From The Dirt In The Gutter To The Light Of The Stage

If there was ever a Cinderella story for the blues RL Burnside wrote the book. There has to be hundreds of starting off from nothing and than being recognized for brilliance in the world of the blues, but nothing compares to Burnside's story. He almost never made it and if he didn't it probably wouldn't have mattered. He did what he loved doing all his life and that made for a wonderful life considered by him. Growing up in the backwoods of the delta and playing around great musicians he never really cut an album until later in his life. He was rediscovered by a dj who started mixing his albums at shows and it helped burst him into a whole new level of popularity. RL's music is a whole new sound of riff infused blues that is a close cousin to punk. Its hard and in your face, there's no 5 thousand dollar guitar or 3 grand amps. Just RL and a old beat up guitar and one speaker, its all he needs and he makes it sound like dirty blues, blues that will make your skin crawl and ears listen. RL is a wonderful talent that will be missed in the blues world but its great to see that he wasn't left there in the gutter, that he was found and recognized for his talent.