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Bobby Rush
LIVE AT GROUND ZERO
(Deep Rush Visuals)
Stars graphics

Bobby Rush is one of the wildest entertainers in blues — a veteran who ran with Muddy Waters and other classic performers during his formative musical years in Chicago and today is the undisputed king of the chitlin circuit. If you’ve never seen him live, you should note that this concert-length-DVD-and-music-CD set captures Rush in solid form, if maybe a bit reserved before the cameras, in the Clarksdale (Mississippi) club Ground Zero. Imagine Redd Foxx with a dirtier mind and a cleaner mouth and you’ve got a bead on Rush.

Flanked by his booty-shaking dancers, he crafts the performance from his horny showmanship, his spot-on ability as a singer, harpman, guitarist, and bandleader, and a knack for writing tunes that brim with playful down-home wit. His hard-edged singing and youthful and vigorous antics make it hard to believe he’s been on stages for 50 years. And the gritty funk and smooth soul blues riffs that fuel crowd-pleasing numbers like the lusty "You, You, You" and hits like the double-entendre-laden sexual plea "Chicken Heads" take him even farther from the music’s traditional realm. Both discs cover the 11-song concert, and the music disc adds two bonus tracks: the Rush favorites "Sue," a playful tale of sexual initiation, and "That Thang," a slinky funk update of Willie Dixon’s classic "Same Thing."

BY TED DROZDOWSKI


Issue Date: February 20 - 26, 2004
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