By Ken Abrams, special to ALXnow
Folk legend Tom Rush continues to forge ahead. The 84-year-old singer-songwriter, who got his start playing at Harvard University in 1961, will bring his catalog of songs and stories to The Birchmere on Saturday, April 5. At an age when most folks are comfortably retired, Rush remains active, recording a new album last year, playing dozens of live shows annually, and even hosting a regular weekly webcast, Rockport Sundays.
Once tagged by Rolling Stone magazine as the “original singer-songwriter,” Rush played a significant role ushering in the singer-songwriter era of the 1960s and early 70s. He wrote and performed his own songs and recorded others penned by artists like Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and James Taylor, helping them jumpstart their careers.
We spoke to Rush, currently on what he joked “is my 65th annual farewell tour,” by phone recently, where he shared details on the upcoming show and more.
Among other achievements, Rush can be credited with “discovering” Joni Mitchell in 1965 at The Chessmate, a legendary Detroit nightclub. He was her early mentor, was the first to record “The Circle Game,” and, along with David Crosby, taught her alternate guitar tunings, which she’s used throughout her career.
“We first met at a club in Detroit called the Chessmate,” explained Rush. “I was staying at her place with her and her then-husband Chuck Mitchell. I showed her some open tunings, she took them, and later she sent me a tape of ‘The Circle Game,’ and actually apologized for the tune.” Rush’s version of that song, along with his take on “Urge for Going,” helped Mitchell gain recognition as a songwriter, springboarding her career.
From the start of his career, Rush began telling stories between songs while tuning his acoustic. “I was doing a lot of open tunings, different tunings on the guitar, and I would have to take a minute or two to change the tuning, so I told stories to keep the audience engaged,” he explained.
Those stories are epic. “They might be about the upcoming song, or maybe about something totally irrelevant, but the stories started getting popular and I get requests now. ‘Tell the one about the guy from New Hampshire,’” he laughed. (Note: Be sure to ask about skinny dipping with Joni Mitchell.) “I’m basically a storyteller. Part of the time I’m singing, part of the time I’m talking.”
As mentioned, Rush is also keeping up with the times, hosting a live webcast, Rockport Sundays, every week that features emerging artists and some old friends. “I’m getting to introduce new artists to a wider crowd and play with some of my old buddies – Tom Paxton, David Bromberg, and Jonathan Edwards have been guests,” he said.
Rush noted that he wasn’t present at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, the pivotal year Dylan went electric, but has played the historic event several times. “It was an honor to be included; it was always a treat,” he said. He recalled playing a workshop stage in 1966, during a huge downpour.
“One time at an afternoon show, (Joan Baez’s sister) Mimi Fariña and her husband were on stage, and it started to rain. Everybody in the audience was getting up and heading for their cars. There was canvas over the stage with a hole and this downspout was pouring water onto the stage. Richard (Farina) and Mimi got under the downspout and started dancing. It turned the crowd around; they decided, this is fun, being in the rain. And they stuck around and listened to the rest of the set. It was quite a moment,” recalled Rush.
As mentioned, Rush has a new album out, Gardens Old, Flowers New, his first since 2018. “It was produced by my longtime accompanist, Matt Nakoa, who is an absolutely brilliant musician,” said Rush. “He turns out to be a brilliant record producer as well. We hired some brilliant players, and boom, we’re having the time of our lives.”
The album features new compositions and a few that he’s been playing live for years. “I’ve written more songs in the past 10 years than I did in the first 50 years of my career. I don’t know quite what’s going on there, but the songs just seem to come a lot more often.”
“’Gardens Old, Flowers New’ is a line that’s in one of the songs,” he explained. “I’m singing about watching my baby girl play in the garden. The garden, which represents people who watch their kids grow up for thousands of years, is old, but each time the flowers are new.”
Rush is excited about the show opener, award-winning actor and musician Jeff Daniels. “Tom Paxton was supposed to be on the bill, but he had some health issues,” said Rush. “Paxton’s manager is also Jeff Daniels’ manager, and so Jeff got substituted.”
It turns out, the two have met previously. “I was playing a show that David Bromberg put together a decade or so ago in New York with a whole bunch of artists,” Rush continued. “I’m down in the green room milling around and this guy comes up to me and starts telling me how much he loves my music, citing some songs that he thought I wrote that in fact I didn’t write.”
“He looked familiar, and I finally figured out, oh, it’s Jeff Daniels,” continued Rush. Now my daughter Sienna, who I wrote ‘Playing in the Garden’ about, was in college at that point, and she was a huge Jeff Daniels fan. She watched every episode of Newsroom at least 10 times, and she was upstairs at the gig in the dressing room doing her homework. So I went upstairs and I told her there’s a guy downstairs who wants to meet you. She was just gob smacked meeting Jeff and he was very accommodating and sweet with her.”
Regarding the Birchmere show, “We’ll be doing some songs from the new album and some of the old songs, classic favorites that people come to hear,” says Rush. Expect a great night of music! Click here for further information and tickets.
