Delta bluesman R L Burnside dies (BBC News) [View All]

[Up2Late]

(Not sure, but I think this is un-related to the Hurricane or Tropical Storm as it had become in Memphis)

Friday, 2 September 2005, 02:50 GMT 03:50 UK

Delta bluesman R L Burnside dies

Mississippi bluesman R L Burnside, a guitarist who only found fame late in life, has died, aged 78.

Born in Delta town of Harmontown, he worked most of his life as a sharecropper and fisherman, only taking up music professionally when he was 65. Mississippi Fred McDowell taught him to play in Chicago in the 1940s, and he performed in local bars for decades.

After signing to Fat Possum records in 1991, he recorded a dozen albums and toured worldwide. Matthew Johnson, owner of the record label that made Burnside famous, said he played guitar "just 'cause he wanted to."

"He never really wanted a career, never said he did. We just sort of gave him one." Burnside had been in declining health since heart surgery in 1999, and died in hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4207034.stm>
(more at link above)