Lou Busch was born to William Harry Bush and Anna Irene Ernwein (sometimes seen as Irene A.) in Louisville, Kentucky in the midst of the ragtime era and the jazz age. He had an older brother, Richard H. Bush (4/3/1909). When Louis was born his parents were living with Irene's family, the Ernweins. Anna's father Peter was born in France in 1849, but migrated to Kentucky when he was only four years old. In the 1920 census the Bush family is shown living in Louisville at 731 32nd Street with William listed as a laundry salesman.

Even though the family name was Bush, Lou added the c for Busch at some point in the 1920s, largely for the uniqueness it provided. The change was likely for stage purposes and not completed legally. One of his California death records indicates Busch while another one plus his Social Security and Army enlistment records indicate Bush.

Lou Busch at 15, c.1925.

Truly blessed with an inherent music talent, he was already leading a ragtime and jazz band by the time he was 12 years old. At 13 Lou led a combo called Lou Bush and His Tickle Toe Four. At 16 he left school and home for a career as a professional musician, playing with the likes of "Hot Lips" Henry Busse, Clyde McCoy and George Olson. One travel manifest shows him working with the McCoy band on a cruise to the Bahamas in 1929. Louisville was still considered his home base, as he was listed there with his brother and parents in the 1930 enumeration as an orchestra musician. The family was residing at 802 41st Street, with William still a laundry agent, and Richard now working as an auto mechanic. After a few years on the road, his desire to learn more about music theory led him to study at the Cincinnati Music Conservatory in Ohio in the early 1930s.

Following his music education break, Busch became the pianist for Hal Kemp's "sweet music" band for the remainder of the 1930s. Lou also honed his arranging skills, being offered an arranging position when arranger John Scott Trotter left the band in 1936. This position was shared with another key arranger, Hal Mooney, and was invaluable experience for both of them. The Kemp Orchestra had been making short sound films since 1928, and Lou appeared in a few of them between 1936 and 1938, as well as some recordings by the group.

The 1940 census taken on April 8 found Lou at home with his parents and older brother in Louisville, listed as an orchestra musician, probably on a break from touring. The band continued working through most of 1940. However, after Kemp died December 21, 1940 from complications suffered during a head on automobile crash two days earlier, the group quickly disbanded. Busch and Mooney made their way to California in early 1941 to work as studio musicians and at whatever gigs they could find.

The Hal Kemp Orchestra around 1940 with Lou Busch at the piano and singer Skinnay Ennis at the microphone.

This was interrupted by World War Two, which presented an opportunity for Busch to hone both his musical and production skill set.

Busch enlisted on July 27, 1942, in Los Angeles, and was considered immediately for entertainment duty, as his Civil Occupation was shown as a musician and the branch is shown as "Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA." Busch and many others in his field were considered highly valuable for morale in their entertainment roles. So many groups of musicians were assigned to play behind radio or film stars, and some were also involved with set traveling shows, often performing near the front when not on broadcast duty. Private, and later Lieutenant Busch ultimately spent three years in the Army, utilizing his musical talents from time to time during the war as part of the 1st Radio Production Group of the Army Air Corps. (Glenn Miller headed up the 2nd RPG.)

Even this early in his career, Lou did make the news from time to time. While he was in the band he met the band's singer and soon to be Hollywood actress, Janet Blair (a.k.a. Martha Janet Lafferty). According to an October 1942 syndicated news item from Hollywood's Louella O. Parsons: "Now we understand why [actress] Janet Blair is not one bit interested in the boys around town. Her heart is in the keeping of Private Lou Busch, stationed at Fort MacArthur and formerly an arranger with the late Hal Kemp's Orchestra. Oh, it is not a new thing by any means. Janet met Lou when she was the canary with the same band and talk is that the gal who is sure to zoom to stardom after My Sister Eileen is released will wed Private Busch very soon." In fact Janet did wed Lieutenant Busch on July 12, 1943 at Lake Arrowhead, California, while he was stationed at Santa Ana Army Air Base in Orange County.

