First Recordings

R. L. Burnside | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 10, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1968
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fat Possum Records
• ASIN: B00009IB1I
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,766 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #84 in Music > Blues > Delta Blues

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Today, at age 77, this popular North Mississippi singer-guitarist is a master of dirty juke-joint blues. But Burnside was a farm hand when these late ’60s recordings captured him developing his staples "Goin’ Down South," "Jumper On the Line," "Poor Black Mattie," and "Long Haired Doney"--and his playing style--in bare-boned acoustic form. Burnside practically cries over the roiling John Lee Hooker-influenced guitar lines of the heartbroken "Like a Bird Without a Feather," which he’s never again recorded, winning sympathy until he admits that he murdered his lost lover. In "Skinny Woman," covered recently by the North Mississippi Allstars, he offsets the rippling picking style associated with John Hurt by beating his knuckles against his six-string’s body. Burnside’s slide on "Walkin’ Blues" favors the low strings until his solo stabs into the high register with keening, measured authority, matching the sweet and dusty tones of his voice, which then possessed a youthful flexibility that wrung all sorts of nuances from these 14 songs. --Ted Drozdowski

Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: BURNSIDE,R.L.
Title: FIRST RECORDINGS
Street Release Date: 06/10/2003
Domestic
Genre: BLUES

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars well, well well, January 25, 2006

By 

Logan Seguin (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Recordings (Audio CD)

Basically, this album is a must for any blues fan. I bought his recent live album "Burnside on Burnside" and thought that was good, until i heard just how good his early recordings were. His songs capture the feeling of the blues in the same way that Robert Johnson could. His simple single guitar and vocals style is in many ways right at the heart of the blues. And this older recording is incredibly high quality. Great, early blues music by a musician who had incredible staying power.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Blues CD EVER, November 27, 2004

By 

Darcy Hoover (Fall River, Nova Scotia Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Recordings (Audio CD)

I can't say enough about this CD, I can't get enough of it and ended up buying all the Burnside I could get my hands on. I don't understand why this guy isn't HUGE. Bird Without a Feather is the best blues song I've ever heard. Deep, raw, hypnotic Mississippi delta solo acoutic blues.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars caught my baby cheatin', now home aint where it used to be, November 29, 2004

By 

bashopoem (nyc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Recordings (Audio CD)

this cd is the kind of thing that can get you lost on your way home from work. literally. one wrong turn around this place and im out twenty minutes. burnside just sucks you in and there's nothing you can do about it. emotion to rival 'a love supreme'. backhand to the cheek. swagger.