Engineers: Bruce Watson, Rob Schnapf, Tom Rothrock, Robbie Norris.
After Burnside's breakthrough recording TOO BAD JIM, he collaborated with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in 1996 for A ASS POCKET OF WHISKEY, which merged Spencer's post-modern punk-blues with Burnside's gritty traditionalism. On the following year's MR. WIZARD, Spencer and company are present on only two tracks, but Burnside's Mississippi homeboys prove that they can rock just as ferociously on the other seven. As on ASS POCKET, MR. WIZARD's electrifying Chicago/Delta combo platter is amplified into an unerring sonic death ray capable of obliterating anything that crosses it's path, by virtue of its piledriving riffs and jackhammer rhythms.
Burnside opens the album unaccompanied, with a powerful spiritual tune, "Over the Hill." When the band kicks in, the guitars of Burnside and his disciple Kenny Brown interlock for an unrelenting assault that utilizes repeating patterns, cutting, distorted tones, and savage, maniacal slide work. Drummer Cedric Burnside (R.L.'s grandson) lives up to the task of matching all this electric blues fury with his simple, driving approach. MR. WIZARD is probably the best example of the controlled chaos that is an R.L. Burnside concert.
