That time R.L. Burnside told me about all the relatives of his who were murdered in Chicago

By Steve Newton

I did my second interview with Mississippi hill country bluesman R.L. Burnside back in December of 2000, when he was touring behind his 12th–and second to last–studio album, Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down.

On that disc’s closing track, “R.L.’s Story”, Burnside details how a sizable portion of his family was killed in Chicago in the 1940s, all murdered within a year’s time. So early on in the conversation I asked him about that.

Have a listen:

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