Bobby Rush
April, 2004
Bobby Rush is arguably the bluesman’s bluesman for one simple reason. He doesn’t talk about it as much as he plays it: constantly. “I’ve had about six weeks off in forty-six years!” Rush laughs over the line from his Jackson, Mississippi home. “I do about 330 shows a year.”
As we speak Rush is taking a dinner break from recording his 239th album. No typo there: two hundred and thirty ninth album. Okay admit it now, the question is there right smack in front of your cerebellum. Go on ask it: ‘who the hell is Bobby Rush and why haven’t I heard of him’?
Born in the thirties in Homer, Louisiana the young Emmett Ellis Jr., saw his uncle performing blues tunes and started mimicking him. Muddy Water, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Big Joe Turner and Ivory Joe Hunter records became his bible and out of respect for his preacher father he changed his name to Bobby Rush.
Rush almost exclusively haunted what was called the ‘chitlin circuit’, a string of southern clubs with predominantly black clientele. Through a combination of music and showmanship, he became known as the ‘king of the chitlin circuit’. “The chitlin circuit was named by some writer and I don’t think he was planning that to be something nice.” Rush says quietly. “When someone said that I was the ‘king of the chitlin circuit’ I was saying 'I am, I am'!” Rush pauses a moment and adds with a chuckle, “I took it to be something good but it was supposed to be something negative.”
“You played in a place where they cooked chitlins, which were hog intestines, and later on came fish and chicken sandwiches” Rush explains. “So I played many times for a fish sandwich. If I played real good, I got two fish sandwiches. If I didn’t play good at all I didn’t get nothing to eat! Sometimes I would make two sandwiches a set and sell them. I’d make $1.50 a night and a couple of sandwiches.”
Rush laughs about it now but then again he can afford to. Life has gotten good for Bobby Rush. Although he had some hits in the late Sixties and early Seventies, most average blues fans had only a passing knowledge of Rush. His upcoming performance as part of the ?????? blues night at the JLC will only be the second time that Rush has visited Canada.
And then came Martin Scorsese. Through what Rush admits was just a case of being in the right place at the right time, Rush’s name and performances were a crucial part of the ‘Road to Memphis’ segment of Scorsese’s PBS venture ‘The Blues’. Rush is unabashedly grateful for what the show did for him. “It gave people a chance to see me that hadn’t seen me and it gave me a chance to cross over” he says excitedly. “I mean that I crossed over as a black entertainer, as a chitlin circuit artist. It crossed me over to a white audience which I wanted. I wanted to cross over but I didn’t want to cross out.”
Cross out? “So many times black entertainers of my age cross over to the white audience but they leave behind the black audience that they had” Rush explains. “My plan is to give it back to the guys who can’t afford Bobby Rush. A lot of times the big blues singers get the big money and forget the little juke joints and the guys who can’t afford it. We’ll come into town and play for them during the year. We gotta keep these blues bars and the chitlin circuit alive.”
For now though, Bobby Rush is spending his summer going to Spain, Australia, Norway, Hong Kong and England. And its all because of PBS’s influential ‘The Blues’. “I’m so glad that God put me in the right place in the right time to be part of this. I don’t really think I was picked for this. I was just playing in a place where things came off and I was just there. I don’t think they were aiming for me. Something just happened.”
His Jackson, Mississippi home is important to Rush. He grew up there and returned late in his career to make it his home. In the Fifties and Sixties, it wasn’t always the easiest place to live with a black skin. But that was exactly why Rush returned: to make a difference. “I can take it farther by introducing mmyself as a black man, as a blues singer and being proud of what I do and be proud of who I” Rush says quietly. “I’m sick of tired of some of the black guys saying 'I’m going to go to the studio and record this because I think this is what white people like’. No! Just record what you feel and what you love and what you do best and pray that everybody likes it.” Rush stops and snorts with a chuckle. “Don’t make no white or black record!”
