Burnside on Burnside (CD - 2001)

Recorded live at Crystal Ballroom, Portland, Oregon and Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, California on January 21 & 24, 2001. Includes liner notes by Jay Babcock.

BURNSIDE ON BURNSIDE was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Blues Album.

Personnel: R.L. Burnside (vocals, guitar); Kenny Brown (guitar); Cedric Burnside (drums).

Audio Mixer: Bruce Watson .

Recording information: Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR (01/21/2001-01/24/2001); Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA (01/21/2001-01/24/2001).

Photographer: Adam Smith.

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. ~ William Ruhlmann

Mississippi blues guitarist/singer R.L. Burnside is simply a force of nature. His raw, driving style seems as effortless as it is infectious. Here, he's captured in his most effective format--live performance. Accompanied only by grandson Cedric Burnside on drums and disciple Kenny Brown on second guitar, R.L. tears the house down with his stomping, literally and figuratively electric sound. The band's M.O. is to set up a minimal, hypnotic groove, whether fast and furious or insinuatingly slow, and gloriously pound out variations on it until the audience is whipped up into a frenzy. While completely avoiding flash, the trio wrings so much life and energy out of the tunes that it's hard to believe there aren't at least twice as many people on stage. Even R.L.'s two-song solo spot, punctuated by one of his famous shaggy-dog stories, is full of intensity. What could be a better way to hear quite possibly the greatest bluesman of his era than in a live concert? minimize