![]() ![]() Rush earned his first hit in 1971 with “Chicken Heads.” He toured extensively, playing small venues for Black audiences. Rush’s bluff enabled him to learn about the music business - specifically, writing and publishing. So, as I tell it in the book, I just bluffed my way through, and they wouldn’t bother me.” The brother of Al Capone had taken a liking to me, so when I went to record for Chess Records with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, I would go in with no money and get things done like I had money because they thought I worked for Al Capone. “This may be dangerous, but that was Capone. “In the early ‘50s, I needed to have someone around me that would show me the business,” Rush says. Rush’s musical career goals were simple, if not easy - he says he just wanted to be popular enough to make some money and find a girl, and playing behind a curtain would not do. The audience wanted to hear my music but they didn’t want to see my face.” This place was a fabulous place, with a stage on top of the bar where I played behind a curtain. ![]() “Making $21 for the whole week, split with four guys. “When I got there, Muddy Waters took me to a suburb of Chicago where I got a job in a band Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, making $7 a night,” Rush recalls. “And I could do anything I wanted to, go anyplace I wanted to go, sing any song I wanted to sing, eat what I wanted to eat, go to any restaurant, any hotel. “I went to Chicago because everybody told me that Chicago, IL would be my heaven,” Rush recalls. As Rush explains in his recently released memoir, I Ain’t Studdin’ Ya: My American Blues Story, he had to be resourceful to forge his path. And that was a green light for me.”Īs a young man, Rush moved to Chicago, hoping that leaving the South would lead to more opportunities as a Black musician. “Because my father, being a preacher, never told me to sing the blues. “I think he influenced me not because of what he said, but what he didn’t say,” Rush explains. He says his father was the biggest influence on him, as a man and as an artist. That strong sense of hope and passion for music has driven Rush since he was a teenager, wearing a fake mustache to gain entry into juke joints, which led him to play with Elmore James, and later sit in with Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters - the list goes on and on. I’m still learning, I’m still enthused, and I still have hope.” But, deep down inside, I know I won’t live forever, so I’m going to do all I can, while I can. “A live audience gives me hope, and I think that I will live forever. I just want people who come to see my show and listen to my songs to get some comfort, or laugh,” Rush says. “It’s about having a good time at the moment. Known for his charismatic, energetic live performances blending blues and funk, Rush approaches each show like it’s his first - or his last. Arguably the most active octogenarian on the scene, Rush is eager to get back in front of audiences. Rush, now 89, won his second GRAMMY in 2020 with Rawer Than Raw, a stripped-down album featuring songs by the bluesmen of his adopted home state of Mississippi, and is gunning for another with his upcoming single, “One Monkey Can Stop a Show.” He’s a 14-time Blues Music Award winner and Blues Hall of Famer, and he’s appeared in multiple documentaries - notably, Martin Scorsese’s 2003 series The Blues - and the 2019 Netflix film Dolemite is My Name, starring Eddie Murphy.īefore the COVID-19 pandemic, Rush was on the road for more than 200 days a year. Of course, I’m glad to win I don’t want to take that away from my soul. So, even if I had just been nominated and didn’t win, just getting in the race and running would make me feel good. “I’ve been through so many ups and downs. “I was so happy,” Rush says of the overdue GRAMMY win. in Homer, LA, winning Best Traditional Blues Album for Porcupine Meat may seem like a long time coming, but the tireless artist takes it all in stride. ![]() For the living blues legend, born Emmett Ellis, Jr. ![]() Bobby Rush won his first GRAMMY in 2017 at the age of 83. ![]()
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