Come on in!

A little while back I had the honor of introducing you to Cuban Heels. In this introduction I told you that this wonderful band sometimes reminded me of 'a late R.L. Burnside'. It is only now that I realize that I never posted R.L. Burnside material. So it is possible that a few of you are not able to make this comparison yourself.
R. L. (Robert Lee) was born in 1926 some where in Mississippi, where he would spent the major part of his life. Robert worked as a sharecropper, supporting his considerable family. He got interested in the Blues somewhere during the early 50's, when he heard John Lee Hooker's 1948 single Boogie Chillen. So Robert picked up the guitar and started playing. During that period he moved his family to Chicago, where his brother, his uncle and his father were killed within one month. Shortly after that he moved back to Mississippi.
The oldest recordings on Robert date from 1967. But even after these recordings he had to work the land in order to sustain his family. It wasn't until the 90's, when he joined the Fat Possom label, that he got recognition of his talent. Reading up on Robert (I tend to do that while writing an blog post) I find it not surprising I heard some Burnside in Cuban Heels. Fred McDowell was Roberts teacher and Junior Kimbrough was also connected to Fat Possom and is often mentioned with Burnside.
This album is a special one. As John Lee Hookers influence is heard throughout all Roberts recordings, they all have a very strong drive and a very 'recognizable' rhythm. So in the late 90's Roberts work was used by re-mixers and samplers. And one of them (Tom Rothrock) made this album together with Robert. Although not every song is 'my thing', some of the stuff on here is brilliant!

1998 - Come On In part 1 & part 2

The password = "scrooge".

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