Tom Rush Albums Ranked

Tom Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk and blues singer and songwriter. His 1968 composition “No Regrets” has become a standard, with numerous cover versions having been recorded (Rush did two radically different versions himself). These include The Walker Brothers, who gave Tom Rush Top Ten credit as a songwriter on the UK Singles Chart, Emmylou Harris, who included the song on her 1988 album Bluebird, and Midge Ure whose cover also made the UK Top Ten. On March 1, 2007, a video of his performance of Steven Walters’ “The Remember Song” was uploaded to YouTube, and, as of April 2017, it has received over 7 million plays. Writing on his website, Rush said, On December 28, 2012, Rush appeared at Boston Symphony Hall to celebrate fifty years in the music business. With his new album Voices (2018) out, at age 79, Rush is still frequently performing, touring the United States, these days often accompanied on piano by Berklee graduate Matt Nakoa. Here are all of Tom Rush’s albums ranked.

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7. Blues, Songs & Ballads, 1965

“Blessed with an exceptionally expressive voice, Tom rambles through a set of folk and blues standards. It also helps that his guitar skills although not top of the line are more than adequate to carry the set in near solo fashion. In this engaging album backed only by a washtub bass (no kidding) Tom shows why he was a legend in the Cambridge scene in the early to mid sixties.”

6. Take A Little Walk With Me, 1966

“On this album, Tom Rush somewhat belatedly follows in the footsteps of Dylan’s “Bringing It All Back Home” with one electric side and one acoustic side. The electric side focuses on blues and old rock ‘n’ roll, running through a fun selection of songs. It starts with a lively version of Willie Dixon’s “You Can’t Tell a Book by the Cover”, featuring some very nice guitar by Al Kooper. This is followed by Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love”, on which Rush uses a “frogman” voice. The Bo Diddley beat is carried forward into the next song, Buddy Holly’s “Love’s Made a Fool of You”. Next comes a Chuck Berry tune, “Too Much Monkey Business”, and “Money Honey”, an early Drifters song. The side ends with a Tom Rush original, “On the Road Again”. The acoustic side mostly sticks with bluesy material, with the exception of the first track, the wistfully tragic ballad “Joshua Gone Barbados”. The next three tracks (“Statesboro Blues”, “Turn Your Money Green”, “Sugar Babe”) are all solid, but the final track, “Galveston Flood” (about the 1900 hurricane), is a standout, with stark and haunting lyrics.”

5. Tom Rush At The Unicorn, 1962

“Tom’s voice is solid as is his guitar playing and the accompaniment is stellar too. Great pick of songs and to me it is not a problem at all that none of them are self penned. A surprisingly complete and convincing album.”

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4. Voices, 2018

“This is a really nice collection of new songs from Tom Rush who still is at the top of his game. His singing and guitar playing are still great to listen to. From his earliest albums in the sixties he has always been an excellent interpreter of other songwriters material and some fine originals. If you haven’t heard Tom in a while you will be very satisfied with this new album.”

3. Tom Rush, 1965

“In this album, Tom Rush is a blatant example of the deep America folk-blues-country sound taking its roots from its melting-pot population. He covered songs by Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Woody Guthrie just to name a few. He is backed by John Sebastian before he came into fame with The Lovin’ Spoonful; and Felix Pappalardi before his Mountain years. The whole album is a truly underrated masterpiece with excellent slide guitar all along, very melodic bass lines, and mouth organ too.”

2. Tom Rush, 1970

“Man this is great, just an excellent collection of songs – good variety and song choices. “Driving Wheel” is epic, “Drop Down Mama” is fun, “Old Man’s Song” cuts deep, there’s a nice “These Days” version and some rockers too. I don’t know how to express what exactly is so great about this, he’s not the most outstanding vocalist for example but everything just feels and flows right on his record.”

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1. The Circle Game, 1968

“Using an array of competent musicians especially Bruce Langhorne to back his superior baritone voice Tom’s The Circle Game may have been his best album. James Taylor, Joni Mitchel and Jackson Browne were three relatively unknown artists who benefited greatly by this release. Tom had the ability to create his own songs but his interpretations of O.P.S. were rarely less than splendid. You can’t go wrong with material like “Urge for Going”, “Shadow Dream Song” and “Something in the Way She Moves”, but he really comes through with his own “Rockport Sunday” and the albums best song “No Regrets”.