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Otis Rush (1934)Otis Rush left Mississippi in his teens and went to Chicago. He was involved in the bluesscene by 1955 alongside Buddy Guy (listen) and Magic Sam (listen). He was the first of the Young West Siders to cut a record. His first single "I Can't Quit You Baby" (listen) made the national R&B charts in 1956. Moody and unpredictable Rush can give riveting performances taking blues to another level and even if they are rare, at half throttle he is still worth listing too.
He recorded "Checking On My Baby" (listen), "All Your Love" (listen) and "Double Trouble" (listen) for Cobra (1956-58), turbulent performances whose passion for long afterwards seemed hard to equal though "So Many Roads" Chess (1960) and "Home Work" Duke (1962) came somewhat close.
Nightmarish experiences with record companies kept him from the recognition he deserved in the 1960s and early 1970s. Then in the mid-70s he came back with albums that fairly represented his talent, like "Rigth Place, Wrong Time" (listen) (Bullfrog) and "Cold Day In Hell" (listen) (Delmark). The Japanese tour in 1975 was well received and generated the excellent live album, "So Many Roads" (listen) (Delmark).
For most of the 1980s Otis Rush was sidelined by depression or disenchantment but came charging back in the 1990s with the album "Ain't Enough Comin' In" (listen) (This Way Up), giving him a 1994 W.C.Handy Award as Male Blues Artist Of the Year, as well as a Grammy in 1998 for "Any Place I'm Going"(listen), released on House Of Blues Music Co.
Otis Rush has been a major inspiration to younger white blues players in particular. Stevie Ray Vaughan (listen) named his band after Otis' song "Double Trouble". Otis Rush continues to perform today and still resides in Chicago.
Here is a taste of Otis Rush:
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