Down South" is a hypnotic drone with short, repetitive rhythmic sections; "Two Trains Runnin'" features more of a traditional Delta style with its deep, sad harmonica; and "My Black Name A-Ringin'" shows what Burnside could do with a traditional song dating as far back as slavery. Overall, this album presents an interesting prequel to Burnside's recordings with Fat Possum Records and his experimentalism in the 1990s. ~Stacia Proefrock

My Black Name A-Ringin' MP3
My Black Name A-Ringin' FLAC

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VA - Black Snake Moan OST

Size: 118,1 MB
Time: 49:44
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2006
Styles: Delta Blues, Blues Rock, Soundtrack
Art: Full

01. Scott Bomar - Opening Theme (0:38)
02. Son House - Ain't But One Kind Of Blues (0:11)
03. Samuel L. Jackson - Just Like A Bird Without A Feather (2:22)
04. The Black Keys - When The Lights Go Out (3:13)
05. Jessie Mae Hemphill -Standing In My Doorway Crying (4:40)
06. Bobby Rush - Chicken Heads (2:32)
07. Samuel L. Jackson - Black Snake Moan (4:04)
08. Precious Bryant - Morning Train (3:00)
09. John Doe - The Losing Kind (2:33)
10. Outrageous Cherry - Lord Have Mercy On Me (3:04)
11. Scott Bomar - Ronnie And Rae's Theme (1:08)
12. Scott Bomar - The Chain (2:50)
13. Samuel L. Jackson - Alice Mae (3:48)
14. Samuel L. Jackson - Stack-O-Lee (3:30)
15. R.L. Burnside - Old Black Mattie (4:10)
16. Son House - That's Where The Blues Started (0:21)
17. North Mississippi Allstars - Mean Ol' Wind Died Down (7:31)

This soundtrack to the film written and directed by Craig Brewer is as steeped in the Southern blues as his Hustle and Flow was in hip-hop. The biggest surprise here is how well actor Samuel L. Jackson (who seems to have a thing for "Snake" films) holds his own as a blues singer against selections from Son House and R.L. Burnside. He sounds like a throwback to the classic Delta bluesmen on "Just Like a Bird Without a Feather," does a convincing take on the Blind Lemon Jefferson title track, and rocks the juke joint on "Alice Mae" and a down-and-dirty recasting of "Stack-O-Lee." Produced by the Bo-Keys' Scott Bomar (who also scored Brewer's previous movie), the 17-cut soundtrack features a kaleidoscopic array of blues, from the primal throb of the Black Keys' "When the Lights Go Out" and the funk of Bobby Rush's classic "Chicken Heads" to the spiritual lilt of Precious Bryant's "Morning Train" and the North Mississippi Allstars' expansive finale, "Mean Ol' Wind Died Down." --Don McLeese

Black Snake Moan MP3
Black Snake Moan FLAC

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R.L. Burnside & The Sound Machine - Bad Luck City

Size: 140,0 MB
Time: 59:01
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1993
Styles: Electric Blues, Delta Blues, Juke Joint Blues
Art: Full

01. Talking About The Ghetto (3:31)
02. Bad Luck City/Friend Of Mine (6:55)
03. Shake For Me (4:57)
04. Boogie Chillen (3:10)
05. All She Do (5:20)
06. Long Haired Doney/Poor Boy Long Way From Home (5:11)
07. Burnsides Blues (2:05)
08. Crosscut Saw (3:14)
09. Outskirts Of Town (2:27)
10. My Eyes (Keep Me In Trouble) (2:31)
11. Look On Yonder's Wall (2:48)
12. Jumper On The Line (3:35)
13. No Place To Go (2:51)
14. Bad Sign (Based On Born Under A Bad Sign) (3:27)
15. Killing Floor (3:29)
16. You Don't Love Me (3:20)

Welcome to Mississippi. This is the sound you would be likely to hear in any juke joint hosting the talents of the real-life Burnside family band. What you can't see on this disc is the picture of them grinning ear-to-ear as they play -- or the sight of R.L.'s son Dwayne duck-walking while his dad smiles and nods to friends across the floor. His other son, Joseph, would likely be pounding out the solid bassline, while his son-in-law Calvin Jackson proudly presided over the drums. No, you can't see it but you can hear it if you listen closely. This set was recorded live at Syd's in Oxford, MS. As for the music, it's rough, real, and one-of-a-kind ... the way blues should be. ~Review by Larry Hoffman

Bad Luck City

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North Mississippi Allstars - Hill Country Revue

Size: 182,8 MB
Time: 78:11
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2004
Styles: Electric Blues, Blues Rock
Art: Full

