Tom Rush has been a favorite of mine for just about as long as I’ve been a fan of Poco. You may not know that Rush performed and recorded songs by Joni Mitchell, Jackson Brown and James Taylor before anyone had pretty much heard of any of them and at least as far as Mitchell is concerned, she probably would still be pretty much unknown if he hadn’t made “The Circle Game” the center piece as well as the title of his last album on Electra before he moved over to Columbia. She used to say: “Before anyone else took my writing seriously, Tom Rush was singing and recording my songs.”
Like Dave Van Ronk who isn’t remembered much today, who served as mentor to many of the singer, songwriters of the sixties, in particular Dylan and Baez, Rush has carried on that role for many who came after over the last 50 years. Well into his 70’s he still is wonderful to see in concert still playing all over the country.
If you’re an Amazon prime video customer, they just added a doc celebrating the first 50 years of his career. It’s called “No Regrets” after one of his own songs and it’s well worth watching.
Marc-
Trivia factoid: Linda Eastman (pre McCartney) did the cover photography.