Tom Rush is a gifted musician and performer, whose shows offer a musical celebration…a journey into the tradition and spectrum of what music has been, can be, and will become. His distinctive guitar style, wry humour and warm, expressive voice have made him both a legend and a lure to audiences around the world. His shows are filled with the rib-aching laughter of terrific story-telling, the sweet melancholy of ballads and the passion of gritty blues.

Rush’s impact on the American music scene has been profound. He helped shape the folk revival in the ’60s and the renaissance of the ’80s and ’90s, his music having left its stamp on generations of artists. James Taylor told Rolling Stone, “Tom was not only one of my early heroes, but also one of my main influences.” Country music star Garth Brooks has credited Rush with being one of his top five musical influences. Rush has long championed emerging artists. His early recordings introduced the world to the work of Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and James Taylor, and in more recent years his Club 47® concerts have brought artists such as Nanci Griffith and Shawn Colvin to wider audiences when they were just beginning to build their own reputations.

Tom Rush began his musical career in the early ’60s playing the Boston-area clubs while a Harvard student. The Club 47 was the flagship of the coffee house fleet, and he was soon holding down a weekly spot there, learning from the legendary artists who came to play, honing his skills and growing into his talent. He had released two albums by the time he graduated. Rush displayed then, as he does today, an uncanny knack for finding wonderful songs, and writing his own – many of which have become classics re-interpreted by new generations. (It is a testimony to the universality of his appeal that his songs have been folk hits, country hits, heavy metal and rap hits.) Signed by Elektra in 1965, Rush made three albums for them, culminating in The Circle Game, which, according to Rolling Stone, ushered in the singer/songwriter era.

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Accompanied by Brendan Cleary

In 2019, Brendan Cleary reached the bottom — and his life restarted.

After years of struggling with addiction while trying to maintain a modest career as a live musician in Nashville, the world finally came crashing down around him. Music did not come naturally as it always had before, and Brendan stepped away from the stage entirely, unsure if he would ever play again.

Since then Brendan has rebuilt his life and his music one song at a time — playing hotel bars, restaurants, and small stages while filling legal pads with the stories that would become his songs.

Folk legend Tom Rush discovered Brendan playing in a hotel bar and invited him to appear on his video podcast Rockport Sundays. Rush now regularly brings Brendan along as a supporting act and accompanist at concerts across the United States.

Brendan was also named a finalist in the 2024 New Hampshire Music Collective Songwriting Competition.

He is currently preparing the release of his debut studio album Soundbox, a folk-roots collection of songs shaped by his journey through addiction, recovery, and redemption.

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