With his guitar's distinctively shimmering tremolo and a whiskey-soaked, melancholy lilt, Otis Rush provided the bridge between the Delta and urban blues of yore and the 1960s brand of reverent rock championed by the likes of Eric Clapton and John Mayall. Born in Mississippi, his heart in Chicago, Rush signed with Cobra in the 1950s, and even scored an R&B Top Ten hit with "I Can't Quit You Baby." While his recordings for Chess, Vanguard, Capitol, and other labels often went unreleased, such travails barely slowed his legend. Save for a brief retirement in the early '80s, Rush continued to tour up until a non-fatal stroke in 2003. He died in 2018 at the age of 83. ~ Jason Thurston