NY Times article, Grammy for Rawer than Raw (spotify), memoir coming out. His wikipedia page shows he seemed to put out a new album most years after 1990. His first album came out in 1979. He's 87 year young, so his first album came out when he was 45. He was born in 1933 in Louisiana. He's not sure when he was born, though, "“All I know is in 1947, I was plowing in the field with a mule,” he said." (NYT) "His book offers three possible birth years — 1940, 1937 and 1934. Rush claims not to know the answer."
His father was a pastor who moved to Arkansas around 1947. Part of what will be interesting in his memoir will be what he says about historical figures in the blues, like Elmore James who died in 1963. James had players in his band who played with Robert Johnson. In 1953, when Rush was 20, his family moved to Chicago, where he became part of the blues scene. In one gig, he played behind a screen for a white audience. Can you imagine that?
"In the early 1970s a song he wrote, "Chicken Heads", released by Galaxy, which became his breakout record after being picked up from a small label started by the former Vee Jay Records producer Calvin Carter. It reached #34 the Billboard R&B chart in 1971.[8] "Chicken Heads" would become Rush's first certified gold certified record in 1971, and would later re-enter the Billboard chart 30 years after its release as a result of its feature in the film Black Snake Moan." (Wikipedia) "He often claims to have made nearly 400 records; the discography in his memoir lists 67, including singles." (NYT)
"Rolling Stone christened him “The King of the Chitlin Circuit,”" (NY Times)
"He was in Chicago over a decade before he cut his first single, “Someday,” released in ’64. He bought a hot dog cart to park outside clubs where he played — and ended up making more money selling hot dogs. In 1969, he opened Bobby’s Barbeque House." (NYT)
"The chapter of his book where he discovers Hazel was cheating on him — including with a police officer who put Rush in jail for a night in order to be with her — is one of many where he admits feeling inferior to his more successful friends." (NYT)
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