Too Bad Jim

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Too Bad Jim | type = studio | artist = R. L. Burnside | cover = Too Bad Jim.jpg | border = | released = 1994 | recorded = April 1993 | studio = Junior's Place, Chulahoma, Mississippi | genre = Blues, hill country blues | length = | label = Fat Possum | producer = Robert Palmer | prev_title = Bad Luck City | prev_year = 1992 | next_title = A Ass Pocket of Whiskey | next_year = 1996 }} '''''Too Bad Jim''''' is an album by the American musician R. L. Burnside, released in 1994.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Album Reviews |magazine=Billboard |date=March 12, 1994 |volume=106 |issue=11 |page=52D}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Drozdowski |first1=Ted |title=Slick as gravel |work=The Boston Phoenix |volume=23 |issue=6 |date=February 17, 1994 |page=12}}</ref> It is considered his breakthrough album.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Artist News |magazine=CMJ New Music Report |date=September 13, 1999 |volume=60 |issue=635 |page=6}}</ref> He supported it with a North American tour.<ref>{{cite news |title=A master of the rural blues of his native Mississippi... |work=Arizona Daily Star |date=March 4, 1994 |page=21E}}</ref>

==Production== Produced by Robert Palmer, the album was recorded at Junior Kimbrough's Junior's Place, where the sessions were interrupted by instrument and studio mishaps.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Sullivan |first1=James |title=Obituaries |magazine=Spin |date=February 1998 |volume=14 |issue=2 |page=59}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=A lot of blues musicians... |work=The News & Observer |date=February 12, 1995 |page=G8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing |date=2010 |publisher=University of Arkansas Press |page=235}}</ref> Burnside was backed by Calvin Jackson on drums, Dwayne Burnside on bass, and Kenny Brown on guitar.<ref name=CT/><ref name=RS/> The music added rawer, electrified influences to northern Mississippi fife and drum blues.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Santelli |first1=Robert |title=The Best of the Blues: 101 Essential Albums |date=1997 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=229}}</ref> "Short-Haired Woman", written by Lightnin' Hopkins, rejects the predominate image of Black female attractiveness.<ref name=IS/><ref name=PP/> "Shake 'Em On Down" is a cover of the Bukka White standard; Burnside performed it in tribute to Mississippi Fred McDowell, as it was his favorite song.<ref name=PD/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Eichenberger |first1=Bill |title=Burnside Plays the Blues the Way He Feels Them |work=The Columbus Dispatch |date=May 25, 1995 |department=Accent & Entertainment |page=2}}</ref> "When My First Wife Left Me" is a cover of the John Lee Hooker song.<ref name=PG/>

==Critical reception== {{Music ratings |rev1 = ''All Music Guide'' |rev1score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book |title=All Music Guide |date=2001 |publisher=Backbeat Books |page=512 |edition=4th}}</ref> |rev2 = ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' |rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=1998 |publisher=MUZE |volume=2 |page=842}}</ref> |rev3 = ''The Indianapolis Star'' |rev3score = {{rating|3|4}}<ref name="IS">{{cite news |last1=Konz |first1=Joe |title=R.L. Burnside's rhythm-and-slash guitar playing... |work=The Indianapolis Star |date=February 27, 1995 |page=D5}}</ref> |rev4 = ''Knoxville News Sentinel'' |rev4score = A<ref name="KN">{{cite news |last1=Bledsoe |first1=Wayne |title=R.L. Burnside album brings back rough, ragged blues |work=Knoxville News Sentinel |date=April 16, 1995 |department=Showtime |page=2}}</ref> |rev5 = ''MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide'' |rev5score = {{rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite book |title=MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide |date=1998 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=61}}</ref> |rev6 = ''The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings'' |rev6score = {{rating|3.5|4}}<ref name="PG">{{cite book |title=The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings |date=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=94}}</ref> |rev7 = ''Philadelphia Daily News'' |rev7score = {{rating|3.5|4}}<ref name="PD">{{cite news |last1=Darroch |first1=Doug |title=For Rural Blues, Play Fat Possum |work=Philadelphia Daily News |date=March 10, 1995 |department=Features Yo! |page=50}}</ref> |rev8 = ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' |rev8score = {{rating|4|4}}<ref name="PP">{{cite news |last1=Norman |first1=Tony |title=Blacking out the blues |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=April 1, 1994 |department=Arts & Entertainment |page=16}}</ref> |rev9 = ''Rolling Stone'' |rev9score = {{rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="RS">{{cite magazine |last1=Santelli |first1=Robert |title=Recordings |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=September 8, 1994 |issue=690 |page=80}}</ref> |rev10 = ''The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide'' |rev10score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide |date=1999 |publisher=Random House |page=114}}</ref> }} The ''Chicago Tribune'' said, "The music is driven by rhythmic thrusts rather than chord changes, and the interplay among the stellar musicians is explosive."<ref name="CT">{{cite news |last1=Kot |first1=Greg |title=Living the Blues |work=Chicago Tribune |date=January 7, 1994 |department=Friday |page=5}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' noted that "the northern Mississippi blues tradition is pretty obscure, and it's all about repetition and droning, about the subtle colorations of rhythm that trance music needs to be effective."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Watrous |first1=Peter |title=Sounds Around Town |work=The New York Times |date=March 25, 1994 |page=C27}}</ref> The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' stated, "A master of the gallows humor and dramatic narrative tradition that runs through African-American cultural expressions like I-70, Burnside embodies the comic and tragic excesses of black music, while critiquing its inability to move beyond the perennially youthful aesthetic that enslaves black radio."<ref name=PP/>

''Rolling Stone'' opined that "Burnside delivers a searing set of songs anchored in tradition".<ref name=RS/> ''The Washington Post'' said that Burnside "often uses his guitar to hypnotic effect, creating rhythmic vamps that have a churning, mesmeric quality, while singing in a baritone voice that bellows and moans."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Joyce |first1=Mike |title=Three Who've Got the Blues |work=The Washington Post |date=September 9, 1994 |department=Weekend |page=20}}</ref> The ''Knoxville News Sentinel'' concluded that "Burnside learned a lot from Mississippi Fred McDowell, but it sounds like playing tough juke joints provided him with his most important lessons."<ref name=KN/> ''Time'' considered the music to be "of historic import".<ref>{{cite news |title=Deep Blues, Jazz and Folk |work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |date=January 26, 1996 |page=4T}}</ref> The ''Calgary Herald'' listed ''Too Bad Jim'' among the best albums of 1994.<ref>{{cite news |title=Herald Beat Reviewers Choose |work=Calgary Herald |date=December 26, 1994 |page=C10}}</ref>

==Track listing== {{Track listing | all_writing = | title1 = Shake 'Em On Down | length1 = | title2 = When My First Wife Left Me | length2 = | title3 = Short-Haired Woman | length3 = | title4 = Old Black Mattie | length4 = | title5 = Fireman Ring the Bell | length5 = | title6 = Peaches | length6 = | title7 = Miss Glory B. | length7 = | title8 = .44 Pistol | length8 = | title9 = Death Bell Blues | length9 = | title10 = Goin' Down South | length10 = }}

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:R. L. Burnside albums Category:1994 albums Category:Fat Possum Records albums