Otis Rush

I'm Matt the Cat, and we're featuring the legendary Ike Turner on this week's Juke in the Back, your weekly source for 1940s and 50s rhythm and blues.

Up next is an early Otis Rush record, released on Cobra in 1958.

Chess Records' own Willie Dixon, who played bass on that last number, is producing and playing bass on this one.

The Great Little Brother Montgomery is on piano, Jackie Brenston and Harold Ashby are on saxes, and Billy Gales, who we heard sing and lead a couple of records ago on I'm Tore Up, is playing drums on this one.

Stevie Ray Vaughan would name his band Double Trouble after the title of this song.

And it's believed that it's Ike Turner playing the guitar licks throughout this entire record and not Otis Rush.

Here's a true blues classic that's become a standard.

Otis Rush and his band with Double Trouble as we feature Ike Turner this week on The Juke in the Back.

Born on August 31, 1962, she quickly immersed herself in Chicago's legendary blues music scene and built a reputation for fiery performances and exceptional slide guitar work.

Throughout her career, Connor has shared stages with blues greats including Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Coco Taylor, Otis Rush, and Magic Slim.

Recorded by Muddy Waters at Chess Records on September 1, 1954, I'm Ready became one of the signature songs of the Chicago blues era.

Written by Willie Dixon and inspired by a playful exchange between Muddy Waters and harmonica player Willie Foster, the song showcased the confidence and larger-than-life imagery that defined many classic blues recordings.

The 2016 Blues Music Awards when he won Guitar Player of the Year.

We played, I think it was 2019, at the Chicago Blues Fest when they honored Otis Rush.

Otis was there.

I got to meet Otis and his family.

Yes.

So I recently acquired a beautiful, one-of-a-kind Ebony Gibson ES-335, and It's a very special guitar because it belonged to one of my biggest inspirations, the great Bobby Murray.

And as you may know, Marco, Bobby played with the legendary Etta James for many, many years, along with countless other inspirational figures in the blues industry, including Otis Rush.

And I've known Bobby for quite some time.

regret.

So let the room get a little smokier, the smiles a little more crooked, and let's dive into Double Trouble with Otis Rush.

Thank you.

I lay waking nights, folks in love, just so troubled.

All right, Sleaze Wings.

We're taking a turn for the creepy and sad.

And that was kicked off with Otis Rush and his band, Double Trouble.

Now brace yourselves for Tony Clark, They Call Me a Wrong Man.

way of turning into regret.

So let the room get a little smokier, the smiles a little more crooked, and let's dive into Double Trouble with Otis Rush.

Thank you.

I lay waking nights, folks in love, just so troubled.

All right, Sleaze Wings.

We're taking a turn for the creepy and sad.

And that was kicked off with Otis Rush and his band, Double Trouble.

Now brace yourselves for Tony Clark, They Call Me a Wrong Man.

It's, uh, "I Me Mine," which is a George Harrison song.

Uh, and I would listen to it, and I heard the version in my head that was kind of like a minor key Otis Rush, West Side Chicago take on it.

Um, and once I heard that in my head, it became so obvious that that's the way I would do it, that I immediately Googled to see if there had been 10 other blues bands that had covered it.

Because once I had that idea, it's like, "This is too obvious." Um, and I couldn't find anyone having covered it.

That particular cut that he did of Casanova, that was his only 45 in name mentioned on any album or anything.

He was basically a background guitar player, played for Bobby Brubland, Otis Rush.

He was in the house band of the Royal Theater in Chicago, did a lot of session work in Chicago.

But that was his only one that, his only song that he actually put his name on it.

Well, we're going to stay with blues just for a second here.

Just tell us about your connection with the great late blues man from Chicago, Otis Rush.

And, you know, fortunately, he died about eight years ago or something like that.

Tell us about you and Otis Rush.

Yeah, I mean, it was kind of a weird thing because I didn't know he was a legend in the blues.

Like, my whole life, I just, I never knew that.

I mean, who else would be able [laughs] to bring those two together and seat them next to each other? Tell us about getting to know Big Joe and his wife.

Well, I lived, um, on 16th Street, around the corner from Tramps, and the guy who ran Tramps, uh, wonderful, uh, big Irishman named Terry Dunn, very clever guy, because he loved, you know, Big Joe Turner, Johnny Copeland, James Booker, uh, Otis Rush, uh, Charles Brown, and he would hire people to do a residency.

And Tramps was this wonderful, you know, crazy little bar, uh, with a back room.

But you could sit at the bar, you know, literally 10 steps away from the stage, uh, and not have to pay a cover, and just sit at the bar and have a drink and hear any of those guys.