A Long Wait for Rush Hour : Pop music: The blues veteran--at the Coach House Monday--doesn’t think he’s gotten the recognition he’s due.

The pain in Otis Rush’s psyche runs as deep, sad and angry as the notes he wrings from his guitar. Forty-plus years as one of the most influential and imitated performers of the blues have brought him precious little in the way of financial gain or personal fame, and he never seems to forget it, not for an instant. Even a new, high-profile album release on Mercury Records has done little to soothe wounds that have been festering for decades.

The enigmatic Rush has released a disproportionate number of records--”All Your Love (I Need Loving),” “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” “Double Trouble” and “Homework” among them--that have been covered ad infinitum, becoming blues standards. Often, he has been cited as a prime inspiration by such guitar heroes as Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Johnny Winter. But his own music has remained relatively obscure, his persona shrouded in a reputation for bitterness and resentment.

During a recent phone interview from his home in Chicago, Rush (who plays Monday night at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano) still seemed shellshocked by his past, even as “Ain’t Enough Comin’ In”--his first studio recording in almost a decade and the only heavily promoted, major label release of his career--was hitting stores throughout the world.

“The reason it’s been so long (between records) is I didn’t want to record for anyone,” he said. “I just found some people I wanted to work with. But I’d die before I record for these other companies, and I’m serious about that--like a heart attack with cancer! I’m not angry, but to tell you the truth, I could have done without all the bull---- going on, man.

“I’d record, and they wouldn’t release my records.” He spoke of one album recorded “in ’71 and it didn’t come out ‘til ’77. I needed a record out, and they didn’t want to be bothered with it. It was nominated for a Grammy award, and if they would have released it in ’71 or ‘72, I might have won it. That’s why I got tired of all the bull---- companies around here.”

He softened a bit when discussing his new label. Introduced to Mercury by fellow blues legend Buddy Guy, who has enjoyed a rejuvenated career through his association with Silvertone Records (which, like Mercury, is a Polygram company), Rush said he has seen a reason to believe that things could be different.

“We seem to have a record that’s going to work this time,” he said. “What’s different is that these people are pushing the record. They seem to want to do something with it. I’m proud of them. They’re pushing, advertising and helping me out in different ways. I can’t ask for more.”

With the recent successes of such blues brethren as Guy, John Lee Hooker and Etta James, perhaps the time finally has arrived for Rush who, at 60, remains in full possession of his formidable arsenal of skills.

Rush, born in Philadelphia, Miss., moved to Chicago in 1950 and started recording for a number of regional and small national labels. His sole hit to date has been “I Can’t Quit You, Baby,” a song written by Willie Dixon, for Cobra Records in 1956.

Even as wider commercial renown eluded him, Rush’s stinging guitar, impassioned vocals and eerie, minor-key compositions found favor among a new generation of rock musicians in the ‘60s, many of whom covered his material to much greater reward than he had received--which remains yet another sore point.

“Eric Clapton recorded ‘All Your Love,’ and everyone thought it was his song. And he was pretty damn quiet about it for a long time. Musicians are just like anything else. It’s a scuffle, it’s dog eat dog.

“But yeah, there’s some good people in music--me, myself and I, that’s three,” he added, laughing.

“See, I was an influence on all these people, but they ignore me and push me around. I’m not angry, but you check it out and look around--I’m people’s No. 1 influence, but I’m not making no money, not getting recognition.

“Those that don’t give me recognition, I’ll check ‘em out later. Like Zep (Led Zeppelin) didn’t give me credit for ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ (included on the group’s debut album). I just won a W.C. Handy Hall of Fame Award for that song. Now what they gonna do? They gotta get out of town. Now they gotta look like a fool or something. We gonna have a long talk!”

While Rush is quick to pepper his verbal catalogue of past slights with the assertion that he’s “not angry,” he doubtless has earned his reputation for being bitter. Still, he remains confident about a better future, carried along in no small part by deeply held religious convictions.

“God’s got something for us all,” he said. “Every individual has a mission, and I think he gave me this mission. I don’t think anybody can stop me from getting what I deserve if he wants me to have it. So I trust in God, Jesus, and I don’t trust anybody else. That’s me. I thank God alone for the sunshine.”

* Otis Rush, Lee Rocker’s Big Blue and Kebmo play Monday at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. 8 p.m. $19.50. (714) 496-8930.