So Many Roads, So Many Trains

Otis Rush, 1960, from single. Solo by Otis Rush.

A slow blues where Rush's anguished bends match the desperation in his vocal line.

On this slow blues Otis Rush makes the guitar and the voice feel like two halves of the same cry. His solo is built on wide, aching bends and a fast, nervous vibrato, with phrases that reach upward and then fall back as if exhausted. Rush, a left-handed player who strung his guitar upside down, had a way of bending notes that sounds unusually vocal, and here it matches the desperation in his singing line for line. His West Side Chicago sound fed directly into the style of later players such as Stevie Ray Vaughan. Listen for how he pushes bends slightly past pitch and eases them back, a small tension that makes the whole performance sound close to breaking.

So Many Roads, So Many Trains by Otis Rush is featured in our Blues (#15) list. The solo is played by Otis Rush and the song was released in 1960.

In our lists

• The 25 Greatest Blues Guitar Solos — #15
• The Best Otis Rush Guitar Solos — #4

Sources