In addition to performing his own compositions, he sang songs by Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Murray McLauchlan, David Wiffen and William Hawkins, helping them gain recognition early in their careers.

These include The Walker Brothers who gave Tom Rush Top Ten credit as the songwriter on the UK Singles Chart and whose success Rush credits with putting his two children through college, Emmylou Harris who included the song on her 1988 album Bluebird and Midge Ure whose cover also made the UK Top Ten.

Ten years after it was posted, a YouTube video of him performing Steven Walters' The Remember Song has received over seven million plays.

In February 2012, he appeared on stage in Colorado with a new instrument, a cedar-top Dreadnought with an inlay of a snake wrapped around a reclining nude woman.

On December 28, 2012, Rush appeared at Boston's Symphony Hall to celebrate fifty years in the music business.

In recent years, he has frequently toured the United States, often accompanied on piano by Berklee graduate Matt Nakoa.