R.L .BURNSIDE and JIMMY WOODS LIVE 1984/86 (Swingmaster Vintage Tapes)
Label: Aditi
Release Date: 20/07/09
Format: DVD
When it comes to Mississippi-rooted blues delivered with pure passion and grit, no living performer equaled Robert Lee Burnside. Born near Oxford, Mississippi, in 1926, he moved around and finally settled in Holly Springs, making a living on the farm as a sharecropper. At the age of seventeen he took up singing and playing guitar. One of his teachers is former next-door neighbour Mississippi Fred McDowell, one of the most influential bottleneck players ever.
With its roots in the rough hills of North-Eastern Mississippi: a blend of hypnotic, almost mantra-like chords with the rhythm of the local Fife And Drum bands, which has its source in Africa and goes back to the 19th century. Of this music - rarely heard nowadays - R.L. Burnside was one of the last and foremost protagonists.
It’s not until 1968 that he made his recording debut, at the instigation of writer and folklore specialist George Mitchell. In 1996 R.L. recorded A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey with Jon Spencer and became suddenly known worldwide. In 2005 R.L. died.
Johnny Woods, also a Mississippi man, was born in 1917, in a small town called Looxahoma. His delightful harmonica playing is as much rooted in the single note of North- Mississippi Fife And Drum band tradition as it is in the multi-faceted music of blues legends like Sonny Boy “John Lee” Williamson. Sad to say, he didn’t immediately receive the credit that his artistic achievements deserved. Like so many bluesmen he had to wait for a breakthrough until his early fifties, when he was discovered by the same man who had given Burnside a break in the sixties: George Mitchell.
Tracks:
Poor Black Mattie - R.L. Burnside
Rolling & Tumbling - R.L. Burnside
Peach Tree Blues - R.L. Burnside
Skinny Woman - R.L. Burnside
Going Down South - R.L. Burnside
I Believe My Time Ain't Long - R.L. Burnside
Bad Luck And Trouble - R.L. Burnside
Jumper On The Line - R.L. Burnside
Ramblin' On My Mind - R.L. Burnside W. Fred Reining
Gone So Long - R.L. Burnside W. Fred Reining
Long Distance Call - R.L. Burnside
44 Blues - R.L. Burnside W. Fred Reining
See What My Buddy Done - R.L. Burnside
Poor Boy - R.L. Burnside W. Fred Reining
Sneakers Jam - R.L. Burnside W. Fred Reining (Concluding Remarks)
Somebody's Knocking On My Door - Johnny Woods, R.L. Burnside
Poor Boy - R.L. Burnside
Baby Scratch My Back - Johnny Woods, R.L. Burnside
Poor Black Mattie - R.L. Burnside
Long Haired Doney - R.L. Burnside
So Many Cold Mornings - Johnny Woods, R.L. Burnside
When My First Wife Left Me - R.L. Burnside
Susanna - Johnny Woods, R.L. Burnside
Jumper On The Line - R.L. Burnside
Going Up The Country - Johnny Woods, R.L. Burnside
Ain't That Just Like A Woman - R.L. Burnside
Long Haired Doney - R.L. Burnside
Moaning At Midnight - R.L. Burnside