Photos taken at Poor David's Pub in Dallas by Alan Mercer
Bobby Rush...2017 GRAMMY winning blues legend, Blues Hall of Famer, 12x Blues Music Award winner, and B.B. King Entertainer of the Year!
After decades of tearing up the chitlin’ circuit on a nightly basis with his sweaty, no-holds-barred funkfests, Bobby has thoroughly broken through to the mainstream. He won a long-overdue 2017 Grammy for his spectacular album Porcupine Meat and consistently tours the globe as a headliner. What’s more, Bobby’s brand-new album ‘Sitting on Top of the Blues’ on his own Deep Rush imprint (distributed by Thirty Tigers) promises to further spread the news that this revered legend, well past 80 years of age even if his stratospheric energy level belies the calendar, is bigger and badder and bolder than ever.
Born Emmett Ellis, Jr. outside Homer, La. His daddy was a preacher and knew enough about a harmonica to pass along a few riffs to his progeny, who twanged a diddley bow before picking up a guitar around age 11. The senior Ellis relocated his family to Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1948. While still a teen, Emmett donned a fake moustache to play in local juke joints with the band, fascinated by enthusiasm of the crowds. His family relocated to Chicago in 1953, where he became part of the local blues scene in the following decade. In Chicago he met and befriended his neighbor, Muddy Waters, and began working for Jimmy Reed. Through these connections he began performing on a circuit with Etta James, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy Reed. When young Emmett went professional as a blues musician, he changed his moniker so as to not disrespect his devout dad.
Bobby Rush was born. He played with Delta blues guitarists Boyd Gilmore and Elmore James in Arkansas during the early ’50s before migrating to Chicago. There he assembled a band with an equally young Freddie King on guitar (Luther Allison came into the combo later). Rush gigged around the West Side and in the southern suburbs of the Windy City, but it took until 1964 for him to debut on record with the tough downbeat blues “Someday” for the Jerry-O logo. He encored with “You’re the One for Me” for the Palos imprint, a single so obscure that a copy couldn’t be located for inclusion on Omnivore Recordings’ award-winning four-CD box set Chicken Heads: A 50-Year History of Bobby Rush, which spanned his entire career to that point.
In 1971, Bobby broke through on the national charts with the lowdown funk grinder “Chicken Heads” for Galaxy Records. The song has since been featured in the film Black Snake Moan, HBO’s Ballers, and more.
The sparkling album Rush Hour for Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International empire should have made Bobby a huge star in 1979 but didn’t receive its proper praise until the 2000s, when Rolling Stone recognized it as one of the best blues albums of the ’70s. An encore LP was summarily shelved, and before long Rush moved back south to Jackson, Mississippi, where his legion of fans eagerly embraced him. The lascivious “Sue” didn’t chart for him in 1983 on the LaJam imprint, but it blasted out of countless ghetto jukeboxes and sold over a million records.
His reputation for spectacular live performances growing exponentially as he did a minimum of 200 shows a year, Bobby built a vaunted reputation on the chitlin’ circuit and cut a series of memorable albums. His mainstream recognition campaign commenced when he earned his first Grammy nomination for his 2000 album Hoochie Man, followed by an appearance in the Martin Scorsese-produced 2003 PBS docu-series The Blues with his own segment in the episode The Road to Memphis. As a result of the Scorsese film, Rolling Stone magazine named him "'King of the Chitlin' Circuit' because of his 50 years of relentless touring and colorful live show."
To date Bobby has earned 12 Blues Music Awards and 48 nominations, including the prestigious B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award and Album of the Year. Rush co-starred in the 2014 documentary Take Me to the River alongside Terrence Howard, Snoop Dogg, and Mavis Staples. That same year, Bobby joined Dan Aykroyd on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon to perform two songs, marking his first late-night television appearance. He also performed at the White House along with James Brown when Bill Clinton went into office. In 2014 he again performed for Bill and Hillary Clinton for a state event in Arkansas. He appears in the 2015 documentary film ‘I Am the Blues.’
Bobby’s performance itinerary has encompassed some of the biggest music festivals around the world, from Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis to Byron Bay Bluesfest in Australia, countless European engagements, the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, and closer to home, Bonaroo and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Rush was the first bluesman to perform at the Great Wall of China, attracting an audience of more than 40,000 and earning him the title of “China's Ambassador of the Blues.”
Alan Mercer: Did you ever imagine you would have this expansive and illustrious career?
Bobby Rush: No, I left my little hometown in 1947. I went to Pine Bluff, Arkansas with my father who was a preacher and a pastor for a church. In 1949 I met Little Walter, BB King and Elmo James. In 1950 I went up to Memphis and met Rufus Thomas and Jimmy Reed, who was out of Leland, Mississippi on his way to Chicago. Then I worked on Beale Street in Memphis for a hot minute. Then I went to East St. Louis because I didn’t have enough money to make it all the way to Chicago.
AM: How long did you stay in East St, Louis?
BR: Long enough to make $6.00 so I could make it to Chicago. I made it to Chicago in 1951 and Muddy Waters was there, Little Walter was there, Willie Dixon was there in 1952.
AM: You must have met and known everybody.
BR: Bo Didley and Chuck Berry came in 1953, along with Moms Mabley. In 1955 Little Milton and Howlin’ Wolf came to Chicago and went back to Memphis. Ike Turner did the same thing. Buddy Guy and Etta James came in 1957.
AM: What an amazing life you’ve had knowing all these people.
BR: Jimmy Reed told me that CJ Records wanted to hire me. From that time up to now, I have been recording 67 years. I have recorded 394 records and my new release is my 78th CD.
AM: This new album is another instant classic. I love that you re-recorded your classic, ‘Bowlegged Woman’ for this new album.
BR: It is a classic of mine. I re-recorded it because I do it on stage all the time. I’m always talking about a bowlegged woman and a knock-kneed man.
AM: You are very famous for your live performances and shows. Is that something you developed over time?
BR: No, I never worked on it. It’s just me. I’m a comedian and it comes out when you see me on stage. This goes back to what you originally asked me. I never thought I would be this guy to turn into a star.
AM: Really!?!
BR: I never thought I would make any money because, after I’d been in the business for twenty years BB King told me, “Bobby Rush, you’re going someplace. You’re gonna make a lot of money.” I couldn’t realize that I could make a lot of money doing what I was doing because I was loving what I was doing so much I would have done it for no money. I was doing it for the love of the music.
AM: You’ve been in several documentaries lately.
BR: Because I won’t go away. I’m always up in somebody’s face and in their way. (Laughter) God has blessed me to be around long enough to get some goodies back now. I don’t take it for granted.
AM: You look a good twenty years younger and you’re handsome!
BR: I don’t know about the looks; I just know that I’m blessed. In 1957 I had a beer with Muddy Waters. I hadn’t had one before or since and I never smoked. If a big legged girl walks by, I still enjoy looking. I got no business doing it I know.
AM: How did you earn the moniker of King of the Chitlin’ Circuit?
BR: That came about because I always wanted to cross over but I never wanted to cross out as a Black Man Blues Singer. So, I was the King of the Chitlin’ Circuit. This started way back in the early fifties when I was working my first job on the Southside of Chicago in an all-white neighborhood and club where I had to play behind a curtain because they wanted to hear my music but they didn’t want to see my face.
AM: All my favorite performers worked the Chitlin Circuit.
BR: We all came up that way. I feel so blessed and happy that nowadays when I walk out into a crowd, the whites and the blacks know who I am. There are some Blues Singers now who only have a white audience. The black audience doesn’t know who they are. Now Buddy Guy and I are the oldest ones out here. I’m a little older than he is. He looks good and he’s a good friend. I respect him greatly.
AM: I listened to your album ‘Rush Hour’ recently. That is timeless. Do you sing any of that album in your show?
BR: (Singing) “Do the do, Do the do, Get on down and do the do.” Not in a long time. You have to do the songs that people come to see you do and whatever songs are on the radio for the time being. There are a few songs like ‘Chicken Head’ and ‘Bowlegged Woman’ and ‘I Ain't Studdin You’ that are standards that people will always know me from that.
AM: Yes, you stand out as an entertainer.
BR: Also, that jokey thing I do with the ladies on stage, my audience looks for that.
AM: Your show with those ladies is AMAZING! Just Wow!
BR: I planned that. I created that to have this blackness because coming from where I come from, the ladies ain’t just ladies. It’s an image I have as a black man with the ladies, especially the big butt ladies, all the way back to Africa.
AM: They do suit your show very well.
BR: I’m one of the few guys who never forgot who I am and I’m so thankful that people respect me for what I do and who I am. I never had to change what I do. Many black men had to change their image in order to satisfy their white audience, but I never did this. It was hard when I first came out to crossover to a white audience. They looked at the girls like I was some kind of pimp.
AN: Oh, I’m sure of that.
BR: You see, this is what black people do. We shoot marbles, we play ball, we run, we jump, we dance, we tell jokes and have a good time, we party and then we go to work. That’s the tradition of a black man. I’m just me.
AM: That’s why you have success. Can you comment on the current racial problems we are having today?
BR: I will give you my opinion about it. A lot of things have changed, but it seems most of the things that have changed remain the same. Not only that things have changed, they’ve gotten a little worse.
