RIP Rusty

Rusty Jacobs, founder of the folk group Wood's Tea Company, died Wednesday at his home in South Burlington. This has been a rough year for Woods Tea, because back in October band member Chip Chase also passed away unexpectedly. I hope Mike and Howard (the remaining members) keep touring, although the feel of a show without Rusty will be very different. I saw them nine times while I was at Colgate, and I'd like to be able to see them again. Rusty was always really great about talking to people during intermission, including telling me the story of how an anti-gay group somewhere in the Midwest tried to shut down one of their shows because they heard the band was from Vermont.

This video is kind of crappy, because it's a promo, not a full song, but it's all that they had on YouTube. Rusty is the guy on the far left: