Bobby Rush

Bobby Rush is among the most colorful and enduring characters on the contemporary chitlin circuit. While his early singles were raw blues, by the '70s his music had grown into a swampy and cocky hybrid of blues, soul, and funk, as typified by his 1971 hit "Chicken Heads." Rush had been recording singles for 14 years before he released his first album, 1978's Rush Hour. Stripped-down '80s efforts like Gotta Have Money found Rush chilled out, and he did some of his strongest work in the 2000s on LPs like Folkfunk and Raw. At the age of 83, Rush finally won a Grammy Award when 2016's Porcupine Meat was named Best Traditional Blues Album. He replicated this achievement in 2021 when Rawer Than Raw took home the same trophy, as did All My Love for You in 2024. In 2025, he released Young Fashioned in collaboration with guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd.