There's an emotional resonance that runs through this music like blood, especially when Burnside plays solo. His all-alone performances of "Walking Blues" and "Bad Luck and Trouble" reveal every nuance of his caw-to-keen singing and the sweet way his slide slices right to the emotional core of a lyric. Burnside's off-color jokes and song-ending punctuations (mostly buoyant "Well, well, wells") also give an inkling of the wild-ass grandpa charisma that makes him so appealing on stage. Burnside has, however, delivered better concerts. At times these tempos seem rushed, which sacrifices some of the subtleties of his vocalizing. But Brown unleashes a rabid slide solo on "Snakedrive" that shoots the tune skyward, and he and Cedric display relentless energy and thrust. All of which proves that, with John Lee Hooker now reclining upstairs, R.L. Burnside is the ruler of this music. --Ted Drozdowski

Blues Music CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop