John Hartford
Encyclopedia
John Cowan Hartford was an American
folk
, country
and bluegrass
composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle
and banjo
, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River
lore. Hartford performed with a variety of ensembles throughout his career, and is perhaps best known for his solo performances where he would interchange the guitar, banjo, and fiddle from song to song. He also invented his own shuffle tap dance move, and clogged
on an amplified piece of plywood while he played and sang.
) was born on December 30, 1937 in New York City
to parents Dr. Carl and Mary Harford. He spent his childhood in St. Louis, Missouri
. There he was exposed to the influence that would shape much of his career and music—the Mississippi River. From the time he got his first job on the river, at age 16, Hartford was on, around, or singing about the river.
His early musical influences came from the broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry
in Nashville
, and included Earl Scruggs
, nominal inventor of the three-finger bluegrass style of banjo
playing. Hartford said often that the first time he heard Earl Scruggs pick the banjo changed his life. By age 13, Hartford was an accomplished old-time fiddle
r and banjo player, and he soon learned to play guitar
and mandolin
as well. Hartford formed his first bluegrass band while still in high school at John Burroughs School
. After high school he enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis
, completed 4 years of a commercial arts program and dropped out to focus on his music, however he did later receive a degree in 1960. He immersed himself in the local music scene, working as a DJ, playing in bands, and occasionally recording singles for local labels. In 1965, he moved to Nashville
, the center of the country music industry. In 1966, he signed with RCA Victor, and produced his first album, Looks at Life
, in the same year.
In 1967, Hartford's second album Earthwords & Music
spawned his first major hit, "Gentle On My Mind". His recording of the song was only a modest success, but it caught the notice of Glen Campbell
, who recorded his own version, which gave the song much wider publication. At the 1968 Grammys
, the song netted four awards, two of which went to Hartford; just as importantly, it became one of the most widely recorded country songs of all time, and the royalties it brought in allowed Hartford great financial independence; Hartford would later say that the song bought his freedom. As his popularity grew, he moved to the West Coast, where he became a regular on the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"; other television appearances followed, as did recording appearances with several major country artists. He also played with The Byrds
on their album Sweetheart of the Rodeo
. The success on "SmoBro" was enough that Hartford was offered the lead role in a TV detective series but he turned it down to move back to Nashville and concentrate on his music. He also was a regular on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
(the banjo picker who would stand up from his seat in the audience to begin the theme music) and The Johnny Cash Show
.
A live John Hartford concert was an intimate and engaging experience. He was a true "one-man band" and utilized not only a multitude of stringed instruments, but also a variety of props such as plywood squares and boards with sand and gravel on which to stomp, kick, and scrape to create all manner of natural and organic background noises.
, Housing Project
, John Hartford
, and Iron Mountain Depot
. In 1971, he moved over to Warner Bros. Records
, where he was given more freedom to record in his untraditional style. There, fronting a band that included Vassar Clements
, Tut Taylor
and Norman Blake
, he recorded several extraordinary albums that set the tone of his later career, including the acclaimed Aereo-Plain
and Morning Bugle
. Of the former, Sam Bush
said "Without Aereo-Plain
(and the Aereo-Plain band), there would be no newgrass music."
Switching several years later to the Flying Fish
label, Hartford continued to participate in the experimentation with nontraditional country and bluegrass styles that he and artists such as Bush were engaging in at the time. Among his recordings were two albums in 1977 and 1980 with Doug and Rodney Dillard from The Dillards
, with Bush as a backing musician, and featuring a diversity of songs that included "Boogie On Reggae Woman
" and "Yakety Yak
".
Hartford's Grammy-winning Mark Twang
features Hartford playing solo, reminiscent of his live solo performances playing the fiddle, guitar, banjo, and amplified plywood for tapping his feet. At the same time, he developed a stage show, which toured in various forms from the mid 1970s until shortly before his death.
