Contemporary Musicians | Hartford, John

Country and bluegrass performer, songwriter

Whether he's performing "grass-rock," country and western ballads or steamboat narratives, John Hartford has always been a unique figure in twentieth-century popular music. Like his hero Mark Twain, he ran away to work on a steamboat and learned to narrate and sing stories that tell Americans about their own dreams.

Although born in New York City, where his father was completing his medical training, Hartford grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He worked on a steamboat and as a radio announcer but spent most of his time learning the instruments and musical styles of country music and bluegrass. His first ensembles included the Sourwood Mountain 3 (in high school) and the Iron Mountain Depot, with guitarist Terry Paul, drummer Mac Elsensohn and bassist Colin Cameron. He plays the guitar, banjo, mandolin, and fiddle and has credited Earl Scruggs, Stringbean, and the radio cast of the Grand Ole Opry as his musical mentors. Hartford was one of the first young musicians who performed in the traditional styles of the South and mid-America to win widespread popularity. On albums and in live appearances, he combines his original songs with the classic compositions, strums, and picks of bluegrass playing.

Hartford was a popular performer with a recording contract for RCA when a ballad from his second album became one of the mega-hits of the 1960s. "Gentle on My Mind," as sung by Glen Campbell, has remained one of the most succesful songs of the mid-1960s with memorable performances in jazz, folk, pop, and symphonic arrangements. The status and widespread popularity of the song was reflected in its Grammy credits. It won the 1967 Grammy as best country and western song; Hartford was honored for best folk performance, and Campbell and his record producer (Al DeLory) were given Grammys for best country and western performance. The song brought Campbell and Hartford to national prominence through appearances on the television shows starring and produced by Tom and Dick Smothers.

It was also on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and the replacement "Glen Campbell Good-Time Hour" that Hartford was discovered as a straight-faced comic. He played the guitar, banjo, and fiddle with a skill that was unique even in that era when folk music was frequently seen on network broadcasts. Hartford's wry comic songs—and a memorable performance of "Gentle on My Mind" on a banjo filled with water and a live fish—brought him personal recognition unusual for a songwriter. His work on television and in the Smothers Brothers' live appearances was appreciated by fans and critics alike, according to the New York Times's Richard F. Shepard, who wrote in 1968 that "John Hartford drew voluminous applause with his inventive songs, attractively delivered."

When the Smothers Brothers' shows ran into trouble with the CBS censors in 1969 and the folk boom waned, Hartford returned to writing songs for his own albums and for other performers. He created seven albums for RCA that did well on the country and western, folk, and pop charts. Two albums for Warner Brothers in the early 1970's followed, but in 1976, he switched to a small label, Flying Fish, for his Grammy Award-winning Mark Twang. This bluegrass and narrative recording won Hartford his third Grammy—in his third category—since it was awarded best ethnic or traditional recording in 1977.

A fascination with steamboating led Hartford to achieve pilot status on the Julia Belle, a paddle-wheeler out of Louisville. His appearances at folk festivals, concerts, and on television, such as the Smothers Brothers' return to CBS prime-time in 1988, are now likely to include songs and narratives about his boat.

Hartford has maintained his committment to presenting traditional American music as well as original ballads in his self-described "grass-rock" style. He is considered one of the masters of bluegrass strumming and picking on both guitar and banjo. He even accompanies himself with clogging—percussive nineteenth-century "tap" dancing on a wooden stage. It seems that, whatever the current popularity of folk music, bluegrass, talking blues, or country and western songs, John Hartford will continue to present America's past in a form that commands the attention of its present audiences.

—Barbara Stratyner