Tom Rush has been performing for over sixty years and is vibrant as ever. He’s got a new album of original songs and his tour takes him to the Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity on December 3. Our conversations spans the decades including Tom’s humorous stories about his TWO “first gigs” back in 1961. Topics include his recollections of the early 60’s coffeehouse scene in New England, his first recording, done live at one of those venues; Boston’s Unicorn Club. We chat about the changing role of songwriting during this transition from Brill Building/NYC songwriting teams to the singer-songwriter era. Tom denies “ushering in this songwriter era” that Rolling Stone magazine credits him with; rather, he was just trying to acquire material for an overdue recording contact commitment. A true storyteller, Rush gives us a glimpse int the early contacts with Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Jackson Brown.

Tom Rush kept in touch with his audience in a pandemic live stream series called “Rockport Sundays” with fifteen minute segments of stories and song. It’s still ongoing and available by subscription at TomRush.com. We talk about his original songs including his first original song to be recorded by numerous acts called “No Regrets”. We finish our conversation with Tom’s recollection of the legendary “Festival Express” trans-Canadian railway concert run with the stars of the day including Janis Joplin, The Band, the Grateful Dead and more. Great stories throughout the segment as well as songs! We open with “Rockport Sundays” “Lost My Drivin’ Wheel” “The Circle Game”, “No Regrets” and “The Urge For Going”.

I thank this legendary folksinger and storyteller for his career and his generosity of time on NineVoltHeart.