Hartford went on to change labels several more times during his career; in 1991, he inaugurated his own Small Dog a'Barkin' label. Later in the 1990s, he switched again, to the Rounder
label. On that label and a number of smaller labels, he recorded a number of idiosyncratic records, many of which harkened back to earlier forms of folk and country music. Among them was the 1999 album, Retrograss, recorded with Mike Seeger
and David Grisman
, offering bluegrass takes on such songs as "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay
", "Maybellene
", "When I'm Sixty-Four
" and "Maggie's Farm
".
He recorded several songs for the soundtrack
to the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou, winning another Grammy for his performance, and made his final tour in 2001 with the Down from the Mountain
tour that grew out of that movie and its accompanying album. While performing in Texas in April that year, he found he could no longer control his hands due to a more than 20-year battle with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
and his career was finished.
Though Hartford is considered a co-founder in the newgrass movement, he remained deeply attached to traditional music as well. His last band and last few albums reflect his love for pre-bluegrass old-time music. According to an interview with Don Swain, he described his love for the rare and nearly forgotten fiddle tunes of the Appalachians and Missouri foothills.
Julia Belle Swain
during the summers. He also worked as a towboat
pilot on the Mississippi
, Illinois
, and Tennessee
rivers.
During his later years, he came back to the river every summer. "Working as a pilot is a labor of love," he said. "After a while, it becomes a metaphor for a whole lot of things, and I find for some mysterious reason that if I stay in touch with it, things seem to work out all right." His home in Madison, Tennessee
was situated on a bend of the Cumberland River and built to simulate the view from a steamboat deck. He used to talk to the boat captains by radio as their barges crawled along the river, and that bend of the Cumberland River is known as "Hartford's Bend" on plat maps.
An accomplished fiddler and banjo player, Hartford was simultaneously an innovative voice on the country scene and a thrilling reminder of a vanished era. Along with his own compositions, such as Long Hot Summer Days and Kentucky Pool, Hartford was a voluminous repository of old river songs, calls, and stories. He could spend hours talking about the glory days of steamboating or demonstrating the lead calls that the river's most famous chronicler took as his name, "Mark Twain
" (or "two fathoms"). Hartford was also the author of Steamboat in a Cornfield
, a children's book that recounts the true story of the Ohio River
steamboat The Virginia and its somewhat comical beaching in a cornfield.
. Hartford's album The Speed of the Old Longbow is a collection of Haley's tunes. Hartford also provided narration for several of Ken Burns
' documentaries.
Hartford was given a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame
.
From the 1980s onwards, Hartford struggled with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
. On June 4, 2001 at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, at age 63, he died of the disease.
In honor of his work, he was given a posthumous Presidents Award by the Americana Music Association
in September 2005.
Aereo-Plain
and Morning Bugle
are often considered to be Hartford's most influential work, coming as they did at the very beginning of a period in which artists such as Hartford and the New Grass Revival
, led by Sam Bush, would create a new form of country music
, blending their country backgrounds with influences from a number of other sources. His later years saw a number of live albums, as well as recordings that explored the repertoire of old-time folk music
. He sketched the cover art for some of his mid-career albums, drawing with both hands simultaneously.
Hartford is remembered as an influential and pioneering artist. Never bound by the limitations of one genre, he recorded wherever his interests led him. Performing and recording until his illness rendered him incapable of continuing, Hartford contributed a vast and unique body of work to the library of American music
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
and banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
lore. Hartford performed with a variety of ensembles throughout his career, and is perhaps best known for his solo performances where he would interchange the guitar, banjo, and fiddle from song to song. He also invented his own shuffle tap dance move, and clogged
Clogging
Clogging is a type of folk dance with roots in traditional European dancing, early African-American dance, and traditional Cherokee dance in which the dancer's footwear is used musically by striking the heel, the toe, or both in unison against a floor or each other to create audible percussive...
on an amplified piece of plywood while he played and sang.
Life
John Harford (he would change his name to Hartford later in life at the behest of Chet AtkinsChet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
) was born on December 30, 1937 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to parents Dr. Carl and Mary Harford. He spent his childhood in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. There he was exposed to the influence that would shape much of his career and music—the Mississippi River. From the time he got his first job on the river, at age 16, Hartford was on, around, or singing about the river.
