The Bio of R. L. Burnside
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Robert Lee Burnside, one of fourteen brothers and sisters, fell from the womb feet first walking and talking before he was supposed to be, right where Sardis Lake is now, the first Harmontown, now posing as Atlantis. Moving where work was his family settled in Coldwater in the hills a little higher north, south of Holly Springs. Farming.

As R.L. was growing up, house and field parties were prominent social events where he first came in contact with fife and drum bands, as well as Rainey Barnette, Dennis Gardner, and the more known Fred McDowell. This is where R.L. started seeing the attention, charisma, and skill needed to hold a crowd. He was around the age of 16 when he first picked up a guitar. He would ask to play whenever the houseplayer would take a break.

Like many folks at that time, R.L. moved to Chicago to see if he could find bigger and better things, where some of his family had already started. He landed a job a Benefield Foundry and Glass Co. In Chicago R.L. came in contact with Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and other electric bluesmen. He saw Muddy at Zandy's every Friday night for a while. Of interest also is that R.L.'s first cousin was married to Muddy.

After two years of city life R.L. moved back south and married his present wife Alice Mae and lived in Memphis for a short time. Having enough of that city too, he and Alice Mae headed back to Coldwater to settle where he dug in and started farming for the Gains and Ferguson families. Back in the hill country element, R.L. picked up on more of the country blues influences with house parties and field parties still the main event on weekends. He kept practicing on other people's instruments, but his wife kept telling him to put it down because he couldn't play like the others.

At a house gathering in the late 40's when the main player had taken a break, R.L. picked up the guitar and started playing. Everyone from outside came in to see who was playing and to their surprise, especially Alice Mae's, it was R.L. From then on R.L. was one of the players that was called for house parties and such. Over the years R.L. incorporated his sons to playing with him and they became R.L. Burnside and the Sound Machine playing in and around the Holly Springs area.

A couple of blues archivists came through in the late 60's and recorded R.L. acoustically, even though he preferred electric because " you can hear it better." He was still farming and playing for booze and a little cash, when it didn't take away too much from his work.

Around '91 a record company from Oxford, MS was in the makes; Fat Possum Records, with R.L. and Junior Kimbrough being the first artists on the label. R.L.'s first album, Bad Luck City, was recorded with his family at a local Oxford bar.

The next album had to be better. The band was stripped down to the raw talent with R.L. on guitar and vocals, Calvin Jackson(R.L.'s son) on drums and his "adopted son" Kenny Brown from Nesbit, MS on second guitar. This combo along with Fat Possum produced the monumental recording Too Bad Jim, recorded in Chulahoma, MS at Junior Kimbrough's juke joint, that slapped the critics into attention.

One person that was interested in R.L.'s sound was punk/rocker Jon Spencer, who came together with R.L.to put out R.L.'s third album with Fat Possum (this one in conjunction with Matador) which opened the door to a new crowd; the younger, "hipper" rock crowd, who actually buy records. This album has recorded at Lunati Farms outside of Holly Springs, a run down dairy farm, in two days. It was called A Ass Pocket O' Whiskey. This has been R.L.'s top selling record.

R.L. Kenny Brown and Cedric Burnside (R.L.'s grandson) kicked the ass on Ass Pocket and followed suit with the electric rawness on the new Fat Possum/Epitaph venture to put out the critically acclaimed Mr. Wizard.

Oh yeah! R.L.'s big now. His charismatic, chaotic, family oriented, joker style has wooed many a crowd at age 71.

His album Come On In is perfect. Another ground breaking compilation of of his raw hill country sound taken to a new level with the help of Tom Rothrock. "They finally let me make the album I wanted to make." Burnside says, "People have been dancing to the blues for a whole bunch of years from way on back. Adam and Eve were dancing to the blues. Blues is nothing but dance music."