American folk music influencer Tom Rush to perform at the Vilar

Tom Rush may have been a key influencer in the trajectory of musicians like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, but he’s also a legend in his own right.

He initially helped shape the 1960s folk sound by playing at the Club 47, a coffeehouse a block from his dorm at Harvard, where he attended college. The venue hosted young-and-upcoming artists, as well as legendary blues and bluegrass players.

“We probably spent way too much time making music and not enough time studying English literature, which was what I was supposed to be doing,” he said.

He met Mitchell around 1966 and was blown away by her music.

“Apparently, nobody else was encouraging her,” Rush said. “She was being told her songs sucked.”

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Nevertheless, Rush helped launch her career, and now Mitchell calls him “the first of the great singer/songwriters,” according to growingbolder.com.

Rolling Stone named him the father of the singer/songwriter era, and Taylor said he was at least as important and big as Bob Dylan in the music scene, describing Rush as one of Taylor’s early heroes and a main influence.

In the late 1960s, Taylor played about half a dozen songs for Rush in a barren room with only a tape recorder in New York City’s Elektra Records; Rush recorded a couple of them, along with three Mitchell songs and one Jackson Browne (who, at the time, had only set his sights on songwriting) song for his 1968 Elektra Records “The Circle Game.” In doing so, Rush played a significant role in introducing and promoting Mitchell and Browne to the world.

After taking a break from the industry in the 1970s, he came to own the name Club 47 and started the Club 47 concert series, where he produced concerts highlighting both established and emerging talent. He’s currently working on an upcoming PBS series by the same name.

So why didn’t Rush rocket to stardom in the 1960s and ’70s like the others? For him, it was a choice — one he says he’s content with, because many of his friends are so famous they can’t live a regular life, shopping for groceries or going to a show. Still, fans tap him on the shoulder at restaurants and praise his music.

A YouTube clip of him performing “The Remember Song” launched him back into the limelight, making him a viral sensation around age 70. Fans from the ’60s rejoiced, new fans took note and Rush felt so inspired that he returned to the studio to record after decades, though he had released some live albums prior to that.

He now admits he should’ve done it sooner, because now he has so many ideas for projects. But, overall, he doesn’t regret how he chose stability over stardom. Ironically, some of his contemporaries have faded away from the music scene for various reasons — and, these days, he’s going strong.

On Oct. 3, he brings his expressively interpretative voice and delightful guitar playing to the Vilar, accompanied by a young musician, Brendan Cleary. He heard Cleary singing in a bar in Boston a couple years ago and invited him on the road, and the two have been touring together since January.

“He will knock your socks off,” Rush said.

Whether Rush is singing his own songs or choosing covers to interpret, he judges a good song by whether or not it gives him goose bumps.

“if I respond emotionally to a song, it’s a good song,” he said, adding that he doesn’t play some he admires because they need the backing of a full band to do them justice.

When he sings covers, he brings up the emotions behind the words. For example, Dobe Gray delivers a very upbeat rendition of “Drift Away,” but Rush interprets it as more of a sad song, since the first line is, “Day after day, I’m more confused.” He sings it with that kind of sensitive emotion — yet it’s still a beautiful interpretation.

While he’s known for his “distinct” guitar playing, he laughed when he read that description back in the day, because he knew where he had “stolen” every note from.

“I was very easily influenced, but I had so many influences that apparently the way I put it together was different,” he said.

Since the pandemic, he has been producing a weekly online series called Rockport Sundays. The 15-minute episodes feature Rush and a guest chatting and performing a song. Posted on Sunday mornings, they remain online for eight weeks.

“A lot of my guests are youngsters who are really good, but it’s so hard to get started these days. When I was starting out, if you had a record deal, the record company would get you on the radio and promote your tour, and that’s all you needed. That doesn’t work anymore. And 20,000 plays on Spotify won’t buy you a cup of coffee. So how do you make a living making music now if you’re just starting out? What I’m doing with Rockport Sundays — and hopefully with this Club 47 TV series, if it comes to pass — is to help the youngsters get a start,” he said. “If somebody’s a really good musician, they deserve an audience, and the audience deserves them.”

He’s also working on new albums, noting that he has at least three in mind since his 2024 release, “Gardens Old, Flowers New.” He plans to record some of his favorite originals and covers with just his guitar “because I think the music that’s out there now has gotten so complicated, and I think maybe just going back to the basics might be interesting. If you can get down to the essence of the song without a lot of distractions, then people can hopefully hear what the songwriter meant.”

Another album in the works takes a cue from his 2006 “Trolling for Owls,” which combined funny songs and silly stories.

“It’s out of print, and I don’t think I’ll print anymore, but I’ve got enough new silly songs and stupid stories to make another one of them,” he said.

At the Vilar, expect fan favorites, along with a few new songs, as well as tracks from more recent albums. And, he’s got an unrecorded one he plans to play called “It Takes A Whole Lot of Liquor to Like Her.”

“Crowds seem to like (it) a lot,” he said.