CHUCK HINMAN: This is The Public’s Radio, I’m Chuck Hinman. Artscape producer James Baumgartner is in the studio with me. And we have two events coming up to talk about.
JAMES BAUMGARTNER: We do, there’s the New Bedford Folk Festival this weekend. And also Mark Erelli is performing at Norman Bird Sanctuary as part of a summer concert series called Newport Live.
CHUCK: I talked with Dick Lynn, executive director of Newport Live, which used to be called Common Fence Music. I asked him about the name change.
DICK LYNN: [Our] goal in doing this is to make the greater Newport region a year-round music destination, and at the same time to, of course, present high quality concerts throughout the year in venues on Aquidneck Island and then beyond.
CHUCK: What do you see in the future for Newport Live?
LYNN: We just got a grant from the Rhode Island Foundation to do an indigenous music festival that I proposed. And so I’m excited about that, and I see in the future the possibility of working with Arturo Farrell’s Latino Jazz Alliance in Harlem to try to put together a Brazilian festival for next year.
CHUCK: Along with Mark Erelli on Friday, there’s also Laura Veirs on July 21st at Newport Vineyards and the Dedicated Men of Zion on July 30th. All of the concerts are listed at Newportlive.org.
[music: Mark Erelli – “The River Always Wins”]
JAMES: Tom Rush is playing the New Bedford Folk Festival this Sunday. He told us that he’s happy to be playing live shows again after two years of just playing video streaming shows.
TOM RUSH: I’m working more than I have in a long time, because my agent has moved all the gigs that got canceled over the past two years into the past four months. I’m not complaining, I’m not complaining about it–it’s great to be back playing for real live people.
JAMES: So you’re playing a lot of shows right now, what has the audience reaction been like?
RUSH: The audiences have been great, because I think they’re, you know, they’re pent up as well. They’re so happy. I routinely say, how many of you are here for the first show in a long time? And a lot of hands go up. So they’re just, they’re happy to be out of the house and going to a show. So they’re a very, very receptive audience.
CHUCK: You’ve been around to see so many different incarnations of what people call folk music, Americana or whatever. Have you stayed true to your vision, that whole stretch of time?
RUSH: I don’t know if I had a vision. I probably should have. Anyway, I just, I try to find songs that I love. And then try to convey to the audience why I love them. I have a lot of fun doing that. I’ve actually been doing more writing. In the past I’ve mainly done other people’s songs, once in a while one of my own. I wrote all the songs on my most recent album, which is called Voices. And I’ve got enough new songs now to record another one as soon as the studios open up.
CHUCK: Now, will we be hearing any of those at this festival?
RUSH: Absolutely, absolutely. I’ll probably be doing three or four during the course of the set, ones that haven’t been recorded yet.
CHUCK: I like it when the audience lets you do that, wants you to do that, and doesn’t continually insist on the oldies.
RUSH: I would be in an institution if I just had to play the oldies all the time. I love the oldies, and fortunately, I’ve got enough oldies that I can rotate them around and not get tired of them. But yeah, I’m doing some new stuff. And the crowd seems to love the new stuff.
[music: Tom Rush – “Elder Green”]
JAMES: You can see the new stuff, the old stuff and more when Tom Rush performs at the Zeiterion Arts Center on Sunday at 6:30, part of the New Bedford Folk Festival.
CHUCK: Another artist I’m excited about seeing is Alisa Amador. She’s performing on Sunday afternoon at 4:00. The festival is this Saturday and Sunday at multiple stages in New Bedford. You can find the full listing at NewBedfordFolkFestival.com
[music: Alisa Amador – “Heartless Author”]