01. Shake 'Em On Down ( 5:14)
02. Po Black Maddie/Skinny Woman/Po Black Maddie (12:54)
03. Jumper On The Line ( 5:17)
04. Bad Bad Pain ( 2:46)
05. Down In Mississippi ( 5:07)
06. Never In All My Days ( 4:18)
07. Boomer's Story ( 4:37)
08. Psychedelic Sex Machine ( 4:58)
09. Shimmy She Wobble/Station Blues ( 9:11)
10. Friend Of Mine ( 4:02)
11. Be So Glad ( 7:21)
12. Snake Drive ( 5:06)
13. Goin' Home Part Two ( 4:13)
14. Going Down South ( 3:01)

Personnel:
R.L. Boyce - Drums (Snare), Vocals
Duwayne Burnside - Drums, Guitar, Vocals
Garry Burnside - Guitar
R.L. Burnside - Vocals
Chris Chew - Bass, Vocals
Cody Dickinson - Drums, Guitar, Vocals, Washboard
Jim Dickinson - Keyboards, Organ, Vocals
Luther Dickinson - Guitar, Vocals
Andre Evans - drums (Bass)
Rodney Evans, Aubrey Turner - drums (Snare)
Chris Robinson - Vocals

The North Mississippi Allstars were invited to play the 2004 Bonnaroo festival, but instead of just bringing the band itself, they brought along all kinds of friends and family and dubbed it the North Mississippi Hill Country Revue. North Mississippi appears to be an incestuous musical community (just take a look at the players on R.L. Burnside's and Junior Kimbrough's albums), and this show comes off as a giant, joyous family affair. There are the Dickinsons: Luther and Cody along with their legendary father Jim, and three generations of Burnsides with R.L., sons Duwayne and Garry, and grandson Cody (R.L.'s wife was there too). In addition, Othar Turner's Rising Star Fife & Drum Band is being carried on by Othar's grandsons, and bassist Chris Chew and JoJo Hermann would have to be considered members of the extended family, having played with all those folks. The North Mississippi Allstars brand of roots rock and Mississippi blues seems tailor-made for a festival like this, and the good times shine through the great music. It's a loose, rambling set that occasionally drags a bit during introductions and audience interaction, but when the band gets down to playing, some real magic happens. They can play just about anything convincingly, from greasy Mississippi blues like "Snake River Drive" to sounding like the Band on Ry Cooder's "Boomer's Story," even making music from just an electrified washboard (wah-wah washboard) and cigar box guitar (no fooling!). Luther's slide can't help but remind one of Duane Allman, even when he's slipping Dr. John quotes into "Down in Mississippi." They know their history too, dipping into the Mississippi Sheiks songbook while performing with the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band ("Station Blues" aka "Sittin' on Top of the World" goes back to 1930 or so). There are high points throughout the album, but they really hit their stride on the last three tunes or so. No flash, no egos, and no pretension, just genuine American music played from the heart.

Hill Country Revue

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R.L. Burnside - Long Distance Call: Europe 1982

Size: 91,3 MB
Time: 38:58
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017/2019
Styles: Acoustic Blues
Art: Front & Back

01. Death Bells Ringing (3:44)
02. Ramblin On My Mind (3:27)
03. When My First Wife Left Me (4:43)
04. Walking Blues (3:37)
05. Long Distance Call (3:24)
06. If You Don't Want Me Baby (2:17)
07. Early In The Morning (3:28)
08. Sweet Blank Angel (4:08)
09. Short Haired Woman (3:14)
10. 44 Pistol (2:34)
11. Sat Down On My Bed And Cried (4:17)

For the first time, the 1982 recordings in Groningen, Netherlands. Here you find R.L. Burnside, alone with only his guitar and his voice. Showing off his skills even in his younger days, in the vein of John Lee Hooker and Fred McDowell.

Long Distance Call

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Rural L. Burnside - Mississippi Blues

Size: 88,7 MB
Time: 38:38
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1997
Styles: Acoustic Delta Blues
Art: Full

01. Jumper Hanging Out On The Line (2:35)
02. Sweet Little Angel (3:08)
03. Long Haired Doney (2:35)
04. Nightmare Blues (3:24)
05. Poor Black Mattie (3:25)
06. Catfish Blues (4:41)
07. Death Bells (2:56)
08. Dust My Broom (4:30)
09. Bad Luck And Trouble (3:40)
10. Rollin' And Tumblin' (4:02)
11. When My First Wife Quit Me (3:36)

North Mississippi guitarist R.L. Burnside was one of the paragons of state-of-the-art Delta juke joint blues. The guitarist, singer and songwriter was born November 23, 1926 in Oxford, MS, and made his home in Holly Springs, in the hill country above the Delta. He lived most of his life in the Mississippi hill country, which, unlike the Delta region, consists mainly of a lot of small farms. He learned his music from his neighbor, Fred McDowell, and the highly rhythmic style that Burnside plays is evident in McDowell's recording as well. Despite the otherworldly country-blues sounds put down by Burnside and his family band, known as the Sound Machine, his other influences are surprisingly contemporary: Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins. But Burnside's music is pure country Delta juke joint blues, heavily rhythm-oriented and played with a slide.

