Fine Tribute to Late, Great John Hartford

JOHN HARTFORD STRINGBAND
Memories of John
Red Clay Records T-4539-2
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With heavyweights such as Bob Carlin, Alison Brown, Béla Fleck, and Tim O’Brien assembled to pay tribute to the late John Hartford (d. 2001), you might expect the fur to fly. You’d be wrong. Few recent artists have assembled such an impressive body of work, been as generous, and inspired as many with less self-aggrandizement as John Hartford. This is a sampling of fifteen songs and tunes either penned or popularized by Hartford done in the same unpretentious, occasionally sparse, but musically solid style that typified Hartford’s performances. The term “Americana” is an overused one, but it’s hard not to consider the Missouri-born Hartford as a one-man soundtrack for the Mississippi River: its steamboats, small-town dance halls, and the various vagabonds, scoundrels, fortune-seekers, and everyday folk who traveled up and down the might, muddy Mississippi. “Gentle on My Mind” isn’t on this collection and rightly so; that big ole’ pop chart hit was a Hartford anomaly. More typical are things the assembled friends of Hartford recorded are small gems: the banjo-arranged Civil War-era sentimental song “Lorena,” the old-style “Royal Box Waltz,” old chestnuts such as “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” and tour de force songs like “M.I.S.I.P.” The latter will be a pleasant memory jogger for any who were lucky enough to see Hartford in the flesh—the man could wring more mirth out of the simplest melodies of anyone I ever saw. Kudos to the Stringband for keeping things real—just like John would have done. Note: The CD’s producer and band guitarist/vocalist was Chris Sharp, who toured with Hartford.

Check out these samples.