***1/2 Otis Rush

ANY PLACE I'M GOING

(House of Blues)

Good as it was to hear Rush's major-label comeback two years ago, it's better to hear him reapproach his classic form. He's ditched Stratocasters to return to his fat-toned Gibson semi-hollowbodies. And right from the done-me-wrong opener, "You Fired Yourself," he's singing with soul power, reaching way down in his belly for fire. His guitar leads travel in unpredictable spirals, like mad vines linking the twisted emotions his lyrics extol. They ring with vibrato and rest on notes well off the roots. And his wild fills range from quavering whole chords to one-note jabs.

Classic Memphis-sound producer Willie Mitchell has given Rush the kind of spare framework he enjoyed on his earliest sessions for Cobra Records, allowing this pioneer of gritty Chicago-ghetto blues to thrive. That's surprising, since Mitchell's production on Otis Clay's last CD was full of cloying keyboards. This studio date, plus the gigs I've seen this year, indicates that Rush's years of erratic performances may be behind him -- at least for a spell.

-- Ted Drozdowski