Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down (CD - 2000)

Personnel: R.L. Burnside (vocals); John Porter (guitar, mandolin, bass); Smokey Hormel, Rick Holmstrom, Kenny Brown (guitar); Johnny Dyer (harmonica, background vocals); Lynwood Slim (harmonica); Andy Kaulkin (piano, keyboards, synthesizer); Martin Slattery, Tommy Eyre (Wurlitzer piano); Anthony Genn, Jeff Turmes (bass); Steve Mugallian (drums); Richard Flack (programming); Iki Levy, Brad Cook (loops); DJ Pete B, DJ Swamp (vinyl scratches); Janiva Magness, Billy Valentine (background vocals).

Producers: Andy Kaulkin, Anthony Genn, John Porter, Matthew Johnson, Iki Levy.

Engineers: Doug Messenger, Brad Cook, Joe McGrath.

Personnel: R.L. Burnside (vocals, guitar); John Porter (guitar, mandolin); Kenny Brown, Rick Holmstrom, Smokey Hormel (guitar); Johnny Dyer (harp, background vocals); Lynwood Slim (harp); Andy Kaulkin (piano, Wurlitzer organ, keyboards, synthesizer); Martin Slattery, Tommy Eyre (Wurlitzer organ); Steve Mugalian (drums); Richard Flack (programming); Iki Levy, Bradley Cook (loops); DJ Swamp, D.J. Pete B. (scratches); Janiva Magness, Billy Valentine (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Iki Levy; Joe McGrath; John Porter; Richard Flack; Antony Genn.

Photographer: Matthew Johnson.

Arranger: R.L. Burnside.

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

Legendary bluesman turned unlikely indie-rock hero R.L. Burnside returns with a set that splits the difference between the Beck-derived post-modernisms of his previous COME ON IN and more traditional Delta stylings. Fortunately, Burnside is such a strong artist that he sounds equally at home with either approach.

The honkytonk-ish "My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble," for example, pairs mandolin with sampled drums. Blues purists will no doubt prefer the title track, an ancient-sounding near-field holler performed by Burnside and his adopted son Kenny Brown on acoustic guitar. Others will appreciate such highlights as the magnificently spooky version of Skip James' "Hard Time Killing Floor;" an astonishing guitar-driven re-imagining of Don Covay's "Chain of Fools;" and "Nothing Man," which chugs along on a great swampy groove like vintage Slim Harpo. minimize