Tom Rush ~ 2012 September 15 ~ Circle of Friends Coffeehouse, Franklin, MA
Tom Rush accompanying himself on four different acoustic guitars
Set List
San Francisco Bay Blues - Making the Best of a Bad Situation - When You and I Were Young, Maggie - Baby Please Don't Go - Urge For Going - Mole's Moan - The Remember Song - The Fish Story Song - Drift Away - The Panama Limited ... intermission ... What's Wrong With America {new song} - Ladies Love Outlaws - These Days - The River Song - What I Know - If I Had a Boat - Black Magic Gun - No Regrets - Who Do You Love ... encore ... Child's Song - Wasn't That a Mighty Storm
Scroll down past the videos for review; photo gallery to the right.
Videos
"Child's Song":
"Wasn't That a Mighty Storm":
Review
In 1968, after hearing legendary Boston d.j. Dick Summer play "Urge for Going" by Tom Rush, I took a dollar and went to the local Woolworth's Basement and bought the 45. Considering that this was one of the first records I ever bought for myself, will you tell me why, for over four decades, I never went to see Tom Rush in concert?
An oversight if I ever saw one. It took seeing the wonderful documentary about the Cambridge folk scene, For the Love of the Music, all about the Club 47 folk revival of the late 1950s and 1960s, to make me realize what I was missing.
I was aware of the fact that Tom plays frequent shows in New England and around the country from the many venue listings that I keep up with, and I selected the Circle of Friends as a good setting for my first Tom Rush live show. I met a personable couple, Gary and Diane, waiting in line and enjoyed chatting with them about music. While Gary is a fan of folk and rock (same as me), Diane likes current pop and stated that her favorite performer is Lady Ga Ga. I wonder if this is the first time Ms. Ga Ga has ever been mentioned in the same sentence with Tom Rush. I appreciated the eclecticism of my new friends' taste in music.
The Circle of Friends is located in a Universalist church in an easy-to-find location not far off Interstate 495. The stage is roomy and half-moon shaped, with two steps up to the stage, but not very high off the ground, so the folks in the back few rows undoubtedly appreciated the fact that Tom stood for the entire concert until his final song, on which he played slide guitar while seated. (He used a butter knife as a slide.) The seating area consisted of removable chairs. There were exceptionally good brownies, pies and other delectables for sale during the break.
This is Tom Rush's 50th year performing live music. He announced this fact and said it was sort of depressing. The show mixed old songs, new songs, serious songs, funny songs, and a rich dose of Tom Rush's engaging and entertaining personality. He's not just a wonderful singer, with that warm, expressive, comforting voice; he's not just a talented and appealing guitarist; but he's also a witty comedian who frequently had the audience screaming with laughter. He dressed stylishly in a totally white suit with a black dress shirt; for his second set he removed the jacket. He donned an Abe Lincoln tophat for a new political satire that I am guessing is called "What's Wrong With America." He had four acoustic guitars and rotated among them from one song to the next. One of the guitars had a picture of a naked woman and a snake along the fretboard; this is his signature guitar, replacing one that was lost in a fire many years ago.
Throughout the show, Tom told many stories about his experiences with other musicians and in the music business. For example, when he played the Jackson Browne song "These Days" he told a story about how (back in the 1960s) Jackson and he had wound up after a concert in Tom's motel room with a girl. Neither singer was sure who the girl was interested in. Jackson wound up leaving and the girl stayed, giving Tom the idea that the girl liked Tom; but then the girl left, too. Fifteen years passed, and Tom and Jackson met, and Jackson's first words were "remember that girl? did she ..." and Tom said "no" and they were friends again. When introducing Lyle Lovett's "If I Had a Boat," Tom said Lyle's not like the other children. The song has lines like this: "if I had a boat, I'd sail it on the ocean; if I had a pony, I'd ride him on my boat"; and while singing these lyrics, Tom made a face like "see what I mean?" He told stories about the old Club 47 days; he explained why he wrote a children's song ("The Fish Story Song"), saying you have to use what the muse gives you; he tossed out fascinating bits of history about many of the songs he played.
Evidently most in the audience were very familiar with Tom's work, and the fact that this was my first Tom Rush concert probably placed me in a tiny minority. Although it was my first concert by this icon of the folk music world, I suspect it will not be my last.
For more on Tom Rush, visit his website.
Click for 2012 Concert Page with links to all 2012 concerts ... Click for Main Concert Page with links to all years