Robert Lee Burnside was born on November 23, 1926, picked up his first guitar in his twenties after hearing John Lee Hooker play "Boogie Chillen" in '48... then he played and composed music for the rest of his life, but it was only in the '90s that he caught the attention of the general public...

At thirty, he killed a man during a dice game and said, "I didn't mean to kill anyone... I just wanted to shoot that man's head. The fact that he died is between him and the Lord."

His album "A Ass Pocket of Whiskey" from '96 was praised by Bono and Iggy Pop and finally received critical acclaim...

His doctor advised him to stop drinking after he suffered a heart attack in 2001, and Burnside did, but this, according to him, ehm, prevented him from playing.

His health worsened after undergoing heart surgery in '99...

He died six years later at the age of 78, and that was that...

RL Burnside: See My Jumper Hanging On the Line (1978)