His early musical influences came from the broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, and included Earl Scruggs
Earl Scruggs
Earl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...
, nominal inventor of the three-finger bluegrass style of banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
playing. Hartford said often that the first time he heard Earl Scruggs pick the banjo changed his life. By age 13, Hartford was an accomplished old-time fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
r and banjo player, and he soon learned to play guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
as well. Hartford formed his first bluegrass band while still in high school at John Burroughs School
John Burroughs School
Founded in 1923, John Burroughs School is a private, non-sectarian preparatory school with nearly 600 students in grades 7-12. Its 47.5 acre campus is located in Ladue, Missouri , an affluent suburb of Saint Louis. It is named for U.S...
. After high school he enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
, completed 4 years of a commercial arts program and dropped out to focus on his music, however he did later receive a degree in 1960. He immersed himself in the local music scene, working as a DJ, playing in bands, and occasionally recording singles for local labels. In 1965, he moved to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, the center of the country music industry. In 1966, he signed with RCA Victor, and produced his first album, Looks at Life
Looks at Life
Looks at Life is singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist John Hartford's debut album. It essentially set the pattern for all of his RCA albums over the next four years. a combination of dry wit and superb musicianship, delivered with a warm conversational baritone...
, in the same year.
In 1967, Hartford's second album Earthwords & Music
Earthwords & Music
Earthwords and Music is John Hartford's second LP, released in 1967. Like all of his RCA recordings, it is was reissued in 2002 as part of a "twofer" CD, combined with his first album, Looks at Life....
spawned his first major hit, "Gentle On My Mind". His recording of the song was only a modest success, but it caught the notice of Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
, who recorded his own version, which gave the song much wider publication. At the 1968 Grammys
Grammy Awards of 1968
The 10th Grammy Awards were held February 29, 1968. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1967.-Award winners:*Record of the Year**Johnny Rivers & Marc Gordon & The 5th Dimension for "Up, Up and Away"*Album of the Year...
, the song netted four awards, two of which went to Hartford; just as importantly, it became one of the most widely recorded country songs of all time, and the royalties it brought in allowed Hartford great financial independence; Hartford would later say that the song bought his freedom. As his popularity grew, he moved to the West Coast, where he became a regular on the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"; other television appearances followed, as did recording appearances with several major country artists. He also played with The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
on their album Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sweetheart of the Rodeo is the sixth album by American rock band The Byrds and was released on August 30, 1968 on Columbia Records...
. The success on "SmoBro" was enough that Hartford was offered the lead role in a TV detective series but he turned it down to move back to Nashville and concentrate on his music. He also was a regular on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour was an American network television music and comedy variety show hosted by singer Glen Campbell from January 1969 through June 1972 on CBS. He was offered the show after he hosted a 1968 summer replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour...
(the banjo picker who would stand up from his seat in the audience to begin the theme music) and The Johnny Cash Show
The Johnny Cash Show (TV series)
The Johnny Cash Show was an American television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969 to March 31, 1971 on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The show reached No...
.
A live John Hartford concert was an intimate and engaging experience. He was a true "one-man band" and utilized not only a multitude of stringed instruments, but also a variety of props such as plywood squares and boards with sand and gravel on which to stomp, kick, and scrape to create all manner of natural and organic background noises.
Newgrass
During the years 1968-1970, Hartford recorded four more albums for RCA: The Love AlbumThe Love Album (John Hartford album)
The Love Album is John Hartford's third LP, released in 1968. Like all of his RCA recordings, it was reissued in 2002 as part of a "twofer" CD, combined with his fourth album, Housing Project.-Track listing:#"Why Do You Do Me Like You Do?"...
, Housing Project
Housing Project (album)
Housing Project is John Hartford's fourth album, released in 1968. Like all of his RCA recordings, it was reissued in 2002 as part of a "twofer" CD, combined with his third album, The Love Album.-Track listing:#"Housing Project"#"I'm Still Here"...