It wasn't until the 1990's that he began hitting full stride with tours and his music, thanks largely to the efforts of Fat Possum Records. The label has issued recordings made by a group of Burnside's peers, including Junior Kimbrough, Dave Thompson and others.

Up until the mid-'80s, Burnside was primarily a farmer and fisherman. After getting some attention in the late '60s via folklorists David Evans and George Mitchell (Mitchell recorded him for the Arhoolie label), he recorded for the Vogue, Swingmaster and Highwater record labels. Although he had done short tours, it wasn't until the late '80s that he was invited to perform at several European blues festivals. In 1992, he was featured alongside his friend Junior Kimbrough (whose Holly Spings juke joint Burnside lives next to), in a documentary film, Deep Blues. His debut recording, Bad Luck City, was released that same year on Fat Possum Records. Burnside has a second record out on the Oxford-based Fat Possum label, Too Bad Jim (1994).

These recordings showcase the raw, barebones electric guitar stylings of Burnside, and on both recordings he's accompanied by a small band, which includes his son Dwayne on bass and son-in-law Calvin Jackson on drums, as well as guitarist Kenny Brown. Both recordings also adequately capture the feeling of what it must be like to be in Junior Kimbrough's juke joint, where both men played this kind of raw, unadulterated blues for over 30 years. This is the kind of downhome, backporch blues played today as it has been for many decades. In 1996, Burnside teamed with indie-rocker Jon Spencer to cut A Ass Pocket O' Whiskey for the hip Matador label; he returned to Fat Possum in 1998 for the more conventional Come on In. As Burnside had been recording intermittently since the late '60s a spate of re-issues and live recordings began to appear in the 2000's. Chief among them were Mississippi Hill Country Blues, largely recorded in the Netherlands in the 1980s; First Recordings, which gathered 14 of George Mitchell's 1967 field recordings of Burnside in Coldwater, MS; a live set documenting a west coast tour Burnside on Burnside appeared in 2001. His next studio album Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down appeared in 2000 but it would be another 4 years before the next new R.L. Burnside recording Bothered Mind was released. That same year Burnside suffered a heart attack and underwent bypass surgery. He never fully recovered from the attack and in 2005, at the age of 79, R.L. Burnside passed away in a Memphis, TN hospital. ~by Richard Skelly

Mississippi Blues

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R.L. Burnside - A Bothered Mind

Year: 2004
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:31
Size: 91,4 MB
Styles: Blues, Delta blues
Scans: Full

1. Detroit Boogie Part 1 (0:38)
2. See What My Buddy Done (2:57)
3. Shake 'Em On Down (3:29)
4. Going Down South (Feat. Lyrics Born) (3:12)
5. My Name Is Robert Too (2:43)
6. Someday Baby (3:16)
7. Go To Jail (2:43)
8. Bird Without A Feather (3:09)
9. Glory Be (4:37)
10. Goin' Away Baby (3:17)
11. Rollin' And Tumblin' (3:50)
12. Stole My Check (2:42)
13. Detroit Boogie Part 2 (2:52)

When R.L. Burnside and the rest of the Fat Possum confederation emerged from the northern Mississippi hills in the early '90s, they gave contemporary blues a much-needed shot in the ass, reminding everyone that the genre really wasn't so much about pyrotechnic guitar histrionics as it was about getting folks to hit the dancefloor, and once there, making sure they stayed. Burnside in particular has been a fascinating and intriguing musician ever since, and even as he cruises through his eighties, he may well be the most progressive and postmodern of anyone on the current blues scene.

Although his basic template is and remains a John Lee Hooker-like modal boogie shuffle, Burnside has combined it with full-tilt garage and punk band dynamics (1996's A Ass Pocket of Whiskey, with the raucous backing of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) and controversial (to blues purists) techno nation hip-hop effects (1998's Come On In, featuring Beck mixmaster Tom Rothrock), and while these experiments haven't always worked, they show a playful willingness to treat the blues as something fun and vital, not some dusty, nostalgic period music trotted out on display from the music museum. No, Burnside's version of the blues is powerful, visceral, and - this is often overlooked - playful, with his almost demonic chuckle being as recognizable a feature of his music as any guitar lick.

A Bothered Mind is perhaps the most ideally representative of all of Burnside's albums, ranging from solo acoustic tracks to crunching boogie struts, all with a light dose of hip-hop and enough scratching and looping effects to make this clearly an album from the 21st century. Amazingly, it all works as a cohesive whole, opening with a 38-second live fragment of "Detroit Boogie" (in which Burnside intones "I do what I want..."), and then closing with the full version. In between these bookends, the album - aside from the rather contrived Kid Rock track, "My Name Is Robert Too" - is continually fascinating, and it never stops churning. The most striking track is also the earliest and simplest, a solo acoustic version of "Bird Without a Feather" that was field recorded by folklorist George Mitchell in 1968.

Two tracks here, the umpteenth version of Burnside's signature "Goin' Down South" and "Someday Baby," were produced by Lyrics Born (T. Shimura) of the Quannum collective, and he gives both songs a delightful hip-hop sheen without sacrificing one bit of Burnside's irascible swagger. The rap interlude Lyrics Born delivers on "Someday Baby" is nothing less than a second-cousin update of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Perhaps the most surprising song here is "Glory Be," which finds Burnside exploring some more new territory, this time inventing a kind of Saturday night juke joint gospel. Listen for R.L.'s chuckle all through these tracks. He's having fun. He's pushing the blues forward, all without changing a beat. He's making relevant albums when musicians half his age are washed up and creatively exhausted. Is he trying to say that rap is the new blues? Mostly he's just trying to keep that dancefloor filled. /Steve Leggett, AllMusic

A Bothered Mind mc
A Bothered Mind zippy

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R.L. Burnside - Mr. Wizard

Size: 93,3 MB
Time: 39:32
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1997
Styles: Delta Blues
Label: Fat Possum records
Art: Full

01. Over The Hill (4:19)
02. Alice Mae (3:29)
03. Georgia Women (3:46)
04. Snake Drive (6:53)
05. Rollin' And Tumblin' (4:38)
06. Out On The Road (3:56)
07. Highway 7 (6:02)
08. Tribute To Fred (3:32)
09. You Gotta Move (2:52)

While it's not quite as relentlessly exciting as Ass Pocket of Whiskey, primarily because the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion isn't along to provide support, Mr. Wizard is another set of blistering electric blues from R.L. Burnside, highlighted by his stomping guitar, powerful voice and cheerfully vulgar lyrics. ~by Thom Owens

Mr. Wizard

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R.L. Burnside - Rollin' & Tumblin'

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:50
Size: 146.1 MB
Styles: Hill Country blues
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[3:46] 1. Fireman Ring The Bell
[3:37] 2. Long Haired Doney
[3:41] 3. Walkin' Blues
[3:04] 4. Poor Black Mattie (Acoustic)
[2:51] 5. See My Jumper Hangin' On The Line
[4:24] 6. Goin' Down South
[3:30] 7. Poor Boy
[2:20] 8. Skinny Woman
[3:34] 9. Bad Luck
[3:03] 10. Poor Black Mattie (Electric)
[3:21] 11. 44 Pistols
[3:15] 12. See My Jumper Hangin' On The Line (Recorded 1991)
[2:57] 13. Rollin' & Tumblin'
[3:40] 14. Ong Haired Doney (Take 2)
[3:24] 15. When My First Wife Left Me
[2:58] 16. Poor Black Mattie (Take 3)
[3:42] 17. I Be Troubled
[4:01] 18. When My First Wife Left Me (Take 2)
[2:33] 19. Boogie Chillen

R.L. Burnside, along with Junior Kimbrough, became the public face of the so-called North Mississippi hill country style of modal blues in the 1980s with several solid albums on the Fat Possum label, and while he tried on different hats during his run (even tracking a fine album backed by indie rocker Jon Spencer and his band), the blues he made essentially stayed in the same pocket, honed from years of playing weekend house parties and juke joints. His droning style, the style that all of the North Mississippi players used, was equal parts John Lee Hooker and Fred McDowell, designed to keep the beat steady for dancing and allowing minimal but effective interplay between voice and guitar, and it was as old as those hills themselves, somehow sounding both ancient and oddly contemporary all at once. This set, drawn from intimate recordings done in 1975, 1989, and 1991, features Burnside playing mostly solo -- both acoustic and electric -- in living rooms, on porches, and in jukes, and it provides a nicely sequenced portrait of this intriguing musician working away from a studio setting, not that what he did in the studios differed one degree from what he did outside of them. Highlights include two takes of “Long Haired Doney,” three of the signature “Poor Black Mattie” (both acoustic and electric), an endearing and intimate version of “Goin’ Down South,” and a solid take on Hooker's “Boogie Chillen” that shows how large a role Hooker played in the creation of the hill country sound and style. ~Steve Leggett

Rollin' & Tumblin'

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Bob Corritore - All-Star Blues Sessions

Year: 1999
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:02
Size: 131,0 MB
Styles: Blues, harmonica blues
Scans: Full

1. Hip Shakin' (3:47)
2. Out On The Road (3:49)
3. Naptown Blues (3:21)
4. Everybody's Fishin' (2:50)
5. Hear That Rumblin' (2:24)
6. Five Long Years (4:09)
7. How Many More Years (3:03)
8. Goin' Down South (2:30)
9. Cool Calm Collected (2:54)
10. Coal Black Mare (3:52)
11. Little Girl (3:48)
12. Tired Of Being Alone (1:53)
13. Showers Of Rain (3:29)
14. I Had My Fun (3:18)
15. Jennie Bea (3:38)
16. Nappy's Driftin' Blues (8:09)

