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“I miss Dan & Whit’s,” the 76-year-old Rush, who now lives near Boston, said during a recent stop in West Lebanon to promote the show. “I miss the good people who were our friends and neighbors. I miss the guitar center in Hanover, and Bear Hollow Vintage Guitars.”
Rush moved away in 2014 — less from an urge for going than from the sale of the rental house in Norwich where he’d lived, quite contentedly, with his wife and their daughter.
This past May, Sharon resident and legendary Americana producer Jim Rooney offered him a dose of relief from the homesickness — as well as “a magic carpet ride” of supporting musicians — when they convened in Nashville to record the new album that Rush expects to release in the fall.
“It’s almost all my own songs for the first time ever — 10 out of the 12,” said Rush, who made his reputation interpreting, recording and bringing attention to the compositions of the likes of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Jackson Browne and Shawn Colvin. “I just got on a roll with the writing and the songs kept coming. And with Jim’s connections, we were able to get Kathy Mattea doing background vocals and Sam Bush on the mandolin. And the studio guys he can call in are just phenomenal. … This album took six days to record. I remember albums that took six weeks.”
The package, for which a title is still pending, marks the second collaboration between Rush and Rooney, who met during the Club 47 folk scene in greater Boston in the early 1960s. After a 35-year hiatus from recording albums, Rush in 2009 put out What I Know, which Rush “thought was my best work, because of Jim.
“We’d had other opportunities to work together and never quite connected, which I was kicking myself for. He’s got a great ear, and he’s got no patience for perfection, for take after take. If it feels good, it’s done.”
Rooney also enjoyed the 2009 experience.
“Years would go by and when we crossed paths, we’d edge around the subject of working together,” Rooney recalled. “(What I Know) came out really well, and I think this one did, too. I’m happy with it.”
Rush said that concertgoers on Saturday can expect to hear a few, but not quite all, of the new songs, with his frequent accompanist Matt Nakoa on keyboards and vocals, mixed among the likes of Urge for Going, Driving Wheel, No Regrets and Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm?
“I’m going to be doing the old favorites,” Rush said. “People come to hear what they know. If you don’t do any of them, they go home disappointed.”
With a twist of his signature mustache and a jump of his eyebrows, Rush added that he hopes that at least a couple of the new songs become favorites before too much more time passes.
“If I waited another 35 years to do a record,” he said, “by then I’d be old and grumpy.”
Tom Rush performs at the Suicide Six ski lodge in South Pomfret on Saturday night. Before Rush takes the stage at 6, Dylan Keith opens at 3 and Hartland singer-songwriter Jay Nash plays at 4:30. To reserve tickets ($45) and learn more, visit woodstockinn.com/content/tom-rush-suicide-six. Admission at the gate is $50. All proceeds benefit the Woodstock Ski Runners youth program. To learn more about his new album, visit pledgemusic.com/projects/tomrush.
Best Bets
Norwich native and singer-songwriter Noah Kahan performs on tonight at 7 at the Strafford Town House, during the next concert in the series benefiting the restoration of the historic building’s spire. Admission is $20. To reserve tickets (seating is limited to an audience of 200) and learn more, visit atthetownhouse.org.
Percussionists attending Strafford’s Stuart Saunders Smith’s annual seminar join the composer in performing several of his works on Friday night at 7 at the United Church in Strafford. The concert begins with the ensemble playing several short pieces in the church’s parish hall. After intermission, the group will perform Smith’s Angels in the church’s main sanctuary. Admission is by donation to Strafford’s Morrill Memorial and Harris Library.
North Country Community Theatre stages the Disney adaptation of the studio’s movie version of Beauty and the Beast over the next two weekends at the Lebanon Opera House, starting Friday night at 7:30 and ending on July 15. For tickets ($13.50 to $23.50), showtimes and more, visit ncct.org or call 603-448-0400.
Hanover High School graduate Celia Woodsmith celebrates the release of her new Say Darling band’s first album with two Upper Valley appearances over the coming week. Friday night at 9, Woodsmith and guitarist Chris Hersch lead their ensemble into the Skinny Pancake in Hanover. Admission at the door is $20. To reserve tickets for $15, visit skinnypancake.com/event/saydarling.
