'Take Me To the River LIVE' Set for November 5 at the MAC

-"Take Me to the River LIVE," the Memphis Soul and Rhythm & Blues Revue starring Grammy Award-winners William Bell, Charlie Musselwhite and Bobby Rush comes to the McAninch Arts Center (MAC) Sunday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. Media sponsor for this event is WDCB, 90.9 FM, Public Radio from College of DuPage.

A free MAC Chat lead by WDCB station manager Dan Bindert will precede the performance beginning at 5 p.m. Inspired by the award-winning documentary of the same name, "Take Me to the River LIVE" features a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Grammy winners and music legends, William Bell (2017 Grammy Award-winner), Charlie Musselwhite (2014 Grammy Award-winner) and Bobby Rush Bell (2017 Grammy Award-winner) share the stage and perform classics celebrating the soul and sound of Memphis in the 1960s and '70s.

Backed by an ALL-STAR Memphis band, the event includes the Hi-Rhythm Section (27 Gold and Platinum records, all of Al Green's classics) and Grammy award winner Boo Mitchell, award-winning director and Grammy Nominee Martin Shore, alumni from the STAX Music Academy, and special appearances from Academy Winner Frayser Boy and Critics Choice Award winner Al Kapone. William Bell was an early signing by Stax, the legendary label that later released recordings by Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac Hayes, and The Staple Singers. Bell's 1961 solo debut for Stax Records, "You Don't Miss Your Water (Until Your Well Runs Dry)," became one of the Stax's first major hits. Following a tour of duty in the Army Bell returned to Stax to release his first full-length album, "The Soul of a Bell (1969)," which included the Top 20 single, "Everybody Loves a Winner." Among Bell's other hits at Stax were "Any Other Way," "A Tribute To A King" (written on the death of his friend, Otis Redding), "I Forgot to be Your Lover" (later covered by Billy Idol), "Private Number" and the Christmastime favorite, "Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday" (covered by Warren Haynes and also by Carole King). Bell has produced many albums, and his songs have been recorded by Linda Rondstadt, Rod Stewart and Etta James, among many others.

Additionally, his recordings have been sampled by an impressive list of hip-hop and R&B artists including Kanye West, Ludacris, Jaheim and more. Bell has received the R&B Pioneer Award from Rhythm & Blues Foundation, the W.C. Handy Heritage Award from the Memphis Music Foundation, and the BMI Songwriter's Award. He is a member of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and is featured prominently in the Stax Museum.

Charlie Musselwhite was born in Kosciusko, Miss. in 1944 and migrated to Chicago where he became a familiar face at popular blues spaces Pepper's, Turner's, and Theresa's. Before recording his first album, Musselwhite appeared on LPs by Tracy Nelson and John Hammond and duetted (as Memphis Charlie) with Shakey Horton on Vanguard's Chicago/The Blues/Today series. He relocated to San and played steadily in Bay Area bars and mounted somewhat low-profile national tours. But in the late 1980s he began touring worldwide to rave notices. Releases on Virgin, Rough News in 1997 and Continental Drifter in 2000 found Musselwhite mixing jazz, gospel, Tex-Mex, and acoustic Delta blues. After signing with Telarc Blues in 2002, he continued exploring his musical roots by releasing "One Night in America" which featured a cover version of the Johnny Cash classic "Big River," and featured guest appearances by Kelly Willis and Marty Stuart. After a span of extensive touring he returned to the studio for its follow-up, the back-to-basics "Delta Hardware," recorded in Mississippi and featuring the hip-shaking "Clarksdale Boogie."

Musselwhite's first album on Alligator Records was the "In My Time"(1993) and he returned to Alligator in 2009 to cut "The Well," an all-original program that featured a guest duet appearance from Mavis Staples on the track "Sad Beautiful World" which references the murder of his 93-year-old mother during a burglary in her home, and a title song in spired by Jessica McClure, a young girl trapped in a Texas well who sang nursery rhymes to herself as consolation until she was rescued. In 1946, Bobby Rush (born Emmett Ellis, Jr.) moved with his family moved to Pine Bluff, Ark., where he formed a band to support his singing and harmonica and guitar playing. When his family relocated to Chicago in 1953, he became part of the local blues scene in the following decade. Here met Muddy Waters, and began working for Jimmy Reed. Through these connections he began performing on a circuit with Etta James, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy Reed. In the early 1970s a song he wrote, "ChicKen Heads", released by Galaxy. "ChicKen Heads" would become Rush's first certified gold certified record in 1971. Others were "Sue" (1981), and "Ain't Studdin' Ya" (1991). In the early 1980s, he moved to Jackson, Miss., where he recorded a series of records for Malaco's Waldoxy imprint, and in 2003, his own on his Deep Rush label. He appeared in the film, "The Road to Memphis" which is part of the series "The Blues" produced by Martin Scorsese.

As a result of the Scorsese film, Rolling Stone magazine named him "'King of the Chitlin' Circuit" because of his 50 years of relentless touring and colorful live show." Rush has performed at the White House twice, toured in most major markets around the world and, in 2007, became the first blues artist to perform in China, earning him the title "International Dean of the Blues." Tickets "Take Me to the River LIVE," the Memphis Soul and Rhythm & Blues Revue starring William Bell, Charlie Musselwhite and Bobby Rush comes to the McAninch Arts Center at 425 Fawell Blvd, located on the campus of College of DuPage on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $47-$65. For tickets or more information visit AtTheMAC.org or call 630.942.4000.

About the MAC McAninch Arts Center (MAC) at College of DuPage, located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355, houses three indoor performance spaces (the 780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; the 236-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and the versatile black box Studio Theatre), the outdoor Lakeside Pavilion, plus the Cleve Carney Art Gallery, classrooms for the college's academic programming and. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 75,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season. The mission of the MAC is to foster enlightened educational and performance opportunities, which encourage artistic expression, establish a lasting relationship between people and art, and enrich the cultural vitality of the community. For more information visit AtTheMAC.org, facebook.com/AtTheMAC or twitter.com/AtTheMAC

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