Recorded, helmed, and mostly produced by Phoenix, AZ blues renaissance man Bob Corritore (club owner, record label exec, writer, manager, radio DJ, and harp player), this hour-long disc is a potent example of loose, straight-ahead blues played with guts and low-boil intensity. Spanning 1986-1998, these 16 tracks recorded in Phoenix and Tempe studios feature a variety of classic bluesmen such as Lil' Ed Williams, Henry Gray, R.L. Burnside, Bob Margolin, Jimmy Rogers, Pinetop Perkins, and Bo Diddley (who is prominently pictured with Corritore in the CD's tray). It's well-recorded - clean but never slick - and the performances find a genuine and spontaneous rugged midtempo groove. Which is exactly what the blues should be.

So even if you've never heard of such vocalists as Dino Spells, Jimmy Dotson, Clarence Edwards, or Chico Chism, they prove nearly as gifted and freewheeling as some of the more recognizable names. Corritore, who plays prominent harp on every track, is an exceptionally talented musician, even if his instrument seems a little higher in the mix than you might expect. The songs, all of which are covers, are especially well selected. Instead of jaunts through traditional, often stale standards, most are relatively obscure choices that allow the band to stretch out in a variety of established blues tempos. Even when Nappy Brown digs into Charles Brown's oft-covered "Driftin' Blues," (altered here to "Nappy's Driftin' Blues"), the vocalist tears through it with the passion and intensity of someone who wrote the song. A take on Eddie Boyd's popular "Five Long Years" is similarly inspired.

This is a real find for deep blues fans and an enjoyable if not essential listen for everyone else. Bob Corritore has assembled a classy collection that finds all of his players - both popular and obscure - in top form. /Hal Horowitz, AllMusic

(See booklet for recording info and personnel details.)

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R.L. Burnside - Burnside on Burnside

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2001
Styles: Modern Electric Blues
Time: 52:57
Size: 122,0 MB
Art: Full

(4:35) 1. Shake 'Em on Down
(2:41) 2. Skinny Woman
(3:16) 3. Miss Maybelle
(4:44) 4. Rollin' and Tumblin'
(4:01) 5. Long Haired Doney
(4:28) 6. Walkin' Blues
(2:43) 7. He Ain't Your Daddy
(3:55) 8. Bad Luck and Trouble
(5:16) 9. Jumper on the Line
(5:44) 10. Goin' Down South
(4:12) 11. Alice Mae
(7:16) 12. Snake Drive

Like jazz, blues music has faced a problem of attrition, with its major names dying off and younger artists having trouble establishing themselves at anything like an equal level of recognition. One way out of this dilemma has been the discovery of new-old bluesmen, musicians who have reached an advanced age without becoming stars, who can now be trotted out as performers in the tradition of the lost heroes. Of course, the practice of discovering or rediscovering old bluesmen dates back at least to the folk boom, but it is given impetus by the dire state of blues music. R.L. Burnside owes his breakthrough to the 1992 documentary Deep Blues, which led to his signing to Fat Possum Records when he was already in his sixties. Since then, he has been taken up by such hip figures as Jon Spencer and Beck producer Tom Rothrock, resulting in albums that have broadened his popularity but irritated purists with their contemporary gimmicks. The purists should be pleased by the live album Burnside on Burnside, recorded on a West Coast tour in the winter of 2001, which finds the Mississippi musician in Portland and San Francisco, backed only by second guitarist Kenny Brown and drummer Cedric Burnside, Burnside's grandson. The 74-year-old singer/guitarist rocks out furiously for the better part of the set, evoking obvious predecessors such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. He's no match for them, of course, not only because he lacks their distinctiveness, but because of his ingratiating attitude, complete with corny jokes. But that has its appeal, too. Has there ever been a Delta bluesman as friendly as R.L. Burnside? Probably not, but if your hobby suddenly became a paying profession just as you hit retirement age, you'd be happy about it, too. -- Allmusic.

Burnside on Burnside

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R.L. Burnside - Come on In

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 1998
Styles: Modern Electric Blues
Time: 43:02
Size: 99,2 MB
Art: Full

(1:06) 1. Been Mistreated
(3:26) 2. Come on In
(2:59) 3. Let My Baby Ride
(4:12) 4. Don't Stop Honey
(4:58) 5. It's Bad You Know
(3:32) 6. Just Like a Woman
(3:11) 7. Come on In, Pt. 2
(4:13) 8. Rollin' Tumblin'
(2:58) 9. Please Don't Stay
(4:28) 10. Shuck Dub
(2:46) 11. Come on In, Pt. 3
(5:07) 12. Heat