Bobby Rush is arguably the bluesman’s bluesman for one simple reason. He doesn’t talk about it as much as he plays it: constantly. “I’ve had about six weeks off in forty-six years!” Rush laughs over the line from his Jackson, Mississippi home. “I do about 330 shows a year.”
As we speak Rush is taking a dinner break from recording his 239th album. No typo there: two hundred and thirty ninth album. Okay admit it now, the question is there right smack in front of your cerebellum. Go on ask it: ‘who the hell is Bobby Rush and why haven’t I heard of him’?
Born in the thirties in Homer, Louisiana the young Emmett Ellis Jr., saw his uncle performing blues tunes and started mimicking him. Muddy Water, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Big Joe Turner and Ivory Joe Hunter records became his bible and out of respect for his preacher father he changed his name to Bobby Rush.
Rush almost exclusively haunted what was called the ‘chitlin circuit’, a string of southern clubs with predominantly black clientele. Through a combination of music and showmanship, he became known as the ‘king of the chitlin circuit’. “The chitlin circuit was named by some writer and I don’t think he was planning that to be something nice.” Rush says quietly. “When someone said that I was the ‘king of the chitlin circuit’ I was saying 'I am, I am'!” Rush pauses a moment and adds with a chuckle, “I took it to be something good but it was supposed to be something negative.”
“You played in a place where they cooked chitlins, which were hog intestines, and later on came fish and chicken sandwiches” Rush explains. “So I played many times for a fish sandwich. If I played real good, I got two fish sandwiches. If I didn’t play good at all I didn’t get nothing to eat! Sometimes I would make two sandwiches a set and sell them. I’d make $1.50 a night and a couple of sandwiches.”
Rush laughs about it now but then again he can afford to. Life has gotten good for Bobby Rush. Although he had some hits in the late Sixties and early Seventies, most average blues fans had only a passing knowledge of Rush. His upcoming performance as part of the ?????? blues night at the JLC will only be the second time that Rush has visited Canada.
And then came Martin Scorsese. Through what Rush admits was just a case of being in the right place at the right time, Rush’s name and performances were a crucial part of the ‘Road to Memphis’ segment of Scorsese’s PBS venture ‘The Blues’. Rush is unabashedly grateful for what the show did for him. “It gave people a chance to see me that hadn’t seen me and it gave me a chance to cross over” he says excitedly. “I mean that I crossed over as a black entertainer, as a chitlin circuit artist. It crossed me over to a white audience which I wanted. I wanted to cross over but I didn’t want to cross out.”
Cross out? “So many times black entertainers of my age cross over to the white audience but they leave behind the black audience that they had” Rush explains. “My plan is to give it back to the guys who can’t afford Bobby Rush. A lot of times the big blues singers get the big money and forget the little juke joints and the guys who can’t afford it. We’ll come into town and play for them during the year. We gotta keep these blues bars and the chitlin circuit alive.”
For now though, Bobby Rush is spending his summer going to Spain, Australia, Norway, Hong Kong and England. And its all because of PBS’s influential ‘The Blues’. “I’m so glad that God put me in the right place in the right time to be part of this. I don’t really think I was picked for this. I was just playing in a place where things came off and I was just there. I don’t think they were aiming for me. Something just happened.”
His Jackson, Mississippi home is important to Rush. He grew up there and returned late in his career to make it his home. In the Fifties and Sixties, it wasn’t always the easiest place to live with a black skin. But that was exactly why Rush returned: to make a difference. “I can take it farther by introducing mmyself as a black man, as a blues singer and being proud of what I do and be proud of who I” Rush says quietly. “I’m sick of tired of some of the black guys saying 'I’m going to go to the studio and record this because I think this is what white people like’. No! Just record what you feel and what you love and what you do best and pray that everybody likes it.” Rush stops and snorts with a chuckle. “Don’t make no white or black record!”
posted by bk @ 6:09 PM
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