, John Hartford
John Hartford (album)
John Hartford is John Hartford's fifth album, released in 1969. Like all of his RCA recordings, it was reissued in 2002. in the reissue package, John Hartford is combined with his sixth album, Iron Mountain Depot, and a seventh unreleased album of RCA material, Radio John.-1969 release:#"Dusty...
, and Iron Mountain Depot
Iron Mountain Depot
Iron Mountain Depot is John Hartford's sixth and final album issued by RCA Victor. Originally issued in 1970, like all of his RCA recordings, it was reissued in 2002...
. In 1971, he moved over to Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, where he was given more freedom to record in his untraditional style. There, fronting a band that included Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements was a Grammy Award- winning American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and bluegrass along with roots also in country and other musical...
, Tut Taylor
Tut Taylor
Tut Taylor is an American bluegrass musician.Taylor played banjo and mandolin as a child, and began playing dobro at age 14, learning to use the instrument with a distinctive flat-picking style. Taylor was a member of The Folkswingers in the 1960s, who released three LPs; he recorded his debut...
and Norman Blake
Norman Blake (American musician)
Norman Blake is an instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. In a career spanning more than 50 years Blake has played in a number of folk and Country groups...
, he recorded several extraordinary albums that set the tone of his later career, including the acclaimed Aereo-Plain
Aereo-plain
Aereo-Plain is American musician John Hartford's groundbreaking bluegrass album released in 1971. It reached number 193 on the The Billboard 200 chart.-History:...
and Morning Bugle
Morning Bugle
Morning Bugle is an album by John Hartford, released in 1972. It is Hartford's second and final album for Warner Bros. Records. The music was all written by Hartford, except for two traditional tunes and it was recorded at Bearsville Studios in Bearsville, New York...
. Of the former, Sam Bush
Sam Bush
Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
said "Without Aereo-Plain
Aereo-plain
Aereo-Plain is American musician John Hartford's groundbreaking bluegrass album released in 1971. It reached number 193 on the The Billboard 200 chart.-History:...
(and the Aereo-Plain band), there would be no newgrass music."
Switching several years later to the Flying Fish
Flying Fish Records
Flying Fish Records was a Chicago-based eclectic blues and country record label. It was founded in 1974 by Bruce Kaplan, former president of the University of Chicago's Folklore Society....
label, Hartford continued to participate in the experimentation with nontraditional country and bluegrass styles that he and artists such as Bush were engaging in at the time. Among his recordings were two albums in 1977 and 1980 with Doug and Rodney Dillard from The Dillards
The Dillards
The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of...
, with Bush as a backing musician, and featuring a diversity of songs that included "Boogie On Reggae Woman
Boogie On Reggae Woman
"Boogie On Reggae Woman" is a 1974 funk single by American Motown artist Stevie Wonder, from the album Fulfillingness' First Finale. The song, which was not in the reggae style, continued Wonder's successful Top Ten streak on the pop charts, reaching number three and also spent two weeks at number...
" and "Yakety Yak
Yakety Yak
"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for The Coasters and released on Atlantic Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as number one on the R&B charts and a week as number one on the Hot 100 pop list...
".
Hartford's Grammy-winning Mark Twang
Mark Twang
Writing for Allmusic, critic Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. wrote of the album "The songs, as usual, run from sentimental to strange, from the romantic to the weird.....
features Hartford playing solo, reminiscent of his live solo performances playing the fiddle, guitar, banjo, and amplified plywood for tapping his feet. At the same time, he developed a stage show, which toured in various forms from the mid 1970s until shortly before his death.