After his tour of duty, Busch decided to dive back into the music business, but desired a more stable position than just a musician. It was around this time that singer Johnny Mercer was recruiting artists and employees for his recently formed label, Capitol Records, so Busch was hired for the radio transcription service in 1946. At the same time he was working part-time with Columbia Pictures recording songs for films. In 1948, Busch was hired full-time at Capitol and put in charge of production of promotional radio shows featuring Capitol artists for distribution to stations around the country. He also helped to score and produce famous cuts from the label including Bonaparte's Retreat by Kay Starr and both Yingle Bells and I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas by Yogi Yorgesson (comedian Harry Stewart).

By 1949 Lou had been promoted to A&R (Artist and Repertoire) man given his considerable talent and contacts. During this time he also served as a pianist for studio groups backing singers such as Peggy Lee, "Tennessee" Ernie Ford and Jo Stafford. In early 1950 Lou and Janet split, with Janet claiming mental cruelty and casting Busch as a "born bachelor." Lou was quoted as saying "There will be no sensational charges. We just drifted apart." The couple was divorced in short order after a March 1 hearing. He got married again in August, this time to Capitol Records singer and rising star Margaret Eleanor Whiting, 14 years his junior. She had recently divorced Hubbell Robinson, vice president of CBS Radio. Their daughter, Deborah Louise "Debbi" Busch (now Whiting), was born in October. In a September 1950 interview, Margaret worried that "her baby will sing like her husband, Lou Busch, and play the piano like she, herself does."

Three events from this time, all having to do with Capitol Records, helped spur the ragtime revival of the 1950s. Interest in the music of the late 1910s through the 1920s had been growing out of San Francisco for nearly a decade, particularly through Lu Watters, Wally Rose and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, so the seed had been planted. The first event was bandleader W. Gerhart "Pee Wee" Hunt's surprise hit with Twelfth Street Rag, something recorded simply to use up time at the end of a broadcast transcription in 1948 as a bit of a joke. Since Busch was involved with radio transcriptions as part of his job at the time, he may have been responsible for editing or distributing this particular session. The cut was requested by listeners so often upon broadcast that the demand warranted a single release, and it soon became a runaway hit. The following summer, Busch backed singer Jo Stafford and conductor Paul Weston on the hit record, Ragtime Cowboy Joe. He was also uncredited on the Ray Anthony recording of Spaghetti Rag, another sizable hit. These successes and the moderate hit Sam's Song from late 1949 encouraged both Lou and the label to release his own original single, Ivory Rag, early in 1950. Over the spring it became a bigger hit than the previous two in both the U.S. and overseas. It was also the first piece incorporated into the Crazy Otto Medley by German pianist Fritz Schulz-Reichel, which was later associated with Johnny Maddox in the U.S.

These events coupled with the 1950 release of the book They All Played Ragtime by Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis, gave indications that ragtime might yet live again. Busch decided to produce one of the new Capitol 10" long play (LP) records of the music, and recorded pieces by himself, Ray Turner and Marvin Ash for Honky Tonk Piano, released in April 1950. The Honky-Tonk reference, more often identified as a Country Music term, is likely in conjunction with the type of "joint" the music was played, but the sound of the piano might also apply, as they sometimes used hardened hammers or detuning to alter the tone. However, instead of just piano, Busch and company followed the lead of the traditional jazz revivalists of the late 1940s and added percussion and bass. The whimsical style coupled with clever arrangements made the records accessible to a public craving nostalgia, and Capitol's distribution helped make Honky Tonk Piano a big hit for many years.

Lou's name was as much in the news in the early 1950s for his music work as it was for his public problems with Margaret, largely because of her popularity as a Capitol Records artist. In 1950 and 1951 it was largely positive, with items about Debbi's birth and bits of Capitol publicity fluff with posed pictures. An October 15, 1951 syndicated article had nothing but good spin in it:

In later interviews Margaret continued to assert that Lou was largely responsible for her early success and grooming as a singer. However, things turned the corner for the couple within the year. Syndicated news reports started appearing as early as November 1952 stating that "Margaret Whiting and hubby Lou Busch are straining at the marriage ties." Their separation was publicly announced in March 1953.

