★★★★★
New Orleans legend Bobby Rush is a pretty great bluesman, a vocalist with a gritty, expressive voice who can belt it out when he needs to or bring things way way down, soft and quiet and slow. His 2013 album Down in Louisiana was a fine piece of work, and it figures that follow-up album Decisions would be strong as well, especially given its range of guest stars include none other than Dr. John himself...
- www.popmatters.com
2014-05-03
★★★★★
Bobby Rush is such a veteran, he has even created his own style, folk-funk, for which the component parts are obvious. After 50-plus years in the game, both his resurgence and ongoing popularity were rewarded with a 2014 Grammy nomination. On his new collection, Decisions, he teams up with Wyoming-via-California band Blinddog Smokin' who complement Rush's vocals and add plenty of their own soul and emotion to the proceedings...
- www.popmatters.com
2014-04-29
★★★★★
Always entertaining, Bobby Rush with this release (and other recent CDs) is becoming the new millennium's soul philosopher. Perhaps odd that a veteran R&B; artist would address the ills of society (Mavis and Pops Staple also did it in the '70s) but I guess it's gotta come from all corners before things start to change.
"Another Murder in New Orleans" (most of this CD was recorded in New Orleans) kicks things off here and is meant to be somewhat a of the album's centerpiece...
- www.offbeat.com
2014-04-22
★★★★★
Bobby Rush has been a legendary figure since his time learning harp alongside Muddy Waters and other greats in the Chicago blues scene. He's been around forever - his hit "Chicken Heads" was released in early '70s, and since then he's been nominated for a Grammy for Hoochie Mama in 2000, and last year's Down in Louisiana. His style of soulful blues reminds you of Bobby Bland or Otis Rush, a gritty, groove-oriented sound that brings to mind late nights in a smoky bar...
- www.ink19.com
2014-04-07
★★★★★
Veteran bluesman Bobby Rush is in fine form with his latest full length, Down in Louisiana. The singer/guitarist has released some two dozen albums since his 1979 debut Rush Hour, and his career has been marked by a steady string of fine albums. Having been nominated for a Grammy award for his 2000 album Hoochie Man, as well as Blues Music Awards for his 2007 effort Raw, Rush is a musician who remains surprisingly unfamiliar to many blues aficianados...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-04-08
★★★★★
A lot of this is fun--I'm delighted to find Leon Huff collaborating with someone who's got funk in his soul, and heartened to hear a protest song about the problem of lost keys. But a lot of it--the witless "Evil Is," the characterless "Hey, Western Union Man"--is dumber than Kenny Gamble.
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
No text for this review; see http://robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg90/grades-90s.php.
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
Like any of Bobby Rush's '90s recordings for Urgent! and Ichiban, Handy Man is a pretty good album that draws from Chicago blues and Southern soul equally. Rush gives some good performances which carry the album through some lame original songs and flat, synth-laden production, complete with robotic drum machines. Of course, this holds true for almost any of Rush's albums, which means you've got to take what you can get, and here you get a couple of good songs balanced by a lot of filler...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
Just as the title implies, Raw is Bobby Rush at his most elemental: a man, his acoustic guitar, and his foot stamping out a beat on an amplified board. A little harmonica now and then, and a Dobro played with a bottleneck slide on the rollicking "Glad to Get You Back," but that's it for ornamentation...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
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