And on Saturday afternoon, Woodsmith and Hersch join Upper Valley Americana stalwarts Bow Thayer and Spencer Lewis in the parade of musicians providing the soundtrack to the FableFest at the former Clark Farm in Barnard. The festival begins at 2, and includes a sculpture show, art walks, workshops, a square dance and activities for kids. To reserve tickets ($10 to $40) and learn more, visit feastandfield.com.
Opera North builds momentum toward its 35th Summerfest with performances by some of this season’s singers and musicians, on Saturday night at 6 at Lebanon’s United Methodist Church and on Sunday night at 5 on the veranda of the Hay mansion at The Fells Historic Estate and Gardens in Newbury, N.H. To reserve tickets ($25 on Saturday and $35 on Sunday), visit operanorth.org.
The wife-and-husband team of Grammy Award-winning Americana singer Mollie O’Brien and guitarist Rich Moore perform at West Newbury Hall in Newbury, Vt., on Sunday afternoon at 3. To reserve tickets ($20) and learn more about these concerts and upcoming ones in the Rock Farmer Roadshow Summer Series, visit rockfarmer.com.
The Hopkins Center previews the 2017-2018 season of music, theater and dance with a launch party for the general public on Wednesday afternoon at 5, at Dartmouth College’s Alumni Hall in Hanover. Discounts are available for early buyers of tickets to shows by the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble, Pink Martini, Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center band. To learn more, visit hop.dartmouth.edu.
Looking Ahead
The Beacon Brass Quintet will perform works of Bach, Grieg, Malcolm Arnold, Debussy, Ellington and Joplin at the First Baptist Church in New London next Thursday night at 7:30. Admission is $5 to $25. To reserve tickets and learn more, visit summermusicassociates.org or call 603-526-8234.
Storyteller Ethan Bowen will perform novelist John Gardner’s fairy tale Vlemk the Box-Painter four times at Spice Studio in Rochester, Vt. starting next Thursday night at 8. Admission at the door is $10. Seating is limited to 45. To learn more, visit baldmountaintheater.org.
Theater/Performance Art
The New London Barn Playhouse wraps its production of the musical adaptation of The Secret Garden this weekend with performances at 7:30 tonight, at 2 on Friday afternoon, at 7:30 on Friday night and Saturday night, and at 5 on Sunday afternoon. On Wednesday, the Barn kicks off its production of Souvenir, a musical based on the life of socialite Florence Foster Jenkins’ quest to become an opera singer, on Wednesday afternoon at 2 and Wednesday night at 7:30. For tickets ($20 to $40) to all shows and for more information, visit nlbarn.org or call 603-526-6710.
Starting Friday night at 7:30, the Old Church Theater in Bradford stages Making God Laugh, Sean Grennan’s dramedy following a family’s ups-and-downs through 30 years of holiday celebrations. To reserve tickets ($6 to $12) and learn more, visit oldchurchtheater.org or call 802-222-3322.
The Lincoln, N.H.-based IMPACT Theater Company performs The Bremen Town Musicians at the Claremont Opera House on Monday morning at 10, in the venue’s weekly series of musical adaptations of popular fairy tales. General admission tickets cost $6. To learn more, visit claremontoperahouse.org or call 603-542-4433.
Music
Harmony Hotel serenades the Lebanon Farmers Market with a set of folk and indie rock, between 4 and 7 this afternoon in Colburn Park.
Pomfret native Tristan Henderson and his bandmates in Pete’s Posse play a set of Americana during the weekly Feast and Field Market tonight starting at 5:30, at the former Clark Farm in Barnard. Admission is free.
The Shana Stack Band fills Lebanon’s Colburn Park with country rhythms tonight starting at 7.
The Tammy Jackson Band performs country rhythms on the gazebo at Newbury (N.H.) Harbor tonight at 7.
The Hopkinton Town Band plays at the Haddad Bandstand in New London on Friday night starting at 6:30. If the weather is iffy, the show will move into Whipple Hall.
The Dixie Dinos jazz up the bandstand on the East Common in Orford on Saturday night at 7.
