Quoting R.L. Burnside

I always rant that modern-day blues musicians have no idea what's this all about. They sing how "they want to snap pistols in one's face" or wish "some screwball start to fight", just because they're ready. That's cool the way Muddy sings it, not his wannabes in your local bar. It's tough music and you got to remember that your everyday blues heroes (Leadbelly, Son House, Bukka White) were murderers with great musical talent.

Short historic take here: many blues lyrics make them almost gospel songs: they're praising Jesus and so on (see Blind Willie Johnson or Sister Rosetta Tharpe!). On the other hand, blues was forbidden music coming from the devil, that was the strangest connection that could be. Decadence, alcohol and drug abuse (whiskey was blues musicians' favorite drink, but there are many songs about weed, too!) and violence were all part of fun in juke joints, places that our heroes loved above everything else.

Yesterday I was listening to early recordings of R.L. Burnside. Inferior to works of his contemporaries they were still nice takes on blues standards and I had a good time. In the meanwhile I was reading liner notes and his life stories - yeah, R.L. had a wicked life! And I'm not only talking about his miraculous discovery in the... 90s by Fat Possum Records.


Telegraph.co.uk reports that around 1959 Burnside killed a man who allegedly "tried to run him out of his home". He was sentenced only to three (other sources say six) months in Parchman Farm State Prison thanks to his boss who needed his skills in the business. Years later musician was asked about the accident and said one of my favorites quotes ever. I mean, it's bad as hell, but you just have to love it ;)

"I didn't mean to kill nobody," Burnside later said of the murder. "I just meant to shoot the son of a bitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord."