Blues Musician Bobby Rush the Subject of New Documentary Film

A new documentary film will be released about blues musician Bobby Rush. Titled King of the Chitlin’ Circuit, the movie explores the life of the 92-year-old musician and his 70-plus-year career. The film will air on Mississippi Public Broadcasting in August, with national distribution information to be announced this fall.

Directed by Al Warren and produced by Taiwo Gaynor, King of the Chitlin’ Circuit is a personal portrait that captures the highs and lows of Rush's life on the road, from performances to late-night reflections and more. 

The film stars Bobby Rush telling the story of his life, shot over two years. It documents his regimen of performances, studio sessions, and personal interactions across the US and the world, which includes archival footage and performance photos.

Throughout, Rush provides personal anecdotes and reflections on his life, from birth in 1933 in Carquit/Homer, Louisiana and growing up on his family’s farm picking cotton and living in a rural home without electricity or indoor plumbing, then moving to Arkansas in the 1940s and on to Chicago in the early 1950s. Rush reminisces about playing his first shows in Little Rock with his first band, Bobby Rush and the Four Jivers, gigging in the blues scene in Chicago, and building a touring career through the juke joints on the Chitlin’ Circuit, largely in the South. 

“I wish I’d had the chance to do something like this when I was a young man, but it’s never too late to tell your story and express how you feel,” said Bobby Rush. “This film captures things about me that I might never have shared. My hope is that this becomes one of the greatest things that’s ever happened not just to me, but to any Black man in my position— and really, to anyone, Black or white, from Mississippi to Maine, who wants to tell their story.” 

About Bobby Rush

Bobby Rush is a Blues Hall of Famer and winner of 3 Grammy Awards and 16 Blues Music Awards. He has been singing, playing, composing, and producing the blues since the early 1950s. He released his first record in 1964 and began to establish a reputation as an entertainer through nonstop touring, especially after his first radio hit "Chicken Heads" rose up the Billboard R&B chart in 1971. 

In 2000, he earned his first Grammy nomination and soon after was featured in the PBS series “The Blues.” This began his commercial crossover. In his career, he has performed for President Bill Clinton and alongside music icons including, James Brown, Little Richard, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, and Buddy Guy. 

Rush has toured in most major markets around the world, including Sydney, Australia; Paris, France; Tokyo, Japan; Shanghai, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; Berlin, Germany; Rome, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Lucerne, Switzerland; New York, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Memphis, Tennessee; Los Angeles, California; to Jackson, Mississippi.  

Most recently, Rush contributed music to Sinners, the 2025 Southern gothic film directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan. Rush’s performance on the “Sinners” soundtrack, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Soundtracks Chart, features his harmonica on the Little Walter song “Juke.”