AM: What do you mean exactly?
BR: What got worse about the change is that now people are out and open about what they think about the change. There have been laws made that you must treat a man equal, but no law made on a man’s heart that you must think differently.
AM: Wow, that is so true!
BR: I’m here to let people know that I’m one of the blessed people in this world. I don’t have no chip on my shoulder about anything or no one. I didn’t have to work in the cotton field for no white guy. The only black guy I worked in the field for was my father. My father contracted cotton field and we got up and went to work in the fields from sunup to sundown for no money. I did it for my father.
AM: That’s powerful.
BR: I didn’t know anything about the racial problem. My mother could get anything she wanted. Here’s one of the reasons why. On my mom’s side there’s no black people. My mom was blue eyed and had blonde hair. Whenever I went out in public, my mother became my babysitter. My daddy was her chauffeur many times, but he was her husband at home. We were always able to get what we wanted in the stores because my mom was a white lady. Because of this, I don’t know anything about having a hard time.
AM: This is your personal experience. I love that.
BR: I didn’t know anything about it until I was grown. Then I found out what I never knew existed. Why do you think I was singing behind a curtain? I thought that was a way of life. I didn’t know they didn’t want to see my face. I wasn’t raised up like that. I never had to work for anyone except my dad when I was a kid.
AM: So, you’ve been a musician forever.
BR: I painted a mustache on my face when I couldn’t grow one yet. I wanted to look 18 to be able to get in the club. In 1954, I went to Rock Island, Illinois and I went to a place where you had to be over 21 to enter. I was only 20 and almost 21 in a few weeks. The owner wanted me to emcee. I made $15.00 a night. I was paying Muddy Waters $5.50 a night because I’m a businessman. Then I got someone else to be the emcee for $12.00 a night so I made a $3.00 profit. Then I called up the owner and told him I found an even better emcee, but he was more expensive, and his name is the Tramp.
AM: You really were being a businessman.
BR: There was no Tramp. It was me but now I was making $18.00 a night. (Laughter) I got me some clothes at the Goodwill, painted my mustache on, put on a hat and got on stage and told jokes as the Tramp. Then I would say, “Ladies and gentlemen, now it’s star time. Here’s Mr. Bobby Rush!” Then I’d step off stage take the coat and mustache off and walk back out on stage as Bobby Rush. I was making 2 incomes.
AM: That is amazing!
BR: About 2 or 3 weeks later, the owner called me into his office and said, “Sit down.” Then he told me I was a lying so and so. I acted like I didn’t know what he was taking about. Then he said, “You told me you had the Tramp coming out and you’re this damn Tramp. You’ve been taking my damn money all this time. I’ve been paying you twice, you done messed me up, but you’re good so keep it up! (laughter) Man, what a relief! He didn’t take my money.
AM: How long did you do double duty?
BR: I went on the stage for another couple of weeks and then I got bold with my career, I decided to come out of the closet. After I did, this lady came up to me and said, “Bobby Rush, I liked it better when you thought we didn’t know who you was.” (Laughter)
AM: What a fun story. Are you writing your autobiography yet?
BR: I think I just landed a book deal. The guy who wrote the Earth, Wind & Fire book came to me. People have been coming to me for the past twelve years. I’ve been writing things down for that long about what I’m gonna do with this book. I didn’t want to do this book because what I knew and what I could talk about and tell reflects so much on friends of mine who were still living, so I didn’t talk about it. When the truth comes out about some of this stuff and that includes stuff about me, it’s going to make people laugh, but it’s going to make some people cry. Luckily, I learned from the many mistakes I made.
AM: That’s because you’re smart.
BR: Well, I’m smart enough to know I don’t know anything. They offered me a good deal, so I figured somebody wants to know what I have to say.
AM: Many people do.
BR: I recorded at Chess with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. I got one more story for you. Muddy Waters had a birthday party when he turned 30. He invited me and Little Walter to his birthday party. I forgot about the party until 10:30 so I ran over there and Muddy Waters was hanging out of the window and when he saw me, he yelled, “Blood! Come on up man. You’re late. I’ve been telling everybody my little brother was coming.” Now why would Muddy Waters be so crazy about me? I was nothing but a teenager and he was a grown man. I went up to his room and he had ten ladies in there, and he introduced me. The ladies started kissing all over me. I liked that! I asked them how old they were, and they were all late twenties and early thirties. I slipped out the backdoor and left Muddy Waters with all those old ladies. (Laughter) I think about that now…I left Muddy Waters because the ladies was too old.
To learn more about Bobby Rush visit his website https://www.bobbyrushbluesman.com/