This has been a good year for John Hartford fans. In the summer of 2018, Hartford’s daughter, Katie Harford Hogue, assisted by fiddler Matt Combs and musicologist and musician Greg Reish, compiled and narrated John Hartford’s Mammoth Collection of Fiddle […]
Cosmic American Music is hard to define, and often easier to define by what it’s not. Michael Grimshaw in his essay “Redneck Religion and Shitkickin’ Saviours? Gram Parsons, Theology and Country Music” writes: “Parsons’ mission was the creation of a new way forward, […]
Robbie Fulks calls his music “country or maybe folk,” but that description would have been too simple back in 1997 when the Chicago Tribune raved about his then-new album. “Robbie Fulks is hotter than a Gatling gun!” the newspaper’s music […]
David Bromberg had had enough. The only problem was he didn’t know it. Being on the road for two years without going home for two weeks straight was taking its toll. Bromberg can now look back and realize he was […]
It’s not always easy for independent touring musicians to find an affordable place to stay. When a friend’s couch or a fan’s guest room isn’t an option, it’s either the van or a cheap motel. So, when Daniel J. Daniel of […]
The cover of John Hartford’s first album for RCA had both “folk” and “country” on it, just below the label’s logo — a tangible sign of the confusion that must have reigned in the marketing department. You can almost feel […]
The sadness of the loss of John Hartford last year is made all the more acute by this second posthumous release. It follows the last album he recorded before his death, Hamilton Ironworks, a loving tribute to the music that […]
It’s been said that the fiddle has ruined many a good banjo player. “Ruined” isn’t the right word in John Hartford’s case, but it’s true that he favored the devil’s box on his later studio recordings, and this, his last […]
In 1971, at the same festival where Bill Monroe ended his long feud with Lester Flatt and again shared a stage with his old partner, John Hartford made his first bluegrass festival appearance. He brought with him a mangy band […]