Hartford went on to change labels several more times during his career; in 1991, he inaugurated his own Small Dog a'Barkin' label. Later in the 1990s, he switched again, to the Rounder
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
label. On that label and a number of smaller labels, he recorded a number of idiosyncratic records, many of which harkened back to earlier forms of folk and country music. Among them was the 1999 album, Retrograss, recorded with Mike Seeger
Mike Seeger
Mike Seeger was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, mouth harp, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, and pan pipes. Seeger, a half-brother of Pete Seeger, produced more than 30 documentary...
and David Grisman
David Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
, offering bluegrass takes on such songs as "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay
(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay
" The Dock of the Bay" is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. It was first recorded by Otis Redding in 1967, just days before his death. It was released posthumously on Stax Records' Volt label in 1968, becoming the first posthumous number-one single in U.S...
", "Maybellene
Maybellene
"Maybellene" is a song recorded by Chuck Berry, adapted from the traditional fiddle tune "Ida Red" that tells the story of a hot rod race and a broken romance. It was released in July 1955 as a single on Chess Records of Chicago, Illinois. It was Berry's first single release and his first hit...
", "When I'm Sixty-Four
When I'm Sixty-Four
"When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and released in 1967 on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.-Composition:...
" and "Maggie's Farm
Maggie's Farm
"Maggie's Farm" is a song written by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 15, 1965, and released on the album Bringing It All Back Home on March 22 of that year...
".
He recorded several songs for the soundtrack
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is the soundtrack of music from the 2000 American film of the same name, written, directed and produced by the Coen Brothers and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Goodman....
to the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou, winning another Grammy for his performance, and made his final tour in 2001 with the Down from the Mountain
Down from the Mountain
The soundtrack album, Down from the Mountain: Live Concert Performances by the Artists & Musicians of O Brother, Where Art Thou? was released to complement the documentary concert film...
tour that grew out of that movie and its accompanying album. While performing in Texas in April that year, he found he could no longer control his hands due to a more than 20-year battle with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
The non-Hodgkin lymphomas are a diverse group of blood cancers that include any kind of lymphoma except Hodgkin's lymphomas. Types of NHL vary significantly in their severity, from indolent to very aggressive....
and his career was finished.
Though Hartford is considered a co-founder in the newgrass movement, he remained deeply attached to traditional music as well. His last band and last few albums reflect his love for pre-bluegrass old-time music. According to an interview with Don Swain, he described his love for the rare and nearly forgotten fiddle tunes of the Appalachians and Missouri foothills.
Steamboating
The culture of the Mississippi River and its steamboats captivated Hartford from an early age. He said that it would have been his life's work "but music got in the way," so he intertwined them whenever possible. In the '70s, Hartford earned his steamboat pilot's license, which he used to keep close to the river he loved; for many years, he worked as a pilot on the steamboatRiverboat
A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such...
Julia Belle Swain
Julia Belle Swain
The Julia Belle Swain is a steam-powered sternwheeler currently operating out of La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA.Designed and built in 1971 by Capt. Dennis Trone, the Julia Belle was the last boat built by Dubuque Boat & Boiler Works of Dubuque, Iowa...
during the summers. He also worked as a towboat
Towboat
Not to be confused with the historic boat type with the same name, also called horse-drawn boat.A towboat is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. Towboats are characterized by a square bow with steel knees for pushing and powerful engines...
pilot on the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, Illinois
Illinois River
The Illinois River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the State of Illinois. The river drains a large section of central Illinois, with a drainage basin of . This river was important among Native Americans and early French traders as the principal water route...
, and Tennessee
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
rivers.
During his later years, he came back to the river every summer. "Working as a pilot is a labor of love," he said. "After a while, it becomes a metaphor for a whole lot of things, and I find for some mysterious reason that if I stay in touch with it, things seem to work out all right." His home in Madison, Tennessee
Madison, Tennessee
Madison, Tennessee is a neighborhood in northeast Nashville, Tennessee in the United States. It is incorporated as part of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County....
was situated on a bend of the Cumberland River and built to simulate the view from a steamboat deck. He used to talk to the boat captains by radio as their barges crawled along the river, and that bend of the Cumberland River is known as "Hartford's Bend" on plat maps.
An accomplished fiddler and banjo player, Hartford was simultaneously an innovative voice on the country scene and a thrilling reminder of a vanished era. Along with his own compositions, such as Long Hot Summer Days and Kentucky Pool, Hartford was a voluminous repository of old river songs, calls, and stories. He could spend hours talking about the glory days of steamboating or demonstrating the lead calls that the river's most famous chronicler took as his name, "Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
" (or "two fathoms"). Hartford was also the author of Steamboat in a Cornfield
Steamboat in a Cornfield
Steamboat in a Cornfield is a children's book written by musician and steamboat pilot John Hartford.-Plot:Hartford tells the exciting true story of the incident in the life of an Ohio River steamboat around 1910. The boat, the Virginia, was subject to the rather fickle nature of the river at that...
, a children's book that recounts the true story of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
steamboat The Virginia and its somewhat comical beaching in a cornfield.
Final years
At the time of his death, Hartford was also working on the biography of the blind fiddler Ed HaleyEd Haley
James Edward "Ed" Haley was a blind professional American musician and composer.- Biography :Ed Haley was born in August 18851 on the Trace Fork of Big Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia. His father, Thomas Milton Haley, was a well-known fiddler in the Guyandotte and Big Sandy Valleys. His...
. Hartford's album The Speed of the Old Longbow is a collection of Haley's tunes. Hartford also provided narration for several of Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
' documentaries.
Hartford was given a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame
St. Louis Walk of Fame
The St. Louis Walk of Fame honors well-known people from St. Louis, Missouri, who made contributions to culture of the United States. All inductees were either born in the Greater St. Louis area or spent their formative or creative years there...
.
From the 1980s onwards, Hartford struggled with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
The non-Hodgkin lymphomas are a diverse group of blood cancers that include any kind of lymphoma except Hodgkin's lymphomas. Types of NHL vary significantly in their severity, from indolent to very aggressive....
. On June 4, 2001 at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, at age 63, he died of the disease.
In honor of his work, he was given a posthumous Presidents Award by the Americana Music Association
Americana Music Association
The Americana Music Association is a trade organization developed to provide professional support and to promote awareness of Americana music. Toward these ends the organization works with artists, radio stations, record labels, publishers, and others to create networking opportunities and to...
in September 2005.
Works
Hartford recorded more than 30 albums, ranging across a broad spectrum of styles—from the traditional country of his early RCA recordings, to the new and experimental sound of his early newgrass recordings, to the traditional folk style to which he often returned later in his life. Hartford's albums also vary widely in formality, from the stately and orderly Annual Waltz to the rougher and less cut recordings that typified many of his later albums.Aereo-Plain
Aereo-plain
Aereo-Plain is American musician John Hartford's groundbreaking bluegrass album released in 1971. It reached number 193 on the The Billboard 200 chart.-History:...
and Morning Bugle
Morning Bugle
Morning Bugle is an album by John Hartford, released in 1972. It is Hartford's second and final album for Warner Bros. Records. The music was all written by Hartford, except for two traditional tunes and it was recorded at Bearsville Studios in Bearsville, New York...
are often considered to be Hartford's most influential work, coming as they did at the very beginning of a period in which artists such as Hartford and the New Grass Revival
New Grass Revival
New Grass Revival was an American progressive bluegrass band founded in 1971, and composed of Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins, John Cowan, Béla Fleck and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989, releasing more than twenty albums as well as six singles....
, led by Sam Bush, would create a new form of country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, blending their country backgrounds with influences from a number of other sources. His later years saw a number of live albums, as well as recordings that explored the repertoire of old-time folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. He sketched the cover art for some of his mid-career albums, drawing with both hands simultaneously.
Hartford is remembered as an influential and pioneering artist. Never bound by the limitations of one genre, he recorded wherever his interests led him. Performing and recording until his illness rendered him incapable of continuing, Hartford contributed a vast and unique body of work to the library of American music
American music
The music of the Americas is very diverse since, in addition to many types of Native American music, the music of Africa and the music of Europe have been found there for some five centuries, creating many hybrid forms that have influenced the popular music of the world.-See also:*Canadian...
.