R.L. Burnside (23 November 1926 – 1 September 2005) was born in Oxford, Mississippi and was a sharecropper, truck driver and part time musician. He gained music fame late in life, in the 1990s, when he began recording hill country blues music. Despite the unique sound in his country-blues music he cited his influencers were Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins.

Burnside’s music is pure country juke joint blues: a heavy focus on rhythm, usually in a single-chord and played with a slide.

Mississppi Fred McDowell was a neighbor and a huge influence on RL. He he was the one who taught RL to play, according to the liner notes of RL’s great first release on the Fat Possum label, “Too Bad Jim.”