Blues Legend Bobby Rush Releases New Single 'One Monkey Can Stop A Show

03-26-2023

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(Missing Piece Group) Two-time GRAMMY winner, Blues Hall of Famer, and 16-time Blues Music Awards winner Bobby Rush released a new single "One Monkey Can Stop A Show."

The new song is his first release following his Chicken Heads 50th Anniversary EP featuring Buddy Guy, Gov't Mule and Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, his GRAMMY-winning 2020 album Rawer Than Raw, and his acclaimed biography I Ain't Studdin' Ya: My American Blues Story. Rush is currently on tour throughout the rest of the year and will announce more new music and tour dates in the coming months.

"Nearly 30 years ago, I wrote and cut the record 'One Monkey Don't Stop No Show' which is about a woman threatening to leave me. Though if she leaves me, I'm going to find someone new. This time, 'One Monkey Can Stop A Show,' is in a similar direction, but it means that the woman is not going to let me go. I need to change my actions and treat her better. She'd rather see me dead than see me go," Rush explains.

"Why I cut this song is because the song 'Keep on Rollin'' is so big with the R&B artist King George today. He's saying, 'if you leave me, you ain't gonna stop nothing, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. This train is going to keep on rolling.' I was talking about in my song, she was so devastated she will stop the train and you. Not only does he call out my song 'One Monkey Don't Stop No Show' in his song, but he also inspired me to come back to the table with a new version of my original."

In 1995, Bobby Rush released an album and song titled "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" that was a driving force for its time in the Southern Soul genre and Black radio format. Flash forward more than two decades, and a young star named King George emerged with a hit "Keep on Rollin" pulling the phrase "one monkey don't stop no show" from Bobby Rush, which has driven his touring to thousands of people a night and nearly 12 million streams on Spotify alone. Rush was inspired to respond to King George's call with a new version of his original, "One Monkey Can Stop A Show."

Rush's GRAMMY-winning 2020 album Rawer Than Raw was praised by No Depression, who proclaimed, "Rush's performance here is electrifying, a tutorial on how to unplug without losing any of the wattage." In 2021, Rush was profiled by The New York Times for a career spanning feature following his second GRAMMY win and the release of his autobiography.

Tour Dates:
03/30 - Milwaukee, WI - The BackRoom at Collectivo
04/01 - Medina, MN - Medina Entertainment Center
04/22 - Tallahassee, FL - Word of the South Festival (BOOK EVENT, no performance)
05/13 - Senatobia, MS - Northwest Center for the Performing Arts
05/27 - Bend, OR - Hayden Homes Amphitheater^
05/28 - Woodinville, WA - Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery ^
06/03 - Crissier, Switzerland - Blues Rules Festival
06/08 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Blues Festival
06/10 - Stockbridge, GA - Stockbridge Amphitheater
06/25 - Griffith, IN - Broad Street Music Festival @ Central Park
07/21/-07/23 - Porretta Terme, Italy - Porretta Soul Festival
08/12 - Detroit, MI - The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre
08/19 - Southaven, MS - Tri-State Blues Festival at Landers Center
08/25 - Morgantown, IN - Southern Indiana Blues Festival @ Bill Monroe Music Park & Campground

^ - special guest of Kenny Wayne Shepherd
^^ - special guest of Blind Boys of Alabama