You have to give a guy credit for trying. In an age when most of the old blues players are either dead or too old to play, R.L. Burnside, the 71-year-old Mississippi native, can still rip dirty juke-joint blues in convincing fashion. Come On In attempts, with some success, to bring one of America's oldest musical forms into the 21st century by adding sampling and looping techniques to Delta blues. Come On In is a collaboration with Beck mixmaster Tom Rothrock and Alec Empire of Digital Hardcore. Seldom does one see the words "dub," "remix" and "programming" on a Delta blues album, but R.L. Burnside is no ordinary bluesman. Come On In is a risky move to say the least, and unfortunately, it doesn't always pay off. The best tracks in the album are the least techno-fied. "Come On In," a solo shot, and the down-and-dirty "Just Like a Woman" has a non-trip-hopped Burnside mining tough riffs for all their emotion. "Let My Baby Ride" with a stomping, looped beat, is still recognizable as Burnside and works well. On the other hand, "Don't Stop Honey" and "It's Bad You Know" take the techno tampering too far, and the results are feckless shells of what were once gritty blues. Next time out, if Burnside gets his ass pocket o' whiskey, turns down the techno a bit and cranks those amps up, he could be onto something. -- Allmusic.

Come on In

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R.L. Burnside - Acoustic Stories

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 1997
Styles: Blues
Time: 34:31
Size: 79,7 MB
Art: Full

(3:39) 1. When My First Wife Left Me
(2:52) 2. Death Bell Blues
(2:11) 3. Skinny Woman
(2:55) 4. Monkey in the Pool Room
(3:31) 5. Hobo Blues
(3:15) 6. Walking Blues
(3:08) 7. Long Haired Doney
(3:54) 8. Poor Black Mattie
(2:14) 9. Meet Me in the Bottom
(3:07) 10. Miss Glory B
(3:39) 11. Kindhearted Woman Blues

R.L. Burnside is notorious for his gritty, greasy Delta blues, as each of his records since his 1991 discovery have been blistering electric recordings. That's what makes Acoustic Stories so refreshing. Recorded at New York City in 1988 with harp player John Neremberg, the album balances originals with a handful of well-selected covers, including three John Lee Hooker tunes: "When My First Wife Left Me," "Hobo Blues" and "Meet Me in the Bottom." Burnside is more exciting when he's electric, but these are unexpectedly haunting recordings that prove he's not just about rocking the joint. -- Allmusic.

Acoustic Stories

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R.L. Burnside - Well Well Well

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 2001
Styles: Modern Electric Blues
Time: 63:19
Size: 145,9 MB
Art: Full

(1:00) 1. Charleston Interview
(4:00) 2. How Many More Years
(2:31) 3. Goin' Down South
(4:42) 4. Staggolee
(2:46) 5. I Can't Be Satisfied
(2:45) 6. Boogie Chillen
(4:22) 7. Nightmare Blues
(4:41) 8. Rollin' and Tumblin'
(1:32) 9. Grazing Grass Rap
(2:33) 10. Last Night
(3:24) 11. Mellow Peaches
(6:27) 12. .44 Pistol
(6:33) 13. Bad Luck Monkey Rap
(3:01) 14. My Babe
(3:23) 15. Poor Boy
(3:24) 16. Just Like a Woman
(4:53) 17. Goin' Away Baby
(1:12) 18. Mojo Hand

This archival collection may appear to be too much of a hodge-podge. The recording dates range from 1986 to 1993; the locations range from a large theater in The Hague to a shotgun house in New Orleans; the lineups range from solo performances by Burnside to trio sessions with Jon Morris and Calvin Jackson; and the songs range from Burnside originals to blues classics by Muddy Waters ("Can't Be Satisfied"), John Lee Hooker ("Boogie Chillen'"), Big Joe Williams ("Mellow Peaches"), and others. However, the material coheres fairly well despite the scattershot nature of this collection. Burnside's performances are relatively consistent in both quality and musical style; he sticks to straightforward blues without the hip-hop and techno elements found on some of his other recordings, and his dry sense of humor helps unify the music with the spoken word portions of the album. The one-minute interview segment (in which Burnside discusses fishing and guitar playing) and 93-second in-concert monologue (about a girl who saw him eat grass from her front lawn) fit comfortably next to the songs, and the bull-session atmosphere of "Bad Luck Money Rap" (in which he tells Morris and vocalist/harp player Curtis Salgado about certain things that make him so mad he could eat fried chicken) is compatible with the relaxed, informal feel of the album, although at six minutes and 30 seconds it's too long of an intermission from the music. Some of the album's highlights include a powerful rendition of "Staggolee" with explicit lyrics that ensure that this traditional tune is "not suitable for airplay"; a short but sweet performance of the Lightnin' Hopkins song "Mojo Hand"; a live version of Burnside's own ".44 Pistol" recorded at the Queen Street Playhouse in Charleston, SC; a recording of his signature song, "Goin' Down South," with Morris and Jackson at a shed in Gieterveen, Holland; and a performance of "How Many More Years" in Athens, Greece, that proves that Burnside really can sing and play the blues, even though his vocals don't have the overpowering intensity of Howlin' Wolf's original version. -- Allmusic.

