Burnside was born in 1926 to Earnest Burnside and Josie, in either Harmontown, College Hill, or Blackwater Creek, all of which are in the rural part of Lafayette County, Mississippi, close to the area that would be covered by Sardis Lake a few years later. His first name is variously given as R. L., Rl, Robert Lee, Rural, Ruel or Rule. His father left the family early on, and R. L. grew up with his mother, grandparents, and several siblings.\n', '

He played the harmonica and dabbled with playing the guitar beginning at the age of 16, He reported that he first played in public at age 21 or 22. He learned mostly from Mississippi Fred McDowell, who lived nearby since Burnside was a child. He first heard McDowell playing at age 7 or 8 and eventually joined his gigs to play a late set. Other local teachers were his uncle-in-law Ranie Burnette, who was a popular player from Senatobia, and the mostly unknown Henry Harden, Son Hibbler, Jesse Vortis, and Burnside\'s brother-in-law. Burnside cited church singing and fife and drum picnics as elements of his childhood\'s musical landscape, and he credited Muddy Waters, Lightnin\' Hopkins and John Lee Hooker as influences in adulthood.\n', '

In the late 1940s he moved to Chicago, where his father had lived since he separated from his mother, in the hope of finding better economic opportunities. He found jobs at metal and glass factories, had the company of Muddy Waters (his cousin-in-law), and enjoyed the blues scene on Maxwell Street. But things did not turn out as he had hoped; within the span of one year his father, two brothers, and two uncles were all murdered in the city.[n 1]\n', '

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