Decisions

Decisions is the sound of veteran blues-R&B-funk musicians doing what they do best. Producer Donald Markowitz captures the band at their sharpest, preserving the honest crack of the drums from "Chicago” Chuck Gullens and leaving just the right amount of space for nearly 80-year-old Bobby Rush to sing with nasty authority over tunes like “Skinny Little Women” and “If That’s the Way You Like It I Like It,” where he imparts as much wisdom with a husky little growl as with a well-executed line. His longtime friend Dr. John joins him for the brutal truth of “Another Murder in New Orleans,” a tune cut in the Big Easy around Mardi Gras 2012. It may be called “Bobby Rush’s Bus,” but Carl Gustafson’s Southern California funk group Blinddog Smokin’ are the ones pushing Rush into the rarified air of spiritual and musical transcendence. There’s even a touch of hip-hop on the humorous “Dr. Rush” that leads into the tight acoustic blues of “Too Much Weekend.”