Folk Icon Rush Also Loves a Joke, Rock and Blues

The voice has grown deeper. He’s abandoned New England Bohemia for the wilds of remote Wyoming. But singer-songwriter Tom Rush remains much as he was in the folkie ‘60s when he was an influential champion and interpreter of the work of such contemporaries as Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne.

Dressed in worn jeans and with his shirt sleeves rolled up, Rush was a relaxed and friendly host Saturday at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, frequently causing pianist Joe Mannanno to giggle behind the keyboard. The jokes between songs were relentless, often poking fun at Rush’s new life in the town of Moose.

“If we’re not supposed to eat animals,” he said, quoting a neighborhood bumper sticker, “how come they’re made of meat?”

Comedy aside, Rush serenaded his audience with a well-paced set, dabbling in rock ‘n’ roll and including a country rendition of “Drop Down Mama” by the late Tennessee blues man Sleepy John Estes.

“The River Song” was a poignant new tune recorded for his retrospective album, “The Very Best of Tom Rush.” But his performance of “No Regrets,” his best-known song, included a new instrumental passage that suggested Rush still isn’t finished with the old songs.