Folk Music Icon Tom Rush Set to Release First Album in Five Years, Gardens Old, Flowers New, March 1st on Appleseed Recordings
New Release Coincides with 25th Anniversary of Appleseed
WEST CHESTER, PA – Legendary singer/songwriter Tom Rush returns with his first album in five years, Gardens Old, Flowers New, which is set for release by Appleseed Recordings on March 1st. The new disc also celebrates the 25th anniversary of Appleseed, founded in 1998 as an independent, internationally distributed label helmed by activist and attorney Jim Musselman, and devoted to releasing socially conscious contemporary, folk, and roots music. Gardens Old, Flowers New was produced by Matt Nakoa and recorded at the Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut, March 29th – April 2nd, 2023.
“I want to thank Matt Nakoa for prodding me to make this all happen,” Tom Rush says about the recording sessions. “I think he got tired of hearing me talk about maybe-someday making another album, went ahead and booked a great studio, lined up some brilliant players, a fabulous sound engineer and a great video guy. Next thing I knew, I’m sitting in an old barn in Connecticut strumming my guitar and having the time of my life!
“The album’s title, Gardens Old, Flowers New, is a line that appears in two of the songs here. I mean to convey the idea that many things in life — watching your child learn about the world, or falling in love —have happened millions on millions of times through the eons, but each time is always fresh and different.
“Matt, however, pointed out (in the kindest way) that, while I’m no spring chicken now, I’ve been coming up with new songs that he genuinely seems to enjoy. Some of these tunes have, in fact, been lurking in the shadows for a long time. But at one time or another I wrote all of them — except for ‘Gimme Some of It,’ where I put new words to an old, traditional blues tune called ‘Custard Pie.’
“As always with my record projects, the songs run the gamut from light-hearted and cheerful to sad and lonely. I’ve been accused of seeking emotional whiplash — I deny everything. I was never indicted!”
Tom Rush was there at the vanguard of the 1960s folk movement. In addition to his own compositions, several of which have become standards in the singer/songwriter genre, he was the first to record songs by Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and James Taylor. Taylor and Garth Brooks have named him as a major influence.
Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Tom began performing in 1961 while studying at Harvard University, where he majored in English literature. His early recordings included Southern and Appalachian folk or old-time country songs, Woody Guthrie ballads, and acoustic-guitar blues, such as Jesse Fuller‘s “San Francisco Bay Blues,” which appeared on both of his first two albums. He regularly performed at the legendary folk and blues venue, Club 47 in Cambridge, the Unicorn in Boston, The Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA, The Cellar Door in DC, The Troubadour in LA and many others.
Tom Rush was credited by Rolling Stone with ushering in the era of the singer/songwriter. His 1968 song, “No Regrets,” has become a standard, with numerous cover versions having been recorded, including two very different versions by Rush, himself. These range from British Invasion group 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. The list of covers also includes Olivia Newton-John, Harry Belafonte, Waylon Jennings, U2 and many more.
Since 2007, Tom’s video performance of Steven Walters’ “The Remember Song” has received in excess of seven million YouTube plays, prompting Tom to quip, “I’ve been waiting 45 years to be an overnight sensation and it’s finally happened! A video clip of my performance of ‘The Remember Song’ has ‘gone viral’. I felt terrible at first, thinking I was being accused of being a musical equivalent of Ebola, but my children explained to me that this was a good thing.”
Tom is no newcomer to video awareness: in 1968, one of the first music videos produced for an artist by a record company, Elektra, was used to promote “No Regrets” for his The Circle Game album.
Tom Rush – Gardens Old, Flowers New Track Listing and Credits
1. Sailing
2. Glory Road
3. Gimme Some of It
4. Nothin’ But A Man
5.+6. If You Will Love Me / Lullaby in E
7. Toy Boat Song
8. One More Time Around the Sun
9. It All Comes Down To Low
10. Siena’s Song
11. The Harbor
12. To See My Baby Smile
13. Won’t Be Back At All
14. I Quit
Matt Nakoa, Producer — also keyboards, slide trombone, guitars, harmonies, bass
Abbie Gardner, Dobro guitars, harmonies
Mike Reilly, drums, harmonies
Craig Akin, electric and upright bass
Monica Rizzio, fiddle and harmonies
Seth Glier, accordion, harmonium, harmonies
Joe Nerney, sax, mouth harp, pennywhistle, harmonies
Dave Eggar, cello
Mikhail Pivovarov, audio engineer
Vlad Tipicidi, video recorder and engineer
Hi-res cover: http://www.markpuccimedia.com/Tom-Rush-Hi-Res-Cover.jpg
Hi-res photo: http://www.markpuccimedia.com/Tom-Rush-Hi-Res-by-Adrienne-Pollard-Design-scaled.jpg
About Appleseed Recordings
Appleseed Recordings has earned Grammy Awards and the dedication of numerous musical legends, including 20 Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. Their releases have soundtracked the ups and downs of our modern history, covering themes both timely and timeless – from 9/11 and Northern Ireland’s fight for independence, to the eternal struggle for human and environmental rights – with a portion of profits from each release going towards the progressive organizations that help Appleseed put their philosophy into action. Appleseed planted the seeds for Bruce Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions recordings as Springsteen has recorded eight exclusive songs for the label. Legacy artists who recorded albums for Appleseed vary from Donovan to Roger McGuinn to David Bromberg and Tom Paxton and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Jesse Winchester and Tom Rush. Appleseed also released albums by artists who changed the world like Johnny Clegg (South Africa), Sweet Honey in the Rock (USA), Tommy Sands (Northern Ireland) and more. Appleseed was the record label for Pete Seeger for 15 years as Pete recorded six albums for the label and the released the trilogy of “The Songs of Pete Seeger” with 80 songs exclusively recorded by 65 artists for the trilogy.
“My three goals in forming Appleseed Recordings – to provide an outlet for songs of social justice, both current and past; to release newly written songs of personal experience and emotion in modern times; and to keep alive the centuries of still-vital traditional songs from our country’s and our world’s history. To learn how to move forward, we can never forget the lessons, or songs, of the past.” – Jim Musselman
Appleseed Recordings has received 16 Grammy nominations and won four Grammy Awards.
The label has released over 150 recordings thus far.
Artist quotes on Appleseed
“I respect all that Appleseed has done for Jesse Winchester and Johnny Clegg and others. Jesse was one of my heroes and a musical mentor to me” – Jimmy Buffett
“I chose to do a CD celebrating the Beat Culture, and Appleseed was the perfect label for it, as they are an Indy an in the bohemian spirit”- Donovan
“I admire and respect deeply the vision of Appleseed to unite people through music. Labelslike Appleseed give me hope for the human race.” – Pete Seeger
“Love the political mission of your label” – Joe Strummer
“Growing up a rock and roll kid, I had little understanding of the depth and breadth of Pete Seeger’s music until Appleseed asked me to participate in Where Have All the Flowers Gone (the Songs of Pete Seeger).” – Bruce Springsteen
Some artists who have done exclusive songs for Appleseed include Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Wyclef Jean, Emmylou Harris, Jon Bon Jovi, Ani Difranco, Indigo Girls, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, Steve Earle, Tim Robbins, Danny Glover, Jeff Daniels, Natalie Merchant and Judy Collins.
