R.L. Burnside & The Sound Machine - Raw Electric: 1979 - 1980 (2001)

David Evans recorded Burnside – still well before he was famous -- with his family band, The Sound Machine (Joseph and Daniel Burnside on guitars; on drums, Duwayne Burnside for one track, R.L.'s former son-in-law, Calvin Jackson, elsewhere) for High Water Recording Company, a division of the University of Memphis, for "programs in Commercial Music and Ethnomusicology (Regional Studies)." Mostly recorded at R.L.'s home in August 1979, this documents the sound of the group he used to play at juke joints, for dancing. Besides several of R.L.'s signature tunes, there are Delta standards ("Dust My Broom," "Rolling and Tumbling," "Walking Blues," "Sitting on Top of the World") Chicago blues standards by men from the Delta (Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers), and soul covers. The band's rambling grooves are powerfully irresistible. Another Evans-recorded album from the same time period, Sound Machine Groove, includes some of the group's disco-tinged efforts.