When Tom Rush first began performing at Club 47 in Harvard Square in 1961, he was an anomaly. Dave Van Ronk who was a father figure to most of the folk singers of the day called the burgeoning phenomenon “the folk scare,” and quipped that the best folk singers were the ones that could duplicate the cracks and pops of the old records they were covering when they sang live.Not Tom Rush. Like Dylan and Tom Paxton, he created music that splashed across genres that fellow students – he was at Harvard – identified with.
Sixty-three years later, he’s released his latest album Gardens Old, Flowers New. His voice sounds younger than it did then. His writing skills are as sharp as ever, and he has no plans to retire. “I’m trying to book Symphony Hall in Boston for my 100th birthday,” he says. “It falls on a Saturday. It’ll be February 28th, 2041. And they’re not returning my calls. I think they’re not taking me seriously.”
He’s grown wiser with his core audience. The 14 songs on the new album cover an array of topics, and he continues to tour at 83. “As for the show, at least I finally figured out how to articulate. The listener in the audience doesn’t want perfection. They want connection. Very early on I learned I have to tell stories between songs because I get people engaged, and they’re more likely to like a song you’re about to do if you’ve got their attention.”
Gardens Old, Flowers New is not a concept album, but there is a thread about water with songs like “Sailing,” “Tiny Boat Song,” and “The Harbor.” He explains, “I don’t have a boat. I don’t go out on boats. I’m actually living on the river that divides Maine and New Hampshire, and I’m actually close enough to the ocean that the river runs backwards when the tide comes in, but I don’t have a boat.”
One of the lines in “The Harbor” is “Take me down by the harbor/ Take me down by the sea/ Take me on down where the waters run free,” but the theme is about dementia: “I think I remember my children/ I think they were two or three.”
“That song came about because a couple of years ago on my birthday I went to see the hospital I was born in. It’s been converted into an old age home. It’s about somebody who is in an old age home told from the old person’s perspective.”
Tom’s mother had Alzheimer’s disease.
“Sailing,” the first song on the album, was named Song of The Week in Bavaria.
“Glory Road” is the oldest song on the album. “I started looking through computer files, and that song I hadn’t done in over 50 years. The only recording of it was from an air check from a Philadelphia folk show with Jean Shay, and it was a brand-new song. And I said, ‘Hey, Jean, I’ve got this brand-new song.’ I sang it, and it was a crummy air check recording, but I played it for Matt (the album’s producer, Matt Nakoa,) and he said, ‘I like it. Let’s do that one.’”
“Siena’s Song” was written for his daughter when she was a baby. She’s now going on 24. “I put it aside because I didn’t think anybody would like it outside of the immediate family. I did it on stage a couple of times, and people were crying. I’m not looking for an emotional whiplash, but, yeah, everyone loves that one.”
Tom thought “Gimme Some of It” was derived from an old jug band song. “I asked Jim Kweskin and Geof Muldaur. Neither of them had ever heard it, and then finally I think I was on a radio show, and I said, ‘If anyone knows where this came from send me an email.’ And it turns out the chorus comes from an old blues tune called “Custard Pie” that a lot of the old blues guys did. ‘Give me some of it before you give it all away.’ I don’t think he’s talking about dessert.”
“Nothing But A Man” is a few years old at the most. “Again, I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know where the songs come from. I can’t sit down and deliberately write a song. I sit down and fiddle with the guitar and try not to pay attention, and ideas come floating through. There’s a book called And Then I Wrote about interviewers. It’s all interviews of people who wrote hit songs. Over and over the writers say, ‘This one just seemed to happen. The more I work on it, the worse it gets.’”
He says “I Quit” was fun putting together. “I like it because it’s not specifically about a relationship or a job. It could be anything. I’m outta here, whatever that means. I’m now using that as the encore in my shows which is kinda funny.
“What got this album to happen was Matt Nakoa who has been my accompanist for 10 years. He also has his own career going, but he’s been my accompanist for 10 years, and it turns out he’s an excellent producer. I think he just got tired of me saying, ‘Well, maybe someday we’ll go in the studio,’ and he just booked this studio in Connecticut, lined up some excellent players, and next thing I know I’m having the time of my life playing in this old barn in Connecticut.
“Appleseed is the label I’m on with this one and two more before. Jim Musselman (CEO of Appleseed) loves the music and really wants to help the music get out there. I’m not good at administration. So, the records that came out on my label if you didn’t go to one of my shows, or you weren’t on my mailing list they didn’t exist. I didn’t have the machinery or the know-how to promote them or distribute them or any of that stuff.
“Basically, my need for a label was to get somebody to get the albums out there, and Jim Musselman is good at that. And I’ve raised the money to produce three albums. The most recent one was a Kickstarter campaign and raised more than enough money to do a great job. Didn’t have to scrape anywhere.”
Tom was independent before it was cool. In his own words, this is how you can keep this great artist in business. “LPs and CDs are available at my website. Streaming will be everywhere Friday, March 1st. If you wait to get the physical merch, you can get it anywhere, but I’d rather you get it at tomrush.com. And the other thing is I started this online series called Rockport Sundays. Basically, it’s been going on three years now. Every Sunday, there’s a video episode for subscribers, and I post an episode.
“It’s usually me and a guest, and we talk about whatever is peaking though our little brains. Then we share a song, and it’s become very popular. Peter Yarrow wants to do it. Gorden Lightfoot wanted to do it, but I didn’t get around to going to Toronto which I’m beating myself up about, but a lot of my guests are kids, and it’s kinda been a pattern for me.
“I like to introduce youngsters to my crowd. Sometimes what happened to Joni Mitchell and James Taylor and Jackson Browne – none of them had ever been recorded before I recorded them. The series got me through the pandemic. I’m gonna keep it up indefinitely.”
Tom Rush has always been prescient. Here’s his tip on the future: don’t throw out your CDs. “CDs are coming back big time. I was actually thinking we should put out an 8-track tape. Then, we’d have to sell a pickup truck along with it.”
