Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Blues musician Bobby Rush has received a lifetime achievement award from the Mississippi Arts Commission.

The commission on Thursday hosted the Governor's Arts Awards ceremony at Belhaven University.

Award recipients have shown achievement in literature, performing and visual arts or community development.

They are: Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Beth Henley, who grew up in Mississippi and lives in Los Angeles; musician Eddie "Chank" Willis of Gore Springs, Miss., a former member of The Funk Brothers; Bay St. Louis Little Theatre; and Kathryn Lewis, a longtime theater director at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

Rush is a Louisiana native who has worked in Chicago. He lives in Jackson.

The show was hosted by country singer Marty Stuart, a Mississippi native who's a five-time Grammy winner.