The Off Beat: Bobby Rush Brings the Funk
90-year-old chats before Blues Fest set with the Blind Boys of Alabama
By Carys Anderson, Fri., April 26, 2024
Apart from ACL and SXSW, April 26-28 might now be one of the biggest weekends on the Austin music calendar. Revamped in 2023 from turn-of-the-century event Antone’s Blues Festival, the Austin Blues Festival stages concerts by Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, and more at Waterloo Park. Meanwhile, the Black Angels’ own refresh, Austin Psych Fest, brings Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, and other rockers to the Far Out Lounge.
To help you choose a weekend destination, the Chronicle spoke with one artist from each: Saturday bluesman Bobby Rush and Friday psych-soul outfit Chicano Batman.
What constitutes blues in 2024? This year’s Austin Blues Festival – which books foundational Chicago guitarist Buddy Guy alongside cheeky bounce music pioneer Big Freedia – offers multiple answers. So does Saturday afternoon performer Bobby Rush, who’s less interested in a musician’s approach than their message.
“We all talk about being in love or making love,” the singer says. “Being up, being down. The ups and downs in life and having a good time. Everybody wishes for the same things in life.”
Ninety-year-old Rush, who also came up in Chicago, brushed against plenty of genre constraints in his own career. “Chicken Heads,” his 1971 calling card, incorporated elements of funk, trading pentatonic scales for a thumping bassline. Maybe that’s why he’s comfortable sharing the Blues Festival stage with the Blind Boys of Alabama, a gospel group.
“The same people you see on Saturday night are the same people you see on Sunday morning,” he says of the not-so-surprising pairing. On his plans to sing his own songs, then come back out and join the 1939-launched troupe for a joint performance, he cracks: “I get up there to be the dirty old man, and they pray for me to clean me up.”
Besides, Rush loves collaborating. In 2022, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of “Chicken Heads” by recording new versions of the song with Gov’t Mule, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, and Buddy Guy. Though it’s not “written in stone,” Rush says he might come out during his longtime friend’s headlining set.
“I’m in my heaven now because I’ve done something with all the guys that came up with me,” Rush says of his generation. “I respect what they do [and] what they have done, so here I am doing it with my co-workers and having fun ... and making some money for a change.”
