Tom Rush packed Sanctuary for a night of folksy delights on Sunday, March 29, with an honored guest, Brendan Cleary, joining in for some sweet guitar and vocal harmonies. Today we share a summary of a video call interview with the legendary singer/songwriter from March 18, some days before the concert. Tom was gracious enough to share some of these stories and background and even played my request in a beautiful rendition of “River Song” that evening.

Bob McCarthy
How are you doing? Finishing your breakfast?

Tom Rush
You can keep eating. I just finished a second ago.

Bob
So we’re really looking forward to next Sunday’s concert. I know that this is not your first time in Maynard. I know you’ve been to Memorial Park before. Have you played Sanctuary in the past?

Tom
I don’t think so. But I consider this as my 67th annual farewell tour. So, not sure.

Bob
Good for you. Good for you. I like the style.

Tom
I’m looking forward to the next 67.

Bob
My family and I have been admirers for many years. We’ve seen you at a lot of New England venues. I recall I got my car towed at one on a cold night in South Portland to see you. But I just loved going to that one. And you had a young unknown gentleman on stage that played with you. I had never seen that before in a concert. And I think Rockport Sundays seems to be a venue where you do that with a lot of young performers, or performers just starting out.

So, I’d like to learn more about Rockport Sundays. And everybody asks about Rockport and where the name comes from. I’ve seen other interviews of you saying that any Rockport will do if it’s on an ocean, which I really appreciate.

Tom
Well, to go way back in time, I wrote this instrumental. And I’m trying to make seagulls and waves crashing. And it’s a seaport town. And I was actually thinking of naming it … I can’t even remember what I was going to name it. Anyway, I just picked Rockport. Yeah, partly because there’s something like 17 Rockports in America, some of which are on the ocean. And I then ended up living actually in Rockport, Massachusetts. Great town.

And during COVID, I was missing playing for people because all the venues were shut down. And I came up with this notion, well, I can do something online. I can play for people online. Not understanding at the time that when you tell a joke to a video camera, it doesn’t laugh.

Bob
Can you tell us a bit more about how Rockport Sundays evolved?

Tom
We created Rockport Sundays as an online short-episode concert series launched during COVID, with a subscription model and roughly 15–20 minute episodes that remain available for eight weeks.

I started out having guests that were some of my colleagues, Tom Paxton and Jonathan Edwards. But more and more as time went by, I started recruiting these youngsters who were absolutely brilliant, but I’d never heard of them. (I thought) why is that? And it’s because it’s very hard to get started these days. I think the youngster you’re mentioning that I might have had on stage with me (in South Portland) was Matt Nakoa, perhaps.

Bob
Yes, that’s right. He was fantastic. And that just moved me. I thought, you know, what a great idea to share the spotlight with him. That must have been about 4 years ago.

Tom
Well, he’s currently in Spain, writing music for a Broadway play. So he’s, he’s come quite a ways, come quite a ways. And I, I like to think that I helped along the way. And there’s another young fellow named Seth Glear, who was my accompanist part of the time. Matt’s busy, Seth’s having a baby.

So I’ve just recruited another guy, Brendan Cleary. I heard him in the Hilton in Boston. I was going to the Wang Center for an induction ceremony.
And I was walking out, and this kid was playing in the bar, which is part of the lobby. And I thought, he’s good. He’s too good to be playing in bars. Bars are horrible. People saying … “would you keep it down? We’re trying to have a conversation.”

(He played 3 of his own songs and jammed with Tom much of the show. Fantastic talent! — Bob)

Bob
Have you changed any rituals or routines to prepare for your shows over the years?

Tom
I don’t really know. I’m sure I have, but it’s happened gradually enough that I’ve got it down to a system at this point. But it’s basically get on stage for the sound check and make some noises. And what the audience hears is one thing, what I can hear is somehow a separate thing, because I’m behind the speakers that the audience is hearing. And that’s where the monitors come in.

So it takes a little while, a little back and forth. I tell the sound man, no compressors, please, in the system. Compressors, basically, if you get too loud, it makes you quieter. But that just mixes things up. I’m basically my own compressor. I come in on the mic if I want to be louder, I go back from the mic if I want to be quieter, I’m good at that. So I don’t want some software deciding when I should be louder and quieter. But it usually doesn’t take very long, and it’s a fun part of the evening.

Bob
Is there an artist who most impressed you, an artist of any genre?

