You have to be fairly old to remember a time when James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and Jackson Browne were unknown even to typical music lovers. Yet there was such a time. Each of them had written a fair number of songs. Taylor in particular had released a very well-regarded first album. But they weren’t yet “household words.”
But there was this young singer-guitarist from New Hampshire who was beginning to get some attention for the blues and traditional songs he covered on his first two records. In the mid to late Sixties he was looking for fresh material to cover, and somehow the compositions of Taylor, Browne and Mitchell came to his attention.
The producers at Elektra Records persuaded him that those songs would better suit a more urbane sort of image than the folksy / bluesy one that characterized his earlier recordings. He assented, added two compositions of his own, and, with the aid of some very talented studio musicians, he put together a set of recordings that became his most popular album. That album is one of the highest achievements of its era. I strove to learn to play everything on it.
Here’s the song I was most frequently asked to play when I had my guitar in my lap. It was written by Joni Mitchell, though I’ve never heard her sing or play it. It’s from Tom Rush’s classic album The Circle Game:
Tom Rush is in his eighties now, but he still performs. I’d like to see him once more before I die. I wonder if I’ll have the chance.
