Blues legend Bobby Rush to be 'Dr. Rush' with honorary degree from Rhodes College

John Beifuss
Memphis Commercial Appeal

Musician Bobby Rush soon will be able to add the title "Dr. Rush" to a list of informal accolades that includes "King of the Chitlin' Circuit" and "International Dean of the Blues."

The ever-upbeat Mid-South blues legend who has contributed such observations as "I'm not henpecked, I've just been pecked by the right hen," "What's good for the goose is good for the gander, too" and "She must have a booga bear up under there" to the cultural discourse will be this year's recipient of the Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Rhodes College, the school announced Thursday.

"I'm on cloud nine, man," said Rush, 87, in a phone interview from his home in Jackson, Mississippi. "This means everything to me."

From "King of the Chitlin' Circuit" to "Dr. Rush": Bobby Rush.

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Known for his bone-deep authenticity, his outrageous stage show and a string of recordings that began in 1971 with "Chicken Heads" and continued over the decades with such memorable titles as "I Ain't Studdin' You," "Bowlegged Woman, Knock-Kneed Man" and "Booga Bear," Rush will receive the degree May 15 during the college's commencement ceremony at the Liberty Bowl. 

The honorary degree puts a celebratory exclamation point on a rough year that found the tireless concert road warrior not only cooped at home due to the novel coronavirus but battling COVID-19 at an early stage in the pandemic.

"Feb. 28, I was the first man I know of in Mississippi who came down with it, but God embraced me and put his hands around me and brought me out of it," Rush said. "This was one of the worst years I ever had since I was chopping cotton in a cotton field."

"That's the blues for you right there," said John Bass, director of the Mike Curb Institute for Music at Rhodes College. "Bobby Rush, in his 80s, beating COVID."

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Rush began a partnership with the Curb Institute and Rhodes about a decade ago, participating in symposiums, teaching a course called "Music and Community in Memphis," serving as the inaugural Curb Visiting Scholar in the Arts, and, most recently, recording a funkified version of "America the Beautiful" at Memphis' famous Royal Studios with fellow blues veterans Eddie Cotton and Fuzzy Jeffries and the participation of Rhodes students. The recording will be released digitally later this month.

Born under the name Emmett Ellis Jr. in Louisiana and raised in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Rush began performing in juke joints as a teenager and soon had experience on stages from Chicago to Memphis and beyond. His comedic and often sexually suggestive songs found early favor in nightclubs and on such radio stations as Memphis' WDIA; later, he returned to his country-blues roots and found more formal recognition, winning Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Blues Album and being inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Bobby Rush plays music on his front porch in Jackson, Miss. Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.

As the author of such songs as "Porcupine Meat" and "Buttermilk Bottom," Rush said he never expected to be recognized in an academic setting, where the Gothic architecture is more Shakespeare than "chitlin' circuit," and where past recipients of the Honorary Doctorate in Humanities have included the Rev. James Lawson, the civil rights activist, and Dr. William Evans of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

"People don't associate the blues with education," he said. "But just because I sing the blues don't mean I don't have knowledge of other things in life."

"I think he cares deeply about sharing his stories and experiences with young people, and hearing their stories, as well," Bass said. "We're honored that we can share the side of Bobby Rush that we know at Rhodes, that of a consummate professional who talks to young people about justice, about music and about coming together to overcome challenges."