QUINCY, IL – The Mid-Mississippi Muddy Waters Blues Society (MMMWBS) presents multi-award winning Blues Entertainer of the Year, and Grammy Nominated Artist, Bobby Rush, October 17th. Bobby will to lay down his own, personally described, “folk funk” at the Casino Starlight Room (20th & Cedar St in Quincy, Illinois). The venue is reminiscent of many of the great old “Chitlin Circuit” rooms that Bobby has played over the decades. This 21+ show runs 8pm-12am with doors at 7:30pm. Advanced tickets are $20 at Hy-Vee (36th & Broadway, Quincy) or $25 at the door.

Emmit Ellis Jr., known as Bobby Rush, was born in Homer, Louisiana and started performing in his teens. In 1953 he and his family moved to Chicago, IL where his music education shifted to hyper-speed under the spell of Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Elmore James, and other blues legends.

His 1971’s percolating Chicken Heads became his first R&B top 40 hit, he relocated to Mississippi to be closer to his fan base in the south. His performances grew from small juke joints to nightclubs, civic auditoriums and by the 80’s, Las Vegas casinos and the world’s most prominent blues festivals. Rush’s ascent was depicted in The Road to Memphis, a film co-starring the late King of Blues B.B. King that was part of the 2003 PBS series Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues.

Rush has released nearly 30 albums since the 1970’s. In 2000, the Mississippi Senate in Jackson, MS passed a resolution honoring Rush for his musical career as a writer, song stylist, musician, and producer who is still a hot blues artist today.

Proceeds go toward the MMMWBS’s annual “Blues in the Schools” educational program. Last year’s performance was at “The Showcase of Excellence” held at the Quincy Senior High School where over 40 area wide schools attended with Barrelhouse Chuck and (Quincy’s own…now Chicago resident) John Jochem. Both gave two great educational lessons and three performances (one held at The State Room the evening before).