Folk Great Brings Distinctive Sound To The Met

Tom Rush is the ultimate folk singer.

Rush is the fellow who covered Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game” before Mitchell cut it. On his first album, Rush also covered the as-yet-recorded James Taylor and Jackson Browne.

With that record, Rush helped usher in the era of the singer songwriter, diminishing the influence of traditional ballads on folk music.

“I don’t claim much credit for it,” he told an interviewer a few years ago. “I was just looking for good songs.”

A native New Englander, Rush developed his craft in Boston-area coffee houses while attending Harvard University. Though he never became affiliated with the politics that defined the era, he was a seminal figure in the early ‘60s folk scene.

He was a habitue of Cambridge’s Club 47, a jazz club that the folk movement adopted and turned into a legend. Joan Baez, Maria Muldaur, Bonnie Raitt and John Sebastian all emerged from the same Boston circuit.

Rush recorded for two major labels, and while he never gained the fame of some of his peers - although Dylan mentions him in the spoken introduction to “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” - he was, and remains, an acknowledged movement ringleader.

“We were different from the New York City coffeehouse scene in that most everybody was an amateur in the original positive sense of the word. We were performing strictly for the love of the music and not from any financial motive.”

For years, Rush has organized an annual folkfest that draws such old friends as Raitt, Judy Collins, Nanci Griffith, Emmylou Harris, Christine Lavin, Billy Morrissey and even Bo Diddley. He also puts together a yearly show that features new talent. His Boston-area shows fill up the famed Symphony Hall every year.

His success has been so great that some people credit him with the revival of the famed Newport Folk Festival.

In performance, Rush is known as a warm and engaging storyteller with an easy-going baritone delivery.

“The very best thing about Tom Rush,” wrote one reviewer, “is his knack for making an audience just as comfortable as he is.”

He mixes blues and other traditional material with originals, and loves to wander off into silliness with the occasional John Prine or Tex Ritter piece.

One thing for certain is that you’ll get more fun than sermonizing at a Tom Rush show: He’s one of those people who still believes that a song is better than a soapbox.

And if that means a good, old-fashioned sing-along, so be it.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TOM RUSH Tom Rush will perform Wednesday at 8 p.m. at The Met. Reserved-seat tickets are $13 in advance and $15 at the door; available at Met box office, Street Music and G&B Select-a-Seat outlets.