Bobby rush blues. six decades on full#

Bo Diddley and them a little bit older laughed at me. 'I was too green and too dumb to know that I wasn't supposed to be reading around white people. 'I wasn't trying to be smart about it,' Rush said. And he understood what the contract said, so he raised questions with the white record-label executives. Even though he was a grade-school dropout, Rush could read and write. One example is when he was offered a contract in 1967 with prestigious Chess Records, home of such Black stars as Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. Whether growing up in Louisiana, launching his career in Arkansas or aiming for the big time in Chicago, Rush has dealt with racism without animus. his birth name - an enduring entertainer who was still performing 200 shows a year before the pandemic. 'I Ain't Studdin' Ya,' named for a 1991 Rush song, tells only part of the story of Emmitt Ellis Jr. I couldn't compete with what they were doing, man.' 'Maybe they was looking out for me or to protect ,' he said. 'I'm just an old country boy,' he said proudly, 'and I'm so blessed to be around for 80-odd-some years and to do what I do and still love it, and still learning.'Īlong the way, Rush got lessons from Elmore James, Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Ray Charles, who were eager to impart tips to the talented teen with the flashy clothes.

He picked cotton as a kid built himself a single-stringed 'diddley bow' to play music painted a mustache on his face with a burnt match so he could perform in clubs at age 13, and has been a lifelong sober-by-choice, fiercely independent entertainer with just one bona fide hit ( 'Chicken Heads') but dozens and dozens of stories to tell. His autobiography, 'I Ain't Studdin' Ya: My American Blues Story,' is a modest, plain-spoken yet compelling account of a hardscrabble life in the Deep South. He grabbed his first in 2017 - after decades of performing. The show will be reflective of his 2020 recording 'Rawer Than Raw,' which won Rush his second Grammy for best traditional blues album. I got my two big feet - that's my drum - and my thumb is my bass, and my fingers are my guit-tar. 'I do the same kind of songs whether it's a big band or a small band. It's one-on-one,' said the 88-year-old motormouth, a singer/guitarist/harmonica player with the energy of someone one-fourth his age. 'I love the acoustic dates 'cause I get close to 'em and I can talk to 'em.

Bobby rush blues. six decades on full#

I lived for 48 years in Chicago,' Rush said this month from his home in Jackson, Miss., where it was 71 degrees.Īlthough known as the King of the Chitlin' Circuit, Rush returns to the spiffy Dakota in downtown Minneapolis Friday and Saturday with his acoustic show, not his legendary revue with dancers and full band. If inveterate bluesman Bobby Rush survived all these challenges, he won't be fazed by January in Minnesota.

All others will be refunded.He dropped out of school at age 11, lost three children to sickle cell anemia, suffered burns in a fire at his BBQ restaurant, walked away from a bus crash that killed a bandmate, did a prison stint for unwittingly transporting a promoter's cocaine, endured COVID at age 86 and admitted in his new autobiography that he cheated on his wife. Named for one of Rush's most popular songs, I Ain't Studdin' Ya tells the story of an incredible life and continuing legendary career.īooks with signed book plates will be mailed after the event.

King Entertainer of the Year, and a 13-time Blues Music Award winner, he recently performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and played himself in the 2019 film Dolemite Is My Name. An inductee to the Blues Hall of Fame, a B.B. At 87, he still tours more than 200 days a year, entertaining audiences with his unique funk-infused blues tunes. In his five decades in blues music, Grammy-winner Bobby Rush has recorded hundreds of his own songs, collaborated with the likes of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, and headlined music festivals all over the world. In conversation with Jonny Meister, host of The Blues Show on WXPN