Well Well Well

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R.L. Burnside - Mississippi Hill Country Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:17
Size: 128.9 MB
Styles: Hill Country blues
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[2:16] 1. Miss Maybelle
[2:42] 2. House Upon The Hill
[3:21] 3. Gone So Long
[2:18] 4. Skinny Woman
[3:07] 5. See What My Buddy Done
[2:18] 6. Don't Care How Long You're Gone
[3:11] 7. Lost Without Your Love
[2:45] 8. Shake 'em On Down
[3:36] 9. Bad Luck And Trouble
[2:42] 10. Just Like A Woman
[3:41] 11. Greyhound Bus Station
[2:57] 12. Crying Won't Make Me Stay
[2:45] 13. Rollin' And Tumblin'
[2:54] 14. Mellow Peaches
[2:20] 15. I Believe
[2:58] 16. Poor Boy
[2:49] 17. Poor Black Mattie
[2:46] 18. Jumper On The Line
[4:41] 19. Long Haired Doney

It's a pleasure to hear R.L. Burnside's early acoustic blues played the way he learned them in the hill country of Northern Mississippi. Three of these tracks date from 1967 and were recorded in Coldwater, MS by folklorist George Mitchell, while the remaining 16 were recorded in the early '80s by Swingmaster operator Leo Bruin in Groningen, Netherlands. This is Burnside playing solo (and mainly) acoustic country blues with the only addition to his guitar and voice being the harmonica of Red Ramsey on "Rolling and Tumbling." While you can't go wrong with the purchase of any Burnside recording, these Swingmaster sessions portray a natural relaxed unaccompanied Burnside. Recorded long before the mid-'90s, Fat Possum releases would find him playing in an electric band with his son and son-in-law and occasionally experimenting with sampling and indie rock leanings. ~Al Campbell

Mississippi Hill Country Blues

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R.L. Burnside - Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down

Year: 2000
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s (from Flac)
Time: 48:38
Size: 112,7 MB
Styles: Blues, Mississippi blues
Scans: Front, tray, inside

1. Hard Time Killing Floor (5:09)
2. Got Messed Up (5:06)
3. Miss Maybelle (3:18)
4. Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down (3:40)
5. Too Many Ups (3:36)
6. Nothin' Man (3:42)
7. See What My Buddy Done (4:02)
8. My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble (3:27)
9. Bad Luck City (6:33)
10. Chain Of Fools (3:42)
11. R.L.'s Story (6:17)

Like jazz, the blues has its share of late bloomers - artists who didn't start recording or didn't become well-known until they were well into their 50s or 60s. R.L. Burnside is very much a late bloomer; the Mississippi bluesman was born in 1926, but it wasn't until the 1990s that he started to enjoy the publicity he deserved. Recorded in 2000, Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down finds the veteran singer continuing to be fairly unpredictable at 73. Essentially, this CD falls into the Mississippi blues category - Burnside maintains the earthy, down-home rawness that people expect from Mississippi country-blues.

But Burnside certainly isn't without urban influences, and this CD illustrates his appreciation of John Lee Hooker and early Muddy Waters as well as the Texas blues of Lightnin' Hopkins. Burnside has also been influenced by R&B; one of the few tracks that he didn't write or co-write is a cover of Aretha Franklin's 1960s smash "Chain of Fools." The producers (who include Andy Kaulkin, John Porter, and Brad Cook) try to make that track and others relevant to hip-hop by adding sampling and scratching - and when they do, it sounds forced and unnatural. Some of the producing is simply too high-tech for an artist as raw as Burnside, but that doesn't make his vocals any less impressive. Despite its imperfections, Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down is a generally appealing document of Burnside at 73. /Alex Henderson, AllMusic

Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down mc
Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down zippy

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R.L. Burnside - 2 albums: Sound Machine Groove / Too Bad Jim

Album: Sound Machine Groove
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 50:24
Size: 115.4 MB
Styles: Delta blues, Juke joint blues
Year: 1997/2014
Art: Front

[3:20] 1. Shake, Little Baby
[2:49] 2. Rolling And Tumbling
[4:35] 3. Bad Luck City
[3:19] 4. Goin' Down South
[3:28] 5. Sound Machine Groove
[3:52] 6. Sitting On Top Of The World
[4:37] 7. Begged For A Nickel
[4:49] 8. Can't Let You Go
[3:11] 9. Jumper Hanging Out On The Line
[5:51] 10. Searching For My Baby
[3:35] 11. Long Haired Doney
[2:46] 12. Pretty Woman
[4:05] 13. Goin' Away, Baby

Recorded by folklorist David Evans in 1979 and 1980, these are Burnside's first recordings with electric guitar and also his first with a band. That band was the Sound Machine, a band he literally created himself out of members of his own family, blending raw Mississippi blues with soul, funk, R&B, and other urban flavors to make a marvelous amalgam of his own. Contemporary beats and modern themes like "Bad Luck City," "Searching for My Baby," "Can't Let You Go," and "Sound Machine Groove" sit nicely alongside slower, traditional material like "Going Down South" and "Begged for a Nickel," while R.L.'s duets with drummer Calvin Jackson on "Goin' Away Baby" and "Long Haired Doney" show a marvelous empathy and interplay. Especially notable is a version of "Sitting on Top of the World" with Burnside on slide guitar that, with Jackson's help, neatly evokes the sound and feel of a fife and drum band. Although Burnside is presently the darling of the blues crowd and hailed as something of an overnight success, one listen to this disc tells you he was already forging a new chapter in the Mississippi blues tradition with these recordings. ~Cub Koda

Sound Machine Groove mc
Sound Machine Groove zippy

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Album: Too Bad Jim
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 41:07
Size: 94.1 MB
Styles: Delta blues, Juke joint blues
Year: 1994
Art: Front

[4:49] 1. Shake 'em On Down
[3:48] 2. When My First Wife Left Me
[3:43] 3. Short-Haired Woman
[4:11] 4. Old Black Mattie
[4:00] 5. Fireman Ring The Bell
[4:19] 6. Peaches
[3:26] 7. Miss Glory B
[2:58] 8. .44 Pistol
[3:55] 9. Death Bell Blues
[5:51] 10. Goin' Down South

Too Bad Jim is cut from the same cloth as its predecessor, Bad Luck City. It features R.L. Burnside fronting a small juke joint combo, tearing through some greasy blues. However, Too Bad Jim is the better album, simply from a performance standpoint. Burnside sounds more relaxed and the band steps back from the spotlight slightly, letting the guitarist burn brightly on his own, showcasing his deep blues roots. ~Thom Owens

Too Bad Jim mc
Too Bad Jim zippy

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Various - The Best Of M.C. Records 1996-2002

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 69:18
Size: 158.6 MB
Styles: Assorted blues
Year: 2003
Art: Front

[4:25] 1. The Oilers - We Got To Stop This Killin'
[7:31] 2. Kim Wilson - Oh Baby
[2:31] 3. Odetta - Please Send Me Someone To Love
[3:27] 4. R.L. Burnside - Hobo Blues
[4:50] 5. The Big Band - Think
[5:44] 6. Big Jack Johnson - Miss Magalee Hall
[5:11] 7. Luther 'Guitar Junior' Johnson - What You've Been Putting Down
[3:26] 8. Sleepy Labeef - Detour
[5:12] 9. The Oilers - Cherry Tree
[3:51] 10. Ann Rabson - Love Song (Ode To George)
[4:31] 11. Joanna Connor - Bourgeois Blues
[3:13] 12. Joanna Connor - Different Kind Of War
[4:39] 13. Wild Child Butler - Gravy Child
[2:44] 14. R.L. Burnside - Can't Be Satisfied
[4:10] 15. Big Jack Johnson - My Babe
[3:46] 16. Maria Muldaur - Up Above My Head

A 1995 club appearance by Big Jack Johnson led to the conception of a new independent blues label. Mark Carpentieri and his wife Catherine were so impressed with the bluesman's performance and personality, that they plunged themselves into the production of his first CD in four years. Carpentieri had minimal production experience with some regional bands but the Johnson recording appeared in June 1996. M.C. Records is still an artist-friendly roots and blues label with a couple of Grammy nominations and a dozen W.C.Handy Award recommendations.

The period of 1996 to 2002 saw the release of 15 successful CDs and the addition of a great variety of seasoned artists. Johnson was followed by Kim Wilson, R.L.Burnside and Odetta. The varied styles of electric, urban, rural and acoustic elements continues today enhancing the appeal of the label to a wide spectrum of blues fans. Having reviewed five releases over the past couple of years, I'm excited over the compilation album to hit the streets on February 25, 2003.

The Best of M.C. Records 1996-2002 features selected tracks from all fifteen issued albums plus a glance at things to come. An upcoming tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe will appear later this year and a tempting appetizer from that record is included. Maria Muldaur and Tracy Nelson perform the Tharpe original, Up Above My Head.

In addition to those mentioned above, this compilation offers you a chance to sample the music of Wild Child Butler, Joanna Connor, Philip Walker's big blues band and Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson. If you haven't already been smitten, as I have, by the explosive Ann Rabson, you're in for a treat! The country tinged Detour by Sleepy Labeef is a delight too. ~Richard Bourcier

The Best Of M.C. Records 1996-2002 mc
The Best Of M.C. Records 1996-2002 zippy

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