Two-time Grammy winner, blues legend visits Starkville
A legendary blues musician was in Starkville on Saturday for lunch.
Two-time Grammy winner and blues legend Bobby Rush was in town yesterday with his close friend, Kayla Marie Gilmore, owner of KMG Creations Dance, Fitness, and Productions and the KMG Center for Creative Arts located here in Starkville.
Rush has six total Grammy nominations in his career and got his first win in 2017 for the Best Traditional Blues Album. Rush has just recently nabbed another Grammy in the same category for his LP, ‘Rawer Than Raw' in this year's 2021 Grammy Awards Show.
To celebrate his second win, Gilmore invited Rush to Starkville to have lunch at Harveys, and it meant to world to him.
“I'm so happy and so glad to be a part of the living lands and the guys who do this, and I accept this award because there are so many people who didn't receive what I have received who were in the same race that I was in who are, to me, much better than I am. But the voters and the fans saw me and picked me, and I am incredibly thankful for that,” said Rush. “I just appreciate what people have done for me, because when you've been around as long as I have, all I can say for people is ‘Thank you for what you say about me.' I thank my fans, the voters, and the entire Grammy Awards organization.”
So, how does a Starkville woman like Gilmore have a connection with such a well-renown musician such as Rush?
The truth is that Gilmore ac
tually used to be one of Rush's dancers.
“I met [Gilmore] as a dancer, because I had dancers with me on stage all of the time,” said Rush. “And when I got to talking with her, she was bragging on herself so much that I knew she could beat all the other ladies out, and she's proved it.”
Needless to say, Rush and Gilmore's friendship is pure, and either one would help the other out when they need a favor.
In fact, another reason Gilmore invited Rush to Starkville was to help her with a television production for children show she is working on.
“Bobby is a mentor and a good friend in the business, and he has actually been up here a few times back in November,” said Gilmore. “Currently, he's here because I am working on a TV production for children, and he's going to be a part of it.
He's doing kind of a cameo as a train conductor on this school for preschoolers.”
Gilmore described Rush as iconic, legendary, phenomenal, and she said she is blessed to be able to learn from him.
Rush, of course, wants to help Gilmore out with her children's show production because she is his friend, but also to show the public that he is about more than music.
“I feel at home with this, because I deal with kids all the time. I have grandchildren and great grandchildren, so I'm good with kids,” said Rush. “So, I'm going to do some stories, like they do on Sesame Street, and read and talk to the kids. I'm going to do these things to let people know that there is another side of Bobby Rush. This won't be as much about the blues, but more about a blues singer reaching back and helping kids who can't help themselves.”
Gilmore said Mathews Film Company will be doing her children's show production, and it will begin filming within the first two weeks of April.