R.L. Burnside Sound Machine Groove (2LPs) (Memphis Blue Vinyl)

Recorded by ethnomusicologist David Evans for High Water Records in 1979 and 1980, these are Burnside’s first recordings with electric guitar and also his first with a band. That band was the Sound Machine, a band he literally created himself out of members of his own family, blending raw Mississippi blues with soul, funk, R&B, and other urban flavors to make a marvelous amalgam of his own. Contemporary beats and modern themes like “Bad Luck City,” “Searching for My Baby,” “Can’t Let You Go,” and “Sound Machine Groove” sit nicely alongside slower, traditional material like “Going Down South” and “Begged for a Nickel,” while R.L.’s duets with drummer Calvin Jackson on “Goin’ Away Baby” and “Long Haired Doney” show a marvelous empathy and interplay. Especially notable is a version of “Sitting on Top of the World” with Burnside on slide guitar that, with Jackson’s help, neatly evokes the sound and feel of a fife and drum band. Although Burnside was hailed by the 1990’s blues crowd as something of an overnight success, one listen to this disc tells you he was already forging a new chapter in the Mississippi blues tradition with these recordings