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Otis Rush
Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s artists Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound became known as West Side Chicago blues and was an influence on many musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green and Eric Clapton.
Rush was left-handed and played as such; however, his guitars were strung with the low E string at the bottom, upside-down from typical guitarists. He often played with the little finger of his pick hand curled under the low E for positioning. It is widely believed that this contributed to his distinctive sound. He had a wide-ranging, powerful tenor voice.
Otis Rush was born near Philadelphia, Mississippi, in 1934 during the Great Depression, the son of sharecroppers Julia Campbell Boyd and Otis C. Rush. He was one of seven children, and worked on the farm throughout his childhood. His mother regularly took him out of school, so he could add to the family income when the cotton was high and white landowners wanted extra labor.
Music was his solace. He sang in gospel choirs and taught himself to play guitar and harmonica, playing on street corners. "This is where my soul came from. This is where my faith started." He said of Neshoba County.
Determined not to spend his life in the cotton fields, he moved north to Chicago at the age of 14, working in stockyards and steel mills and driving a horse-drawn coal wagon, hanging out in the city's blues clubs at night.
Otis moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1949 and, after being inspired by watching Muddy Waters, worked on his craft and made a name for himself playing in blues clubs on the South and West Sides of the city, initially using the name Little Otis. Willie Dixon caught his act and signed him to Cobra Records, a local independent label. From 1956 to 1958, with Dixon producing, Cobra recorded and released eight tracks, the songs that made him famous, including "Double Trouble", "All Your Love (I Miss Loving), and Three Times a Fool", some featuring Ike Turner or Jody Williams on guitar. Cobra and Otis' first single, "I Can't Quit You Baby", was a national hit in 1956, reaching number six on the Billboard R&B chart. It stayed on the chart for six weeks. Cash Box named his next release, "My Love Will Never Die", their Award of the Week and in a 1957 Cash Box poll, the nation's R&B disc jockeys voted him ihe Most Promising Up and Coming Male Vocalist.
Now, as a big-drawing, hot act in Chicago's clubs with his fiery guitar work and passionate vocals, he toured nationally as part of R&B and rock and roll package shows with Little Richard, Buddy Holly and The Crickets, and Carl Perkins and The Drifters, playing at top venues such as the Apollo in New York City. He got tired of touring and went back to Chicago, playing clubs again and drawing good crowds, though for the most part, his Cobra sides did not chart nationally despite their excellence.
On his recommendation, Cobra recorded Magic Sam in 1957 and Buddy Guy in ’58 with Otis playing rhythm guitar on Buddy's first Chicago recording. In 1959, Cobra went bankrupt. Rush followed Dixon to Chess Records and signed a recording contract with them in 1960. He recorded eight tracks for the label, though they only released four, two singles, including the blistering, emotion drenched classic, "So Many Roads". Chess eventually released all eight tracks on the album Door to Door in 1969, a compilation that included their Albert King recordings. Unhappy with Chess' tightfisted control, he signed with Duke Records. While Chess didn't do much for him, Duke did less. They recorded him in only one four song session and issued only one single, "Homework" backed with "I Have to Laugh" which Vocalion released in the UK in 1963, his first overseas release.
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Otis Rush
Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s artists Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound became known as West Side Chicago blues and was an influence on many musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green and Eric Clapton.
Rush was left-handed and played as such; however, his guitars were strung with the low E string at the bottom, upside-down from typical guitarists. He often played with the little finger of his pick hand curled under the low E for positioning. It is widely believed that this contributed to his distinctive sound. He had a wide-ranging, powerful tenor voice.
Otis Rush was born near Philadelphia, Mississippi, in 1934 during the Great Depression, the son of sharecroppers Julia Campbell Boyd and Otis C. Rush. He was one of seven children, and worked on the farm throughout his childhood. His mother regularly took him out of school, so he could add to the family income when the cotton was high and white landowners wanted extra labor.
Music was his solace. He sang in gospel choirs and taught himself to play guitar and harmonica, playing on street corners. "This is where my soul came from. This is where my faith started." He said of Neshoba County.
Determined not to spend his life in the cotton fields, he moved north to Chicago at the age of 14, working in stockyards and steel mills and driving a horse-drawn coal wagon, hanging out in the city's blues clubs at night.
Otis moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1949 and, after being inspired by watching Muddy Waters, worked on his craft and made a name for himself playing in blues clubs on the South and West Sides of the city, initially using the name Little Otis. Willie Dixon caught his act and signed him to Cobra Records, a local independent label. From 1956 to 1958, with Dixon producing, Cobra recorded and released eight tracks, the songs that made him famous, including "Double Trouble", "All Your Love (I Miss Loving), and Three Times a Fool", some featuring Ike Turner or Jody Williams on guitar. Cobra and Otis' first single, "I Can't Quit You Baby", was a national hit in 1956, reaching number six on the Billboard R&B chart. It stayed on the chart for six weeks. Cash Box named his next release, "My Love Will Never Die", their Award of the Week and in a 1957 Cash Box poll, the nation's R&B disc jockeys voted him ihe Most Promising Up and Coming Male Vocalist.
Now, as a big-drawing, hot act in Chicago's clubs with his fiery guitar work and passionate vocals, he toured nationally as part of R&B and rock and roll package shows with Little Richard, Buddy Holly and The Crickets, and Carl Perkins and The Drifters, playing at top venues such as the Apollo in New York City. He got tired of touring and went back to Chicago, playing clubs again and drawing good crowds, though for the most part, his Cobra sides did not chart nationally despite their excellence.
On his recommendation, Cobra recorded Magic Sam in 1957 and Buddy Guy in ’58 with Otis playing rhythm guitar on Buddy's first Chicago recording. In 1959, Cobra went bankrupt. Rush followed Dixon to Chess Records and signed a recording contract with them in 1960. He recorded eight tracks for the label, though they only released four, two singles, including the blistering, emotion drenched classic, "So Many Roads". Chess eventually released all eight tracks on the album Door to Door in 1969, a compilation that included their Albert King recordings. Unhappy with Chess' tightfisted control, he signed with Duke Records. While Chess didn't do much for him, Duke did less. They recorded him in only one four song session and issued only one single, "Homework" backed with "I Have to Laugh" which Vocalion released in the UK in 1963, his first overseas release.
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