Born in Harmontown, Mississippi, Burnside became one of the perennial forbears of the Delta blues, with his thick, rhythmic slide style and graphic lyrics reflecting his life surrounded by poverty and violence. Burnside, himself, did jail time for murder.
He learned the blues from neighbor Fred McDowell and played for years as a star attraction in ramshackle southern clubs (some of which he owned) before critic Robert Palmer featured him in the acclaimed 1992 documentary Deep Blues. — Rolling Stone
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‘Goin’ Down South’ (1968)
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These tracks were recorded in 1968 by George Mitchell (who you may remember from the John Lee Ziegler IVH diary). Some tracks appeared on blues compilations throughout the years but the full set of field recordings were not available on one LP until 2003. These recordings are fine display of R.L.’s singing and guitar playing. These songs are very economical; no fooling around here.
During the 1970s R.L. largely played electric (as you can see in the Alan Lomax documentary The Land Where Blues Began). Burnside reached the height of his fame during the nineties and early aughts along with other Mississippi Hill Country musicians such as Junior Kimbrough, T-Model Ford, CeDell Davis and others on Fat Possum Records.
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‘Come On In’ (1968)
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I highly recommend the 2002 documentary You See Me Laughin’: The Last Of The Hill Country Bluesmen. It is an amazing snapshot of the struggles of the remaining Hill Country blues masters.
The full documentary is on YouTube.
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‘Poor Black Mattie’ (1968)
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WHO’S TALKING TO WHO?
Jimmy Kimmel: Joel McHale, Pete Buttigieg, Adam Duritz
Jimmy Fallon: Jennifer Garner, Don Lemon, Adrianne Lenker
Stephen Colbert: Aaron Paul, Lake Street Dive, Billy Crystal
Seth Meyers: Amy Poehler, Phoebe Bridgers, John Herndon
James Corden: Eddie Murphy, Tiana Major9
SPOILER WARNING
A late night gathering for non serious palaver that does not speak of that night’s show. Posting a spoiler will get you brollywhacked. You don’t want that to happen to you. It's a fate worse than a fate worse than death.
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The Special AKA ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ (1984)
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LAST WEEK’S POLL: LADIES OF THE '80S
Pat Benatar 13% 2 votes
Debbie Harry 33% 5 votes
Joan Jett 20% 3 votes
Cyndi Lauper 33% 5 votes
Including all major Looney Tunes characters would require 15+ poll answers so I’m splitting this into two polls: First Generation and Second Generation. Second Gen. includes Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety, Pepe Le Pew, the Tazmanian Devil, Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote, etc. Watch for that poll next week!