Words by Jesse Serwer—
A few years back, Brushy One String’s Jamaican-ized version of American blues, which he performs with a homemade guitar with, yes, just one-string, was featured in the documentary Rise Up. The Italian team behind that movie have continued to work with the innovative performer, producing a separate documentary short on him called The King of One String and, just this month, releasing an EP of his recordings.
Recently, Brushy (son of late rocksteady/reggae vocalist Freddie McKay, we hear) has hit the road in the States, visiting Austin, Texas, for South by Southwest. Currently, he’s in New Orleans, where he’s set to play the House of Blues with Taj Mahal and as part of the prestigious/massive New Orleans Jazz Festival next month.
With all of this promo happening, it’s no wonder that a clip of Brushy performing “Chicken In The Corn” (which appeared in Rise Up) is now making the rounds online. The video is getting written up on mainstream websites, and is now up to nearly 400,000 views (more than double from a few days ago). It looks like it’s on a course to become the biggest viral video from Jamaica since Clifton “Cliftwang” Brown said “Nobody Canna Cross It.”
And, we must say, though we have seen it before, it’s still thrilling to watch. Brushy is definitely the master of his instrument. Watch “Chicken In The Corn” yourself and check out a video of Brushy’s encounter with “Brushy Street” in Austin below.