Biography

For more information, contact:
Michael Frank, CEO
Earwig Music Company, Inc.
2054 W. Farwell Ave.
Chicago, IL 60645
e-mail mfrank@earwigmusic.com
office phone 773-262-0278
Click here to go to Earwig Music Company
Click here to go to Blessings and Blues Volume 1
Click here to go to Blessings and Blues Volume 2

Rusty Ends is the real deal, a true link between the rock and blues of the 50’s and 60’s and the 21st century. Rusty learned his craft as a teenager playing in the bars and taverns up and down Dixie Highway between Louisville and Fort Knox. The audiences were made up of a combination of soldiers, bikers, laborers, hustlers and working ladies (a vocal, volatile and sometimes lethal combination). The band had to play a combination of blues, soul and country and do it all with a beat that allowed the topless dancers to keep gyrating.

With every gig Rusty improved and soon was asked to join The Premiers, a popular club band. This launched a long career in the once vital Louisville club scene. In 1969 he did his first recording session with the band Cooper ‘n’ Brass at Phillips International Recording Studio in Memphis Tn. owned by legendary Rock ‘n’ Roll pioneer Sam Phillips. The record was “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is”, a regional hit in the southeast and one of the most popular records in dance clubs in the northeast.

In the early 90’s Rusty decided he wanted to focus on his first love ……….. The Blues and was a founding member of the Rusty Spoon Blues Band. It was also at this time that Rusty started to take song writing seriously. Rusty has backed up some legendary performers including The Shirelles, The Drifters, Bobby Lewis, The Coasters, The Marvelettes and The Little River Band. At Blues Festivals he has played on bills that included Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, The Excello Blues All Stars (along with many other legends) and has played in recording sessions behind Kelly Richey, Robbie Bartlett, Wayne Young, and the great Blues Man Eddie Kirkland.

Around 2010 Rusty disappeared from the music scene. When Rusty disappeared it was rumored he lived in the Everglades and studied Native American mysticism with an old Seminole Medicine Man. Rusty has never confirmed or denied this rumor. Another rumor, one that Rusty denies, is that he was first mate on a shrimp boat. In his denial of this rumor Rusty stressed the point that he would never work that hard.

Rusty reappeared five years later when a long time friend and sometimes band mate David Zirnheld asked him to play at church services with him. Together they played a unique blend of traditional hymns and original material, and this was the spark that reignited the desire and Rusty was back!

Rusty and the band do a combination of covers and originals combining Rock-A-Billy, Blues, Soul and anything else that catches his attention. This unique combination and the heart of Rusty has resulted in a real Kentucky burgoo he calls Hillbilly Hoo Doo.