Grammy®- Winning Blues Icon to be Recognized for his Contributions to American Music During Virtual Ceremony- Tickets On Sale October 12
GRAMMY®-winning blues artist Bobby Rush will be the recipient of the second annual Crossroads of American Music Award at GRAMMY Museum® Mississippi’s 2020 Gala, which will be streamed live from the Museum in Cleveland, Mississippi, on Thursday, Nov. 12. Rush will appear at the Museum’s virtual ceremony to accept the award and perform.
“We are honored to have the great Bobby Rush serve as the 2020 recipient of our Crossroads of American Music Award, and we are thrilled to honor him at our upcoming virtual gala,” said Emily Havens, Executive Director of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. “While this year’s gala will look a bit
different, we are looking forward to celebrating Mr. Rush’s musical achievements while raising money for our Museum’s education initiatives, which are more important now than ever.”
“It’s such an honor to receive the Crossroads of American Music Award from the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi,” said Rush. “I can’t thank them enough and can’t find words to say how much I appreciate the recognition for me as a bluesman and a Black bluesman. I‘m so thankful to have someone recognize what I have done and am doing, and during my lifetime while I can still enjoy it, am able to go out and perform, and am still mentally and physically with it. Most of the time people get recognized when they can’t do anything. It’s not a past tense for me. I’m still doing what I do and loving what I do.”
The 2020 GRAMMY Museum Gala will feature live performances by Rush and special guests. This year’s virtual event will also feature the presentation of the 2020 L.U.C.Y. Award, which honors a K-12 educator from the state of Mississippi who embodies the educational mission of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi.
Tickets to the virtual gala will go on sale on Monday, Oct. 12, and can be purchased at live.grammymuseumms.org. Guests will also have the opportunity to purchase a ticket to a watch party, which will be held at unique homes across the Delta in Cleveland, MS; Greenville, MS; Jackson, MS; and Louisiana.
Established by the Museum’s Board of Directors, the Crossroads of American Music Award honors an artist who has made significant musical contributions influenced by the creativity born in the cradle of American music. The inaugural recipient of the Crossroads of American Music Award was three-time GRAMMY Award winner Charley Pride.
The annual GRAMMY Museum Mississippi Gala is the Museum’s signature fundraising event. Proceeds from this year’s virtual gala will benefit the Museum’s education program, which seeks to use music as a gateway to learning by inspiring and cultivating creativity, critical thinking and self-
expression.
About Bobby Rush
Bobby Rush has been making records for nearly 70 years and has more than 400 recordings, 75 career releases and now 27 studio albums to his name. A five-time GRAMMY nominee, Rush won the Best Traditional Blues Album GRAMMY at the 2017 awards for his album Porcupine Meat. He received his fifth career GRAMMY nomination in 2019 for his album Sitting On Top Of The Blues. As one of the last Black bluesmen to emerge out of and triumph in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s in Chicago, Rush has recorded for more
than 20 labels, from Checker/Chess and ABC to Philly Int’l and Rounder/Concord.
With the release of his 27th studio album Rawer Than Raw (August 2020), an all-acoustic effort that pays tribute to the rich blues history of Mississippi, Rush has cemented his reputation as one of the preeminent bluesmen in the world—one of the last living links to the music’s glorious past, and an inspiration for its future stars. Partly inspired by the popular series of intimate solo concerts Rush has made a mainstay of his concert calendar in the years since his first all-acoustic album (Raw), Rawer Than Raw casts a spotlight on five Mississippi Blues Hall of Famers: Skip James, Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and
Muddy Waters.
Born Emmett Ellis, Jr. outside Homer, La., Rush became a professional blues musician while still a teenager, adopting his stage name Bobby Rush so as to not disrespect his preacher father. Among the artists Rush has worked with include legendary slide guitarist Elmore James, harmonica ace Little Walter, guitarist Freddie King, and blues greats Jimmy Reed, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, among others. Rush has also won numerous awards and accolades, including induction into the Blues Hall of Fame, the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame and the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame. He’s won 13 Blues Music Awards including the coveted B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award at the 36th annual Blues Music Awards. Rush was the first bluesman to perform at the Great Wall of China, attracting an audience of more than 40,000 and earning him the title of “China’s Ambassador of the Blues.” In 2008, he was honored with a marker on Mississippi Blues Trail.
About Grammy Museum Mississippi
Developed by the Cleveland Music Foundation—a nonprofit organization founded in 2011—the 28,000-square-foot GRAMMY Museum Mississippi is housed near the campus of Delta State University, home of the Delta Music Institute’s Entertainment Industry Studies program, which features the most unique audio recording facilities in the South. Affiliated with the Recording AcademyTM, GRAMMY Museum Mississippi is dedicated to exploring the past, present, and future of music, and the cultural context from which it emerges, while casting a focused spotlight on the deep musical roots of Mississippi. The Museum features a dynamic combination of public events, educational programming, engaging multimedia presentations, and interactive permanent and traveling exhibits, including a Mississippi-centric area that introduces visitors to the impact of Mississippi’s songwriters, producers, and musicians on the traditional and modern music landscape.
For more information, visit grammymuseumms.org, “like” GRAMMY Museum Mississippi on Facebook, and follow @grammymuseumms on Twitter and Instagram.
