R.L. Burnside: Burnside On Burnside : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The rash of Burnside-chic the past few years has been a dubious phenomenon. While loops and samples and the utterly extraneous presence of Jon Spencer have helped secure the rep of this once-lost treasure, they had the effect of a wrecking ball when a sledgehammer would do. Pure Burnside is crunchy, gritty and bluesy to its core -- and certainly in no need of a helping hand. The proof is in the twelve tracks that make up this live collection, recorded earlier this year. With two guitars, drum and Burnside's grooved vocal delivery, this is blues stripped of the wanky façade that has rendered the genre both mainstream and impotent. Burnside's trio (which features slide whiz Kenny Brown and Burnside's grandson Cedric on drums) paints in muddy swirls with Brown's slide scooting behind, around, above and below Burnside's choppy rhythm sounds. And Burnside's blood pumps the delta tradition with originals like "Shame 'Em on Down," "Snake Drive," "Goin' Down South" and "Alice May" all of which have timeless titles and a sound that seamlessly slide between decades old spiritual sibs like "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Walkin' Blues." No ballads, no scrunch-faced whammy bar action, no sequined jackets, nothing resembling vulnerability and no precious attempts to connect to the twenty-first century. Burnside and Co. play with a perfect recklessness, as though no one was listening.

ANDREW DANSBY
(October 22, 2001)