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Bobby Rush
(Photo by James Patterson)
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LOS ANGELES, Calif. — When you’ve
played with Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters,
and Jimmy
Reed, you must be on to something. When
you’ve had a multi-generational career in music, spanning blues, soul and
funk, that’s something else.
Bobby Rush’s
incredible half century of recorded music is ready to be devoured by those
who’ve never tasted and those who want another helping on Chicken Heads: A
50-Year History of Bobby Rush,
due out November 27, 2015
on Omnivore
Recordings.
Nearly 100 tracks from the three-time Grammy®
nominee’s storied career are finally
collected in this unprecedented set. Including his Checker, Galaxy,
and Jewel
sides through Philadelphia International, Malaco/Waldoxy,
LaJam, and Urgent cuts,
as well as material from his own Deep Rush
label, Chicken Heads
tells the story of Bobby Rush:
unfiltered, unedited and unbelievable. With almost five hours of music on
four CDs, Chicken Heads
traces his career from 1964’s “Someday”
through the title track, from 1979 collaborations with Gamble &
Huff to tracks from 2004’s FolkFunk.
The 32-page, full-color booklet is filled
with photos, ephemera, liner notes from Bill Dahl
and testimonials from friends and fans including Mavis Staples,
Keb’ Mo’, Elvin Bishop, Denise LaSalle, Leon Huff, Al Bell, and
many more. With mastering and restoration by Grammy®
winner Michael Graves, Bobby’s vintage
recordings have never sounded better.
Born in Homer, La. in 1933, Rush cut his
musical teeth in the Pine Bluff, Ark. area with the likes of Elmore James
and
Big Moose Walker. A move to
Chicago in the 1950s put him in the company of Muddy Waters
and
Jimmy Reed, and led to sessions at the city’s
Chess
Records. 1971’s “Chicken Heads” proved his
breakthrough, notching #34 on the Billboard R&B
chart. He since recorded for a variety of labels and relocated in the 1980s
to the Deep South, where he became one of the kings of the Chitlin’ Circuit.
His crossover began largely in the early 2000s when he was included in the Martin Scorsese-produced,
Clint
Eastwood-directed The Blues
documentary for PBS.
Since then, he’s received three Grammy®
nominations and 41 Blues Music Award
nominations (of which he’s won ten,
including 2015’s award for B.B. King Entertainer of the Year).
He performed with Dan Aykroyd
and
the Roots on The Tonight Show
With Jimmy Fallon in 2014, and
appeared in the documentary film Take Me to the
River, pairing blues and soul legends
with young artists. At the age of 80, he still performs more than 200 shows
all over the world.
Mavis Staples attests, “He’s
been a longtime friend, an honorable man, and my father loved him. He’s a
joyful, happy person, and that rubs off on you when you run into him — you
can’t help but feel good when you’re around Bobby. He’s always been
respectful of me and my sisters, and he was like a son to Pops.
I’m a big fan.”
According to Rush, “It’s very exciting.
Truly I feel honored that someone would think enough of me to do this. The
record side of it is the glory side of me and that’s the side that I want
people to know and I’m grateful for that. I’m happy that someone thought
before I leave this land to tell my story. I’m proud of it and flattered
about it. I want the world to know that this is my first time and I want to
say it for people to be enthused about me. I’m not enthused about all of
the songs because at the time I didn’t think they were all good. But after
you become a ‘legend,’ you look back and it all looks good. There are
things you had in the can you didn’t want to put out, and then you get
asked what you have in the can that’s never been heard to put it out.”
As annotator Dahl comments at the opening
of his essay: “Blues never get funkier than when Bobby Rush swaggers up to
the mic and lets fly with his homespun truisms. He’s always in motion,
always smiling, always on fire as his skintight band cooks up irresistible
elastic grooves behind him.”
So, prepare to get funky with Chicken Heads: A
50-Year History of Bobby Rush!
DISC ONE:
1. Someday
2. Let Me Love You
3. Sock Boo Ga Loo
4. Much Too Much
5. Gotta Have Money
6. Camel Walk
7. Wake Up
8. The Things That I Used To Do
9. Let It All Hang Out
10. Just Be Yourself
11. Done Got Good To Me, Part 1
12. Chicken Heads
13. Mary Jane
14. Gotta Be Funky
15. Gotta Find You Girl
16. Bowlegged Woman, Knock-Kneed Man Part 1
17. Niki Hoeky
18. She’s A Good ’Un
19. Get Out Of Here, Part 1
20. I’m Still Waiting
21. She Put The Whammy On Me
DISC TWO:
1. I Wanna Do The Do
2. Hey Western Union Man
3. Let’s Do It Together
4. Be Still
5. Talk To Your Daughter
6. Sue (Single Version)
7. Making A Decision (Single Version)
8. Bertha Jean (Single Version)
9. What’s Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gander
10. Dr. Funk
11. Never Would Have Thought It
12. A Man Can Give It (But He Can’t Take It)
13. Nine Below Zero
14. I Ain’t Studdin’ You (Single Version)
15. You, You, You (Know What To Do)
16. Time To Hit The Road Again
17. I’m Gone
18. Handy Man
19. One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show
DISC THREE:
1. Hen Pecked
2. She’s So Fine
3. Buttermilk Bottom
4. Big Fat Woman
5. Booga Bear
6. Hoochie Man
7. Scootchin’
8. He Got My Attention
9. Always On My Mind
10. Wet Match
11. Undercover Lover
12. Tough Titty
13. When She Loves Ya
14. Evil (Live)
15. Ride In My Automobile
16. River’s Invitation
DISC FOUR:
1. Feeling Good (Pt. 1)
2. Night Fishin’
3. Take Me To The River
4. Help Me
5. Howlin’ Wolf
6. Uncle Esau
7. What’s Goin’ On
8. I Got 3 Problems
9. Blind Snake
10. Show You A Good Time
11. Down In Louisiana
12. You Just Like A Dresser
13. Swing Low
14. Another Murder In New Orleans –
Dr. John And Bobby
Rush With Blinddog Smokin’
15. Sittin’ Here Waitin’ –
Bobby Rush With
Blinddog Smokin’
16. If That’s The Way You Like It – Bobby Rush With
Blinddog Smokin’
17. Push And Pull – Featuring Frayser Boy
18. Dedication (Excerpt)
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