The King of the Chitlin’ Circuit. The Hardest Working Man in Showbiz. The Funkiest Man Alive. These are just three honorary titles bestowed on Bobby Rush, and he wears them all with joyous pride. Rush had planned to start the new year with two performances in London until Omicron cancelled his entire European tour, but relaxing at home in Jackson, Mississippi, the 88-year old exudes bonhomie. Covid-19 has already disrupted his life plenty, forcing a man who, until 2020, spent the past five decades working over 200 nights a year, to take time out. Did he relax? Rush laughs: “Sure I did. I got busy in my home studio cutting new material.”
This was after he recovered from coronavirus. “I was the first person in Mississippi to get Covid,” says Rush. “It was before they had the vaccines and I got real ill, hospitalised for five weeks. I survived through God’s grace and the fact that I’ve always kept fit, never touched drugs or alcohol. But it sure beat up on me like nothing else before.”
Rush’s 2021 autobiography I Aint Studdin’ Ya details this and many other scrapes in an epic American life. Considering he started performing aged 13 and released his first record in 1964, what’s most remarkable is a work ethic that has seen him win wider acclaim and audiences in recent years – picking up Grammys in 2017 and 2020, appearing in the Eddie Murphy movie Dolemite Is My Name and joining Queens of the Stone Age on stage – than ever before. Unlike John Lee Hooker and Johnny Cash, who were both successfully repositioned in their twilight years, Rush never enjoyed early fame. Instead, his growing audience is due purely to his skill as an entertainer. “People love my show cos I emphasise good times,” he says. “I encourage people to wear a smile, not a frown.”