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This is R.L. Burnside performing “Someday Baby,” from his 2004 album, A Bothered Mind.  Burnside is one of my favorite bluesmen, and this song is a great example of why.  He recorded a lot of more “pure” blues albums, but later in his life he started collaborating with a lot of young musicians in different genres.  Burnside refused to be confined by genre, and the result is evident in this song.

A Bothered Mindh was his last album, and it both the most representative of his work, and the most far-reaching.  It includes sad and haunting acoustic numbers like “Bird Without a Feather,” electric stompers like “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” funky rock-influenced songs like “Go To Jail,” and rock-hip-hop-electro-blues fusion songs in the style of Alabama 3, like “My Name is Robert Too” and “Someday Baby.”  It is a bizarre and triumphant final album, and it is Burnside’s only departure from the grounded world of his North Mississippi blues. Still, it feels like it was his idea to leave the blues behind and experiment. The opening cut, “Detroit Boogie, Part 1,” features a cheering audience, a heavily distorted guitar, and R.L. Burnside speaking the words “I’m R.L. Burnside. I do what I want!”

What a badass.

Sincerely,

Reverend Harris

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