Post by Buzz Knight

I’ve been waiting a long time to talk to Tom Rush, and this conversation was worth the wait. Rolling Stone credits him with ushering in the entire era of the singer-songwriter. James Taylor has called him one of his main influences. Garth Brooks names him among his top five. His 1968 song “No Regrets” has been covered by Emmylou Harris, the Walker Brothers, Waylon Jennings, and even U2 — Bono once credited the wrong artist on stage before later apologizing to Tom in person. What struck me most talking with him wasn’t the legacy. It was the perspective. At 85, after 68 annual “farewell tours,” Tom told me: “The audience doesn’t want perfection. They want connection.” He’s still doing 60 shows a year. He still mentors young musicians the way he once championed Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne before the world knew their names. We also got into how a basement recording session led to a 10-year creative partnership with his accompanist, how he discovered his current guitarist playing in a hotel bar, and his answer to our closing “Dream Walk” question — about the parents who adopted him at two minutes old — which is one of the most moving answers we’ve gotten on this show. New episode of Takin’ A Walk is live now. Listen here https://lnkd.in/dbCCZ5yA