Rusted Chrome performs country and classic rock on the Flanders Stage at Sunapee Harbor on Saturday afternoon from 5 to 7.
JJ’s Music plays classic rock on the Newport Town Common on Sunday night at 6. In the event of rain, the concert will move to the Methodist Church next door.
If you missed them at Colburn Park on Monday night, the Northeast Kingdom folk duo of Dana and Susan Robinson return to the Upper Valley tonight at 5:30 to play Pentangle Arts’ weekly Brown Bag concert on the green in Woodstock Village.
Bassoonist Jim Whipple joins the Cameo Baroque ensemble at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College in Hanover on Monday afternoon at 4, to perform works of Telemann, Handel and other 18th-century composers. While admission is free, donations to Listen’s summer-camp scholarship fund are welcome.
The Upper Valley Community Band performs on the bandstand at Colburn Park in Lebanon on Monday night at 7.
Sensible Shoes rocks the common in Strafford on Tuesday night at 6. While admission is free, donations are welcome, with part of the proceeds benefiting the project to renovate the spire of the neighboring Strafford Town House.
Left Eye Jump plays the blues on the Fairlee Town Common on Tuesday night at 6:30. To learn more about the series, visit facebook.com/fairleeconcerts.
The Road Trash Band performs classic rock at Lyman Point Park in White River Junction on Wednesday night at 6:30.
The Tammy Jackson Band plays a set of country on the Ben Mere Bandstand overlooking Sunapee Harbor, on Wednesday night at 6:30.
Bar and Club Circuit
Singer-songwriter Charlie Chronopulos performs at the Taverne on the Square in Claremont tonight at 6. Singer-songwriter Kim Logan leads her band into the venue on Friday night at 7, followed next Thursday night at 7 by singer-songwriter Brian Warren.
Stuart Ross & The Temp Agency pulls into Windsor Station to play a set of folk, Americana and jazz tonight at 7:30. Following them to the venue over the coming week are Soulfix on Friday night at 9:30, Moxley Union on Saturday night at 9:30 and singer-songwriter Grayson on Tuesday night at 6.
Enfield-native singer-songwriter Brooks Hubbard jump-starts the weekend of music at the Upper Valley’s Salt hill Pubs with a performance in Newport tonight at 8. Following him to the venue are the rock ensembles GrooveSum at 9 on Friday night and The Rich Thomas Duo on Saturday night at 8.
Singer-songwriter Chris Powers the Salt hill Pub in West Lebanon on Friday night at 8. On Saturday night at the same time, guitarist Ted Mortimer takes the stage.
The Boneshakerz rock the Salt hill Pub in Lebanon on Friday night at 9, followed at the same time on Saturday night by Club Soda.
The weekend lineup at the Salt hill Pub in Hanover features singer-songwriter Ben Fuller on Friday night at 9 and singer-songwriter Chris Parlon in his debut at the venue on Saturday night at 9.
Rich Thomas performs a set of rock in the tavern at Jesse’s in Hanover on Friday evening starting at 5.
Fiddler Jamie Laval performs Celtic music at the Harbor House Livery in Sunapee Harbor on Friday night at 7. General admission costs $5 to $15. To learn more about this concert and about the Sunapee Community Coffeehouse’s series of summer shows, visit sunapeecommunitycoffeehouse.org.
The Peter Concilio Jazz Ensemble performs at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners on Friday night at 8.
Bow Thayer plays his weekly session of Americana at the Skinny Pancake in Hanover on Wednesday night at 7:30.
Open Mics
Ramunto’s Brick & Brew Pizza in Bridgewater hosts an open mic starting at 7:30 on Thursday nights. Participants get a free large cheese pizza.
String players of all ages and abilities are welcome at the weekly acoustic jam session at South Royalton’s BALE Commons on Friday night from 6:30 to 10.
Joe Stallsmith leads a weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Monday nights starting at 6.
Bradford’s Colatina Exit holds an open mic on Tuesday nights at 8.
Jim Yeager hosts a weekly open mic at Hartland’s Skunk Hollow Tavern at 8:30 on Wednesday night.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.