R.L. Burnside - A Bothered Mind (CD)

All Music Guide

When R.L. Burnside and the rest of the Fat Possum confederation emerged from the northern Mississippi hills in the early '90s, they gave contemporary blues a muchneeded shot in the ass, reminding everyone that the genre really wasn't so much about pyrotechnic guitar histrionics as it was about getting folks to hit the dancefloor, and once there, making sure they stayed. Burnside in particular has been a fascinating and intriguing musician ever since, and even as he cruises through his eighties, he may well be the most progressive and postmodern of anyone on the current blues scene. Although his basic template is and remains a John Lee Hookerlike modal boogie shuffle, Burnside has combined it with fulltilt garage and punk band dynamics (1996's A Ass Pocket of Whiskey, with the raucous backing of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) and controversial (to blues purists) techno nation hiphop effects (1998's Come On In, featuring Beck mixmaster Tom Rothrock), and while these experiments haven't... always worked, they show a playful willingness to treat the blues as something fun and vital, not some dusty, nostalgic period music trotted out on display from the music museum. No, Burnside's version of the blues is powerful, visceral, and this is often overlooked playful, with his almost demonic chuckle being as recognizable a feature of his music as any guitar lick. Read more Less