Concert review: Janis Ian, Tom Rush deliver strong, passionate performances

Singer-songwriters Janis Ian and Tom Rush took the stage together for an encore after Ian’s hourlong headlining set last night in the Southern Theatre for “Better Times Will Come.” It was a song she wrote at the outbreak of COVID and the day after John Prine died. She had shared it with her friend John Gorka, who recorded and posted it in an effort to connect with other performing musicians whose professional lives had suddenly been put on indefinite hold. One hundred and eighty-eight recordings, in every language imaginable, including American Sign Language, soon appeared online.

It not only displayed classic folk music optimism but also summarized the resilience of these two artists and the music in general. At 71 and on her final North American tour, Ian sang a lifetime of songs, most of them detailing her struggles and victories, summarized last night in an assertive “I’m Still Standing.”

she sang.

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In fact, Ian’s life and career, as reflected in her songbook, have been about struggle and survival. Last night her songs underscored that beginning with “Society’s Child,” her 1966 hit about an interracial romance; included 1975’s “At Seventeen” and the recent “Resist,” about gender inequity; as well as “My Autobiography,” which details her experience of writing about her life’s roller coaster.

The experience of more than 50 years of singing songs and telling stories was obvious, with Ian flowing freely from the comic to serious in song and reminiscence. The story about her autobiography and winning a Grammy Award for its audiobook was hilarious. She was nominated along with Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton, Rachel Maddow and Ellen DeGeneres. Having prepared a loser’s speech, she was completely caught off-guard when she won. “To say this was a stunning upset would be an understatement,” she said to the Grammy audience. “I keep thinking there’s a punchline in there somewhere: ‘A president, a first lady, and three lesbians walk into a bar …’ “

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Ian was clearly grateful for the support she’d enjoyed from her audience for more than 50 years, saying that age only made her more so. She put all those years into her easy and skillful delivery as well as her interpretations of songs she had written many decades ago.

The songs that hit so hard ages ago, hit hard again, from “Society’s Child” to “At Seventeen,” both of whose injustices resonate still.

Tom Rush pays tribute to the blues

If Tom  Rush’s take on surviving age was a bit lighter, his way with a song and a story were still entertaining and deeply moving.

He had a minor YouTube hit (7 million views) with a recent recording of “The Remember Song,” a hilarious tune sung in the talking blues folk-style that details his fading memory. Honed during 60 years onstage, his stage manner was relaxed and winning.

His catalog of recordings is impressive, though his short set last night touched on way too few of his masterpieces. They include his recording of Joni Mitchell’s “Urge For Going,” from his brilliant “Circle Game” album, recorded before Mitchell herself recorded the two tunes and rendered last night with the grace of a golden memory. Famous for discovering new talent (he also introduced Jackson Browne and James Taylor to millions), Rush also delivered a fine, aching version of Murray McLauchlan’s “Child’s Song” last night.

A product of the Boston folk scene of the very early-1960s, Rush has always been enamored with the old bluesmen, many whom he heard in person in clubs. Last night he connected with blues chestnuts, including “Who Do You Love” and “Drop Down Mama” with an energy that ignored his 81 years.

Rush’s beautiful, low voice is only slightly less rich than it was 50 years ago. His gift with a story and a song is still vibrant. In tandem with Ian’s survivor instinct it transported the thin and aging crowd out of the past two years’ trials for a magical night of music making.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Review: Janis Ian, Tom Rush give powerful Columbus performances