R.L. Burnside: Come On In

R.L. Burnside is arguably the last of the original Delta bluesmen, though it's hard to make that statement definitively: Who knows if there are a few still obscurely plucking away with homemade guitars in the swamp somewhere He's certainly the last to enjoy a widely heard recording career, thanks in large part to the 1996 Jon Spencer collaboration A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey, a rousing album of mean, more or less traditional (aside from the occasional theremin part) blues. The most prominent root of rock 'n' roll, Delta blues is pretty far removed from remixes, drum machines, and the aggressive punk/techno of Alec Empire. So what's with Burnside's newest album, Come On In, a collection of new songs constructed with the help of remixes, drum machines, and, on one track, Alec Empire The weird thing is that it largely works. If there's one thing the blues and electronic music have in common, it's repetition; hearing the same riffs and vocals looped repeatedly with the help of machines isn't worlds away from hearing the blues played straight. That's not to say it's the same thing, and blues purists will probably flinch at hearing one of the most passionate forms of contemporary music passed through the filter of one of the most sterile. But it helps that Tom Rothrock's production places the emphasis on Burnside, whose vocals and guitar dominate even "Heat," the beat-heavy Empire track. More a novelty than a proper album—and lacking much of the fire Burnside is capable of generating—Come On In is still a compelling experiment that finds connections between old and new that aren't readily apparent.