"[6], He switched to the Flying Fish label several years later, and continued to experiment with nontraditional country and bluegrass styles. Some people only know Sinatra’s version, but they didn’t know that Sinatra didn’t write it.”. He was a gifted songwriter, a music historian and a wonderful storyteller. His last band and last few albums reflect his love for pre-bluegrass old-time music. “It’s like ‘Send in the Clowns’ in that way. Aereo-Plain and Morning Bugle are often considered to be Hartford's most influential works, coming as they did at the 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. Hartford had first been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1981 and had undergone treatment. On them, you’ll hear deadpan novelty songs, unconventional protest tunes (the anti-nuke “When the Sky Began to Fall”), and transcendent, strings-decorated ballads like “This Eve of Parting,” written when he was about to go on tour and leave his wife behind. It let him do whatever he wanted to do.”, For his part, Hartford preferred versions by Campbell, Roger Miller, and Elvis Presley over Frank Sinatra’s. But by the mid-Seventies he fell in love again and worked as a steersman on another boat, the Julia Belle Swain; later, he applied for and received a license to be a riverboat captain on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland rivers. “He said, ‘Well, I watched Dr. Zhivago and I walked out of that theater and I wanted to drink Julie Christie’s bathwater!’”. NASHVILLE — John Hartford, the author of "Gentle on My Mind," one of the most recorded songs in mainstream American popular music, died at 4:30 … Along with his own compositions, such as "Long Hot Summer Days" and "Kentucky Pool", Hartford was a repository of old river songs, calls, and stories. He emceed a concert May 24, 2000, at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville featuring artists who appeared with him on the soundtrack. Hartford foretold the path of his career right from the start. John Cowan Hartford (December 30, 1937 – June 4, 2001) 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. © Copyright 2020 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Hartford said often that the first time he heard Earl Scruggs pick the banjo changed his life. “But that song enabled him to lead the life he wanted to live. He immersed himself in the local music scene, working as a DJ, playing in bands, and occasionally recording singles for local labels. He was under the control of the whole commercial thing, with record companies and agents.” Hogue says her father was considered for a role in the movie True Grit — possibly the one that eventually went to Campbell — but turned it down because “he wasn’t an actor.” Hartford did, however, host a short-lived variety show of his own, Something Else, where he drove and ambled around L.A., introducing musical guests and actors with markedly low-key energy. Tom Smothers, then co-hosting The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour with his brother Dick, was smoking weed one day with musician and series regular Mason Williams, both listening to one of Hartford’s albums. In the last few years, Hartford’s profile has once again spiked, after his 1967 deep cut “This Eve of Parting” was featured in Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed Lady Bird. He recorded a number of idiosyncratic records on Rounder, many of which recalled earlier forms of folk and country music. But Hartford was also a licensed riverboat captain, a pioneer of the prog style of bluegrass that came to be called “newgrass,” an indie-label businessman-rebel, and, as Snider says, “a troubadour from the jam scene, a hippie-stoner part of the world I live in.” Hartford’s “Don’t Leave Your Records in the Sun” cautions against the damage that can be inflicted upon vinyl when left outside for other purposes — unspecified, but presumably from rolling joints. Goethe may have been the last person to know everything worth knowing, but John Hartford tried. "John Hartford, Composer Of Country Hits, Dies at 63", "Series and Website Credits – The Civil War – PBS", "Welcome to Bill Monroe's Music Park & Campground", Glitter Grass from the Nashwood Hollyville Strings, Vassar Clements, John Hartford, Dave Holland, International Bluegrass Music Association, International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Hartford&oldid=967008500, Washington University in St. Louis alumni, Articles needing additional references from March 2019, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. He sketched the cover art for some of his midcareer albums, drawing with both hands simultaneously. “Every morning I wake up,” it begins, “Saying in the back of my mind/’This could be my last day on Earth/This could be the last time/I’ll ever feel … the warmth of your flesh next to mine.’”, “Everyone giggled,” Snider recalls. Hartford performed with a variety of ensembles throughout his career, and is perhaps best known for his solo per… There's new interest in the works of the late John Hartford, shown here in 1970, thanks in part to a pair of tribute albums to be released later this month. Watch the video for Gentle on My Mind from John Hartford's Live from Mountain Stage for … Some of my best friends are famous and lot of them are grounded. “John loved that.”. Lanky, droll, and leanly handsome, Hartford seemed a natural fit for TV and film roles. “I once asked him, ‘John, how’d you write that song?’” recalls McCoury, the son of bluegrass legend Del and a friend and collaborator of Hartford’s. His family returned to Tennessee, and Hartford followed them back, effectively ending his Hollywood period. His parents were laughing. Hartford's album The Speed of the Old Longbow is a collection of Haley's tunes. I’m not into the whole entertainment-business game.… I’d rather have the song well known than myself well known.” He turned down an offer to rewrite the lyrics for “Gentle on My Mind” for an ad and called writings songs for other artists “a pretty gruesome affair.”, From all accounts, the period brought Hartford success but also turmoil. His house in Madison, Tennessee, overlooked the Cumberland River and was filled with autographed Mark Twain books and photos of old boats; even the wood paneling in his bedroom replicated the type used on riverboats. [7] 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. By age 13, Hartford was an accomplished old-time fiddler and banjo player, and he soon learned to play guitar and mandolin as well. The other two awards Best Country & Western Solo Vocal Performance, Male and Best Country & Western Recording, went to American country music singer Glen Campbell for his version of Hartford's song. He used to talk to the boat captains by radio as their barges crawled along the river. But his health prevented him from fully capitalizing on it. His first love, however, remained traditional American music in all its forms. “They wanted to drum up exposure. According to author David Bianculli, the idea of having Hartford on their show popped into their brains right then. [15] The annual John Hartford Memorial Festival[16] is held at the Bill Monroe Music Park & Campground[17] near Beanblossom, Indiana. “It can be confusing. "Working as a pilot is a labor of love", he said. Hartford appears twice on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" A tribute album and an LP of unfinished Hartford instrumentals reflect new interest in the bluegrass picker, songwriter, and all-around Renaissance man. As he told a reporter a few years before his death, “I’m a riverman first, a musician second, to support my steamboat habit.”, He was also supported by the steady income provided by “Gentle on My Mind.” When BMI announced its list of the most played songs on radio and TV in the 20th century, “Gentle on My Mind” came in 16th, in between the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” and the Beatles’ “Something.” No one was more surprised than Hartford. While performing in Texas in April, he found that he could no longer control his hands due to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which ended his life two months later. He also played with The Byrds on their album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. 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. The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Volume 1 is a collection of never-recorded instrumentals Hartford was writing before his death. “It’s basically saying, ‘I used to think about all these things in the future, but all that matters is this moment today,’” she says. “Some of that music was written in times of struggle, so we can relate to it on a deeper level. 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. When the soundtrack became a left-field sensation, bringing mountain music to the masses, Hartford seemed on the verge of another breakthrough moment. That irreverent moment was also an indication of the high regard in which Hartford, who died in 2001 from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 63, is regarded by the country world’s old and new guard.