Lou Busch as Joe "Fingers" Carr

Gossip made the newspapers in April when Margaret was linked up with her agent, Phil Loeb, cited as a primary reason for the separation, although there were likely other overriding reasons. Among them, according to claims made in court by Margaret, were flying dishes in their household. They finalized things in late December 1953. Busch reacted to the situation largely by burying himself in his work with Capitol, performing more in nightclubs, and turning out a number of good ragtime albums.

Taking on the persona of Joe "Fingers" Carr, Busch released a succession of ragtime albums and singles throughout the 1950s that remained popular well into the mid 1960s. He later admitted that the early recordings were filled with some gimmicks (particularly the Ragtime Band releases), but eventually settled down to record the music more authentically, albeit with his easily recognizable licks and playing style. On the origin of his alter ego's name, Lou said: "I figured there was a real need for some straight ragtime piano, so I worked up some arrangements. Lou Busch isn't much of a ragtime name and I'd long had this 'Fingers' idea floating around. That led to Lou 'Fingers' Busch, but I knew that wouldn't have any appeal. So I went through the phone book, real scientific like, and came up with 'Joe' for a short, raggy name. 'Carr' seemed pretty good for the last name, and I must say 'Joe Fingers Carr' has taken on pretty well." Even though Lou came up with the catchy name for his character, it was Capitol that pushed the nostalgic Carr image with the derby and the cigar more so than Busch. Because of this he worked hard to keep his records from becoming mere whimsical fluff, choosing the best music and sidemen for each session.

It was later noted that Lou's ability to play ragtime at all was fairly surprising as, unlike many of the great ragtime performers that preceded him, such as Eubie Blake or Willie "The Lion" Smith, or even his contemporary Dick Hyman, Lou had fairly small hands. As a result, he could not stretch as far as many other pianists, making the playing of tenths very difficult. What this limitation did was to refine his style so that he played more towards the center of the keyboard using richer left hand chords. It is also the primary reason why all of his albums, with one exception, had an ensemble accompanying him, and on some of them he even double tracked his playing for more spectacular results. That one exception was Parlor Piano, of which the final track, Home Sweet Home, is the only example of Busch playing syncopated piano without at least his usual bass and drums.

Lou's biggest hits from the 1950s include Portuguese Washerwomen, Sam's Song, a cover of Del Wood's version of Down Yonder (a hit for many other pianists as well), and the international hit Zambezi, later covered in 1982 by the British group, The Piranhas. Some of the singles include his vocal backup group, the cleverly-named Carr Hopps. As of 1955 he was the only Capitol artist with a contract allowing him to appear under three different names - Joe "Fingers" Carr, Joe Carr and the Joy Riders (a re-working of the Carr Hopps), and his original stage name, Lou Busch. Of all the albums Lou recorded for Capitol, including one of the first stereophonic ragtime albums ever, his 1956 opus Mister Ragtime was perhaps the most memorable. Calling on some of the best and a few of the more obscure piano rags, including a redux on an earlier take of 12th Street Rag originally released in 1952, Busch was able to balance the honky-tonk image with respectable and well-arranged performances of real ragtime. Other Capitol albums included two with his ragtime band, one of them clearly a response to the popularity of The Firehouse Five Plus Two, and a pair of albums recorded with the band of Pee Wee Hunt, highly stylized and arrangements of ragtime songs with a Dixieland twist.

