Track Listing
1. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
2. Got Messed Up
3. Miss Maybelle
4. Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down
5. Too Many Ups
6. Nothin' Man
7. See What My Buddy Done
8. My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble
9. Bad Luck City
10. Chain of Fools
11. R.L.'s Story
12. Black Mattie - (bonus track, with Robert Belfour)
13. Pucker up Buttercup - (bonus track, with Paul Jones)
14. Laugh to Keep From Cryin' - (bonus track, with Kenny Brown)
| Details | | Distributor: | Ryko Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Personnel: R.L. Burnside (vocals); John Porter (guitar, mandolin, bass); Smokey Hormel, Rick Holmstrom, Kenny Brown (guitar); Johnny Dyer (harmonica, background vocals); Lynwood Slim (harmonica); Andy Kaulkin (piano, keyboards, synthesizer); Martin Slattery, Tommy Eyre (Wurlitzer piano); Anthony Genn, Jeff Turmes (bass); Steve Mugallian (drums); Richard Flack (programming); Iki Levy, Brad Cook (loops); DJ Pete B, DJ Swamp (vinyl scratches); Janiva Magness, Billy Valentine (background vocals).
Producers: Andy Kaulkin, Anthony Genn, John Porter, Matthew Johnson, Iki Levy.
Engineers: Doug Messenger, Brad Cook, Joe McGrath.
Legendary bluesman turned unlikely indie-rock hero R.L. Burnside returns with a set that splits the difference between the Beck-derived post-modernisms of his previous COME ON IN and more traditional Delta stylings. Fortunately, Burnside is such a strong artist that he sounds equally at home with either approach.
The honkytonk-ish "My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble," for example, pairs mandolin with sampled drums. Blues purists will no doubt prefer the title track, an ancient-sounding near-field holler performed by Burnside and his adopted son Kenny Brown on acoustic guitar. Others will appreciate such highlights as the magnificently spooky version of Skip James' "Hard Time Killing Floor;" an astonishing guitar-driven re-imagining of Don Covay's "Chain of Fools;" and "Nothing Man," which chugs along on a great swampy groove like vintage Slim Harpo.
Editorial Reviews
...[He] returns to a straightforward John Lee Hooker/'Mississippi' Fred McDowell style, yet still incorporating the turntable scratches and ambient beats that made him an indie-rock hero... - Rating: B
Entertainment Weekly (11/03/2000)
Rated as Best New Blues Album of 2000 in LB's 2001 Critics' Awards.
Living Blues (07/01/2001)
...Guaranteed to raise more goosebumps than a Jeff Buckley record...
Magnet (01/01/2001)
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