Blues Man

Eighty-six years young with 26 albums to his credit, Bobby Rush, a native of Tallulah, Louisiana, is like Ole Man River, he just keeps rolling along. Like many of his past releases, Rush’s style is somewhat predictable, but his brand of blues-funk is always pleasing to his many fans on CD and live. He likes to mimic selected lyrics from an older blues number and then put it into a new song and arrangement. On the opener “Hey Hey Bobby Rush” he does it again borrowing from Howlin’ Wolf. Our man declares several times “I’m a blues man,” but this is way more funk than blues, featuring a hypnotic groove along with some bluesy harmonica. He latter brags on his “good thing” and declares indeed she is “good stuff,” largely because she wears “skin-tight britches.” She’s also cited in the catchy “You Got the Goods on You” which features an up-tempo, bluesy guitar and Rush’s attractive downhome harmonica. His playing on “Bobby Rush Shuffle” does indeed prove he is a “blues man” as this track is in the tradition of a Little Walter instrumental. The only real traditional blues here is the slow “Recipe For Love” (not Muddy’s song) that features some fine acoustic picking and as usual, clever ribald lyrics. (‘I want a slice of her cake, and a piece of her pie.’) As predictable as “Slow Motion” is, it’s quite amusing with Rush coming off here as a southern soul version of Barry White. The closer “Bowlegged Woman (Knock Kneed Man)” has been a mainstay of Rush’s live sets since he originally recorded the song in 1972—again, Rush updates the original while updating the arrangement and adding some new touches. Honestly, Sitting On Top of the Blues is comparable to his other releases. That being said, all of the Master of Southern Soul’s other 45s, LPs, 8-tracks, cassettes and CDs have always been enjoyable listens.