Tom
Well, I’m easily impressed. My parents had a record player when I was a kid, and they had these records from an operatic baritone named Paul Robeson. And I just loved the way he sounded. And I wanted to be Paul Robeson. Problem was my voice hadn’t changed yet. So I was still an alto. So I never made it to being Paul Robeson. And then I started playing guitar. This is the late ’50s. And the rock and roll craze was going on. And I wanted to be the Everly Brothers, which obviously was a challenge. Didn’t make it.

And then when I was 16, I remember this, we were on a — my family took a cross-country trip and I had just gotten my driver’s license and they let me drive the first 2,000 miles. I finally figured out they’re taking advantage of me. But I was thrilled at the time. Hey, I’m driving. I’m driving. And we stopped in Jackson Hole, in Wilson, Wyoming, at a ranch of a woman named Betty Woolsey. And Betty Woolsey had some Josh White recordings. And I just was blown upside down. I’d never heard a guitar played like that. I’d never heard songs like that. So I decided, no, I don’t want to be the Everly Brothers. I want to be Josh White. I’m going to write that one down. That didn’t work out all that well either.

And then I eventually got to Cambridge to go to college, and there was all this music going on. All kinds of youngsters playing bluegrass and Delta blues and Chicago blues. And Irish-Scottish ballads and on and on and on. I remember thinking at the time it was a bit odd having a bunch of Harvard students sitting around singing about how rough it was in the coal mines.

But we figured we could make up with sincerity what we lacked in authenticity. Anyway, there was a guy there named Eric von Schmidt, and he was a little bit older than the rest of us. And he was actually a graphic artist, that was his main gig. But he just played the most wonderful songs and wrote some wonderful songs.
And so I really, I adored Eric von Schmidt’s music. So that gives you a few of them, but it goes on and on. I was impressed by Joni Mitchell and James Taylor and Jackson Browne when I first met them. Nobody had ever heard of them. They were youngsters.

Bob
One of my brothers wanted me to ask if you have a favorite song?

Tom
That’s like asking, which is your favorite child?

Yeah, what I enjoy on stage actually is mixing it up, doing a funny song and then a sad song and then an up-tempo song and a quiet song. And, you know, basically I’m after emotional whiplash. But keep, you know, keep changing it around, which keeps the audience engaged. And then the stories, you know, telling stories about where this song came from, or sometimes there’s stories that have nothing to do with any song. But I started doing that when I was playing at the Club 47 in Cambridge, uh, when I was in college back then, because I had one guitar, several different tunings for that guitar.
And changing the tuning would take a minute. You had to fill the gap. And the audience would start looking at their watches and shuffling their feet and whispering to each other. So I started telling stories to keep the audience engaged while I was tuning. And it’s now at the point where I get requests. Tell the one about the guy from New Hampshire. I get requests for the stories. It blows my mind. Yeah, that’s great.

Anyway, the answer is no, I don’t have a favorite song.

The repertoire evolves over time. Now that I’ve got Brendan Cleary, a brand-new accompanist, it’s a good excuse to switch some songs around. And so we’ll have a bit of a new show.

Bob
Ok, last question that I sent you ahead of time.

Tom
Yes, I have it. And your older sister asks, “why didn’t he find me and marry me?” Well … she dodged a bullet there.

Bob
Ok, really last question. Did you write “Child’s Song”?

Tom
Ahh, Child’s Song. No, Child’s Song is, it’s one of the best songs ever written. A long while back I was working with another accompanist. I hired a Canadian guitar player, Trevor Veach. He was living in the States. But when we went up to Toronto to play, he knew all the musicians up there. And he said, there’s this kid named Murray McLaughlin. He’s going to come over and play some songs for you. And Murray came and we sat on the edge of the stage and he sang me some songs, including “Child’s Song.” And I’ve been doing it ever since. It took me about six months to toughen up enough to get through it without having a breakdown.

Bob
Well, I think you’ve done it all really right for a very long period. And I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we are enjoying you playing still. Still having a good time?

Tom
I had 12 years of piano back at the dawn of my time, and I never got along well with it. It wasn’t fun. Nobody ever explained to me this was supposed to be fun. And I had an older cousin, Bob Beals, who taught me how to play ukulele, and that was fun. And that’s when the light bulb went on. Oh, music is fun. If you do it right.

http://tomrush.com/

Learn more about Rockport Sundays, Tom’s upcoming shows and Tom’s most recent album, entitled Gardens Old, Flowers New, which is his first album of new music since the 2018 Voices album. The album was released March 1, 2024, on Appleseed Records and has gotten rave reviews from the press along with significant radio chart action.