In Focus: RL Burnside

When RL Burnside passed in 2005, a momentous era in popular music went with him. With a deeply affecting vocal style, Burnside played the Mississippi Delta blues in a way that linked him directly to the origins of the scene, and the people who created it. Early in his life, Burnside was a student of blues pioneer "Mississippi Fred" McDowell, before moving to Chicago and falling in with Muddy Waters. Burnside never stopped playing, often touring, but remaining relatively obscure. His first album was released in 1991 to widespread plaudits, catapulting him to fame in the blues world. Listen to an hour of glorious, raw blues from RL Burnside's discography on this In Focus.