In the last decade there has been a rediscovery of the blues from the north Mississippi hill country mastered by Junior Kimbrough, RL Burnside and Fred McDowell. Unlike the Delta blues of southern Mississippi, their northern counterparts churn sounds with an otherworldly quality. They hypnotize. Robert Belfour's new CD, "What's Wrong With You," gives hope that this enticing blues form will slither onward.
The ears of the alternative-music audience were opened to this kind of blues through a cross-marketing of RL Burnside with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Those two met musically over a brew of ramshackle sludge. Unlike those Fat Possum recordings, Belfour's is largely unadulterated (except occasional drums), putting nothing between the listener and the music's trance. Its genius lies in that simplicity -- one man and his guitar eschewing a need for anything more.
