Bitch You Better

BUTLER, WI - Blues singer and guitarist, Eddie "Son" House, attributes the love that exists between a man and a woman as the root cause for all blues music. I think he's right. So does director Craig Brewer who opens his film, Black Snake Moan, with archival footage of Son House advising:

“Sometimes that kind of blues will make you even kill one another … or do anything, that kind of love … that’s where the blues started.”

Much like my last relationship, this sort of hard living/hard loving lifestyle is the foundation for the Mississippi Delta blues - one of the earliest styles of blues music. And its the sort of hardships that Yeah I Figured columnist, Tim Hennessy lives on a daily basis in between episodes of The View and Regis and Kelly. And in honor of douche bag's 29th birthday on Sunday, I'm dedicating this week's Spin to my man...the proprietor of the Butler blues.

Although similar in rhythm and instrumentation, the Butler blues differs from the Delta in content. Whereas great Mississippi musicians like Son House and Junior Kimbrough wallowed in bottles of heartbreak, Mr. Hennessy laments about the trials and tribulations of having to wash his wife's dirty laundry (and I mean that in the literal sense) along with a lack of quality titles at his local Blockbuster.

Because of the triviality of such topics, listeners often find themselves yearning for a shotgun to blow their own stupid brains out all over Mr. Hennessy's prized slide guitar. You see, the idea of taking your life somehow seems more righteous than ending his. Why should you be the only one to burden his ongoing preference for soft cover books over hard? You shouldn't, so let the next poor, unsuspecting sap suffer too.

But enough about Hennessy (a more thoughtful, in-depth, tribute will accompany tomorrow's edition.) Let's instead turn our focus to one of his idols, R.L. Burnside. Good ol' Hennessy worships this great Mississippi bluesman so much so he named his wife's cat after RL's 1996 album, A Ass Pocket of Whiskey. How affectionate.

A Ass Pocket of Whiskey is the first blues CD Hennessy ever bought for me and to this day is still my favorite. The album is a taut 30 or so minutes of absolute lunacy. RL's voice seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but somehow sustains thanks to backing from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and a bottomless glass of Jack Daniels...not to mention the aroma of pussy that permeates from track to track like a whore crossing county lines. This is some crazy shit.