Often overlooked are several mainstream and jazz sides he recorded as Lou Busch, featuring exciting band or orchestral arrangements. One early release, Roller Coaster, became the end theme music for What's My Line for many years. Now and then a well-crafted single would emerge, such as Cool from West Side Story or Memories of You in response to The Benny Goodman Story. In 1957 he was finally either encouraged or allowed (accounts vary) to release an album of his orchestrations, Lazy Rhapsody, which was one of his first stereophonic recordings. On this album he still managed to touch on ragtime with soft renditions of the original novelty Nola and a rich orchestration of In a Mist by tragic jazz pioneer artist Bix Beiderbecke. Never big sellers, they were still often played on the radio for many years along with cuts by groups like Capitol's Hollyridge Strings and the two piano arrangements of Ferrante and Teicher. He also orchestrated and produced some other Capitol hits, including 26 Miles Across the Sea, the first major recording by The Four Preps.

In late 1958 or early 1959 Lou left Capitol for Warner Brothers Records where he took on the same general responsibilities as a producer and A&R man. When the ragtime revival died down he focused more on arranging and conducting responsibilities again, also forming his own publication company for copyright purposes, Burning Bush Music. One of his most notable roles at Warner Brothers was as the musical force behind comic singer Allan Sherman. It was Lou's talents that helped bring out the best humorous aspects of Sherman, and gave his tunes, and lyrics, the great comic punch that fit so well with Sherman's Jewish-centric delivery. Lou also spent a great deal of time working up a television show for Sherman that did not last terribly long despite the comedian's popularity. Busch further contributed musical settings to a Los Angeles area production of Moliere's The Amorous Flea in 1964. Leaving Warner Brothers in 1965, Lou continued to work through the late 1960s, including guest appearances as a conductor at the famous Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, Lou was elected as the national treasurer of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for at least two terms.

A few later albums were released on the ragtime-centric DOT label, and in the late 1970s he produced one more effort with friend and jazz pianist Lincoln Mayorga, complete with a couple of new tunes, The Brinkerhoff Piano Company.

The Brinkerhoff Piano Company:
Lou Busch (L) and Lincoln Mayorga (R) in 1976

The pair had been performing under that title since at least 1975, doing live performances through Southern and Central California. Lou had actually helped Lincoln get his first ragtime album produced in 1958, which was recorded under the name Brooke Pemberton, and they remained good friends until Lou's death.

Busch's influence in ragtime remained for many years, affecting notable performer/composers such as Dave Jasen, Trebor Tichenor and Dick Zimmerman, as well as a young Bill Edwards. Busch never fully retired from music, and married a third time to music clearance specialist Juannita Strickland "Nita" Archambeau in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 27, 1964. They were both good friends of Capitol artist Stan Kenton and his wife Audrey. This last marriage could have driven his desire to work since he once noted to a friend that he was "trying to keep up with alimony for three wives." (As Lou and Nita remained married for over 14 years until his death, this and other evidence suggests the unconfirmed possibility of yet another marriage in the mid-to-late 1950s.)

Although it has been reported that Lou rarely performed ragtime publicly, his daughter Debbi notes that he did some tours for Capitol in the 1950s, including a substantial one to Australia in 1956 with Stan Freberg and Don Cornell. She also asserted that he was generally a "big ham" when it came to being on stage. The Allan Sherman albums, although live, were generally recorded for invited guests in a Warner Brothers studio. He was persuaded by Dave Jasen to participate in a ragtime concert at the C.W. Post Center on Long Island in October 1976 in his guise as Joe "Fingers" Carr. Others in that concert included Jasen, Neville Dickie, Bob Seeley, Dick Wellstood, and Dick Hyman. In the mid to late 1970s of course there were the live performances with Mayorga and others in Southern and Central California.

Busch also occasionally still made the news for non-ragtime or music related reasons. One particularly visible tongue in cheek commentary was an editorial of his published in the October 1, 1975 Los Angeles Times. During a particularly turbulent time in American history following Watergate and Vietnam, he made a call for some positive thinking:

Lou Busch met a tragic end in an automobile accident on a foggy Camarillo highway near his home in September 1979. Lou and Lincoln had been planning another benefit concert of Brinkerhoff material that evening. Busch was interred in the Westwood Village Mortuary near UCLA. Fortunately for all of us he left behind an exciting and well-documented musical legacy and a lot of smiling faces and tapping toes.