Tom Rush

Tom Rush stood out as a central figure in the urban folk revival that flourished during the 1960s and has maintained an active professional path for over seven decades. His resonant and inviting vocal delivery, along with a gift for selecting fresh songs from emerging writers, kept him appearing regularly at folk venues and gatherings from that era forward. Skilled as a songwriter in his own right, he penned “No Regrets,” which became a lasting folk standard later interpreted by Harry Belafonte, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, and the Walker Brothers, among others. His own recording of the piece appeared on 1968’s The Circle Game, frequently cited as his strongest album. A 2007 online clip of Rush delivering “Remember?” spread rapidly and drew in younger listeners, an audience he pursued further through later studio releases such as 2009’s What I Know, 2018’s Voices, and 2024’s Gardens Old, Flowers New.

Born February 8, 1941, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Rush first took the stage in 1961 while enrolled at Harvard University as an English literature major. He performed often at Club 47 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the coffeehouse that helped launch the early careers of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, and soon established himself on the broader East Coast folk circuit. Regular appearances at Boston’s Unicorn led to his initial recording, the live 1962 set Tom Rush at the Unicorn. Prestige Records then issued his next two projects, 1963’s Got a Mind to Ramble and 1964’s Blues, Songs and Ballads.

Rush signed with Elektra Records in 1965, at that time one of the leading folk labels in the United States, and the company released his self-titled album the same year. Until then his sets had drawn almost exclusively from traditional folk and blues material, yet 1966’s Take a Little Walk with Me marked a shift as he included numbers by Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Bo Diddley while also contributing his first original composition, “On the Road Again.” Widely regarded as his most influential work, 1968’s The Circle Game introduced songs by Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne well before any of them achieved widespread recognition, and it also contained “No Regrets,” which became Rush’s most familiar original piece. He moved to Columbia Records in 1970 and recorded three albums there—1970’s Tom Rush and Wrong End of the Rainbow plus 1972’s Merrimack County—that leaned increasingly toward rock, while his final Columbia outing, 1974’s Ladies Love Outlaws, incorporated country-rock elements.

After parting with Columbia following Ladies Love Outlaws, Rush continued performing live but waited until 1982 to issue another album, the live New Year on his own Night Light label, captured at Boston’s Symphony Hall. Late Night Radio followed in 1984, another concert recording that paired him with Steve Goodman, Mimi Fariña, David Buskin, and Robin Batteau. Material from those two releases was later compiled on the 2001 album Live at Symphony Hall, Boston. Night Light put out the limited-edition cassette EP Work in Progress in 1994. The 2006 live set Trolling for Owls highlighted humorous songs and included a version of Steven Walters’ “Remember?,” which gained new attention when a stage performance clip appeared online in 2007. The video accumulated more than seven million views and expanded Rush’s following, prompting his return to the studio for 2009’s What I Know, his first collection of new studio material in 35 years and one that featured guest vocals from Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, and Bonnie Bramlett.

In 2012 Rush marked the 50th anniversary of his debut album with a special Boston concert that included guests Jonathan Edwards and David Bromberg. The event was documented in both audio and video, and highlights appeared as the 2013 CD/DVD package Celebrates 50 Years of Music. At age 77 he issued the studio album Voices in 2018, his first project consisting primarily of his own material and containing ten Rush originals alongside two traditional folk pieces. He maintained a steady schedule of live dates, yet another six years elapsed before he entered the studio again. The reflective 2024 release Gardens Old, Flowers New comprised entirely original songs and was produced by New York-based singer-songwriter Matt Nakoa.