Ready For More

Bobby Rush celebrates his first Grammy at the Blues & BBQ Festival.

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Bluesman Bobby Rush is living high off the hog, or at least that’s how the down home, Louisiana native might describe it. “We talk about chickens, donkeys, monkeys and alligators—anything that moves on the ground,” Rush once laughingly proclaimed.

At age 83, the guitarist, vocalist, harmonica player and composer, whose first gold record was 1971’s “Chicken Heads,” is celebrating having been honored with his first Grammy for his deeply soulful, often funky and funny and always straight-up honest 2016 Rounder Records release Porcupine Meat.

“Call me homeboy!” Rush has repeatedly requested from his fellow Louisianans and why he’s so excited to perform in New Orleans for the first time since winning the Grammy. “I’m bringing it back home!” he proudly declares. The Bobby Rush Band, an octet complete with his amazing, well endowed dancing “girls,” headlines on Sunday, October 15 at the 12th annual Blues and BBQ Festival.

Born in Homer, Louisiana, Rush moved to Arkansas in 1947 and several years later headed to Chicago where he spent some 30 years developing and honing his musical craft. He got a bit closer to his home state when he set up shop in Jackson, Mississippi in 1980. Though Rush, who has been the recipient of numerous awards through the decades, hasn’t lived in Louisiana since childhood, he delights in his roots here. In 2014 his album Down in Louisiana received a Grammy nomination, and his Grammy winning