WEST MILFORD Music at the Mission presents Tom Rush in concert on Saturday, April 21 at 8 p.m., with special guest Natalia Zukerman. 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 humor and warm, expressive voice have made him both a legend and a lure to audiences around the world. His shows are filled with laughter and story-telling, the 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 has 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. 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 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. In the early 70s, folk turned to folk-rock, and Rush, ever adaptable, saw more room to stretch out. Recording for Columbia, he toured tirelessly with a five man band, playing concerts across the country. Endless promotional tours, interviews, television appearances, and recording sessions added up to five very successful but exhausting years, after which he decided to take a break and “recharge” his creative side at his New Hampshire farm. Rush returned with a splash in 1981, selling out Boston’s Symphony Hall in advance. He instinctively knew that his listeners were interested in both the old and the new, and set out to create a musical forum - like the Club 47 of the early 60s - to allow established artists and newcomers to share the same stage. In 1982, he tried it out at Symphony Hall, and the Club 47 series was born. Crafting concerts that combined well known artists such as Bonnie Raitt or Emmylou Harris with (then) unknowns like Alison Krauss or Mark O’ Connor, Rush took the show on the road. A live CD, “Trolling for Owls” released in 2003 and published by Tom’s Nightlight Recordings, includes, for the first time, some of the spoken stories that have endeared him to audiences. Music at the Mission is located at 1452 Union Valley Road in West Milford, NJ 07480 at the West Milford Presbyterian Church. For ticket information, visit www.MusicattheMission.org or call 800-613-1455