Bobby Rush
Sitting On Top of the Blues
Deep Rush Records/Thirty Tigers
When I popped Sitting on Top of the Blues into my CD player, I thought I was listening to a cleaned-up reissue of a vintage blues album. It has that feel of a Chicago blues album from the late ’50s through sometime in the late ’60s. The sound is too clean. This is something brand new from Bobby Rush that inhabits the feel of old time, Southside jukes while carrying that feel into the present. That makes sense since Rush has been playing music since the ’50s and has had hits and earned awards through the decades.
Sitting On Top Of The Blues is Bobby Rush as keeper of the flame. He’s not breaking new ground here, he’s making sure that Chicago blues is alive and well in this age of Autotune. “Recipe for Love” takes us down to the delta with a spare, guitar and voice arrangement. “ Sweet Lizzy” and “Good Stuff” have the that Southside shuffle that make you get up and move. “Pooky Poo” is just a silly love song while “Slow Motion” is a slow burn song about lust. “Shake Till You Get Enough” has the same sort of innuendo and groove of a classic Clarence Carter song.. This may not be the best album that Bobby Rush has ever done, but it certainly testifies to the staying power of the blues. That’s a good enough reason to check it out.
