81 f Still No Regrets…
1960s American veteran No.2 was as well known as a finder and interpreter of songs by then- unknowns like Joni Mitchell as he was as a fine relaxed, funky, bluesy writer himself. Tom Rush tells John Kruth what he’s been doing lately,
record soon-to-be classics by such young hopefuls as Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Jackson Browne. He has delved into an eclectic array of styles over his long career. His new album Voices kicks off with an update on the traditional Elder Green, featuring a punchy rhythm section behind him. Rush delivers the tale of a preacher man, complete with an amen corner punctuating each verse. Although branded as ‘a folky,’ Tom always had a funky, bluesy style, and never shied away from rocking out when he felt the spirit.
T
“It may be a bit academic, but to me ‘folk’ means the traditional songs, ‘handed down by ear’ from generation to genera- tion – Barbara Allen, The Water Is Wide, Yankee Doodle… stuff like that,” Tom pointed out. “If somebody wrote it, even if it was Woody Guthrie, it’s not folk, although Woody did ‘borrow’ a lot of tra- ditional melodies.”
“I started out in the late ’50s trying to play the rock ‘n’ roll songs I heard on the radio, then transitioned to folk when I heard my first Josh White record. When I got to Cambridge (Massachusetts) in the early ’60s, there was a lot of great music around and I soaked it up like the prover- bial sponge,” Rush explained. “Most of my contemporaries were specialists, doing only Delta blues, only Irish/Scottish ballads, only Guthrie songs. I liked too many very different songs to go that route, and so became the generalist, picking a song from here, a song from there. The mix made my shows, and recordings, a bit schizophrenic and I’m not sure it led to a wider audience, but I think the variety kept me, and hope- fully the listeners, interested.”
As Tom said about Come See About
Me in the album’s notes… “I don’t think I wrote this one, I think the guitar did.” The song possesses that rare relaxed groove that J.J. Cale was famous for. With plenty of Al Perkins slippery slide and bluesy har- monica chug, you can feel the music breathe. As Taj Mahal once tried to describe the mystery ingredient of his
om Rush is a damn good story teller. And if he didn’t happen to write the tale he’s singing, he’s always known where to find it, being one of the first to
sound, “It has all the time in the world in it.” Now seventy-seven, Rush seems to embody the philosophy of the great bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who once famously remarked, “It’s taken me all my life to learn what not to play.”
When it comes to the craft of songwrit-
ing Tom takes a relaxed approach these days: “The songs just pop up out of the ether and I have very little control over the process,” he said, marvelling at the gift that each new tune brings. “I have noticed, how- ever, that they pop up much more often when I sit down with the guitar and try to tune in to what’s out there in that ether.”
“I’ve known Tom since 1962,” his pro- ducer and old friend Jim Rooney said. “When you’re working with him, he’s with you 100%. Been on the road since 1963, yet he’s not worn out, he’s not jaded. He’s fully engaged, writing really good songs expressing a variety of emotions. Tom responds to the musicians I gathered together in Nashville and they respond to him. Voices is a fine collection of songs by a singer who knows who he is and can still deliver the goods. Give me an artist like Tom Rush any day!”
Voices is another classic Rooney pro- duction, which has always been simple and
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148
