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Bring The Front Porch With Them Wherever They Go.

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February 2006

Text and Photos by Tim Holek

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The Canada South Blues Society brought the real deal to London and Windsor to commence the New Year. The London Music Club is contained within an old house and features two impressive music rooms. The Big Hall comfortably accommodates 15 round tables and has the feel of an art studio. This atmosphere is created by the impressionistic canvas art of blues, rock, and jazz musicians that adorns the walls. There is not a bad seat in the room, and it’s an ideal setting for an acoustic show. The club was totally packed with one hundred and twenty-five real blues fans. Of course, most of that can be attributed to having Bobby Rush in the house, but many openly admitted to being there because it was an afternoon show with a great start time.


Local London guitarist/harmonicist/vocalist Tim Woodcock opened. With the assistance of a brace to support his harp, he sat and performed a series of covers such as Corrina Corrina, Lookin Over Yonder’s Wall, and She’s Tuff Enuff. Woodcock’s powerful vocals were pleasant and had the right amount of gruffness. He really came into his being when he removed the harp support and played awestruck slide guitar on I Be’s Troubled and Dust My Broom. The active real estate agent has plans to record with Jack de Keyzer.


Bobby Rush is from the same era as Elvis, but where are the books about Rush? He has many stories to tell. Rush was educated in the field of blues from some of the genre’s finest including Little Walter. “While I was living in Chicago in the late 50s and early 60s, I was running back and forwards with Little Milton and Junior Parker to Mississippi, Arkansas, Memphis, and Tunica.” Rush left his imprint on the mighty Chicago blues scene, created his own signature style of folk funk, and was later crowned the "King of the Chitlin Circuit." At 72-years-old, he feels blessed to have been performing for so long. Having played the southern U.S. for most of his career, Rush has recently crossed over to a wider audience, in part, due to appearing in one of the Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues PBS films in 2003. “I have a big, black audience and I don’t ever want to lose it. I was told I couldn’t crossover without changing my image. They told me I had to put a cowboy hat on and I had to put some overalls on and I didn’t believe that. I’m a black man who plays the blues as true to my culture. What you see is what you get. I’m just being Bobby Rush, a plain ole country boy.”


Shawn Kellerman hails from Kitchener, Ontario, and is a blues guitar wizard. He is determined to carry the genre to new heights. His style of blues guitar reinterprets the traditional forms and blasts them into the present with a ferocious authenticity seldom achieved by other guitarists.  He has played internationally with some of the best including Bobby Rush.
Kellerman relocated to Mississippi, for two years, so he could play the famed Chitlin Circuit with Rush. The time spent in the Deep South helped the self-taught guitarist to further hone his craft. They first met in DC, and have just released their first CD. It is an acoustic effort appropriately entitled Raw To The Bone. The January 8, 2006, performance was part of a promotional tour for the CD. It was a rare opportunity to catch them in an intimate and toned-down setting in a small club. Detroit vocalist Zoom once told Kellerman not to forget the roots of small clubs. Rush was self-inspired saying, “That's where I started, and that's what I do. Playing at these smaller clubs revives my soul."

Previously, I had seen his live revue show, which features booty shaking chorus girls, risqué material, and flamboyant costume changes. Before this energized acoustic performance, Rush told me, “There are two sides of Bobby Rush, and you are going to see a different side today”. Dressed simply in white sneakers and a casual pullover shirt, the ever gracious Rush delivered a very brief biography before launching into a rousing acoustic performance accompanied by Kellerman’s stomping guitar. Initially Rush seemed tired, which was likely due to his hectic schedule. This concert was near the tail end of a four day, five shown southern Ontario tour, which included a gig the night before, and another in Windsor, later the same day. They began with Boney Maroney, which is about a “little skinny woman, I like em like that”, and is a somber departure from his usual loving-a-big-fat-woman lyrics. Similar old-fashioned grooves from the hills and jukes featured on Garbage Man, Chicken Heads, Night Fishin’, School Girl, Glad To Get You Back, Howlin’ Wolf, and You Don’t Love Me. At times, Rush couldn’t sit still in his chair. Several times he humped the air in order to add a dramatic and humourus effect to his songs. Many of his songs had a sexual aura where he displayed his innate ability to tell stories. “One time my Daddy offered to teach me a song. Now, he was a preacher, so I thought it would be a boring song.” After the first couple of verses, the crowd knew exactly where the song was going – into the gutter. “Daddy asked if I liked his song and I said, ‘Yes Daddy I like your song’. But mama showed up and I never heard the end of the song”. Although plenty of his lyrics were about living a rowdy life, Rush doesn’t drink or smoke or do drugs. “I been married forty some odd years and I ask my wife sometimes, ‘Why would you wanna like an old blues singer like me?’ – I don’t have anything but a blues heart and a blues soul – ‘Why would you want me?’ She tells me because I like it like that!”

Rush played guitar and both chromatic and diatonic harp, but was the most animated without the guitar to restrain him. The crowd sat quietly in awe and respect of the master showman. Throughout the afternoon, the charismatic Rush was visually entertaining and musically satisfying. Each song told a story, which gave Rush a chance to use his clever oratory skills and unobtrusive vocals. He sounds like he is in conversation with you. With sharp picking and solemn strumming, Kellerman maturely played the role of sideman. Throughout, Rush clomped his feet to keep the beat like a metronome. Together, Rush and Kellerman were feeling the blues. You could see it in their faces and hear it in their music. To see this mentor and student collaborate was to witness the blues being handed down from one generation to another. This time it was an international affair.

At the end Bobby Rush thanked the CSBS and LMC for keeping the blues alive. He wished there were far more venues like it. Most of all he gave thanks for “Letting me be me”. Bobby Rush is an entertaining showman and an American treasure.

www.timholekblues.ca

Photography copyright © 2006 by Tim Holek, all rights reserved.
This review is copyright © 2006 by Tim Holek, and BluesArtStudio, all rights reserved.
Copy, duplication or download prohibited without written permission.
For permission to use this review please send an E-mail to: bluesart@bluesart.at.

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