John Hartford

John Hartford wrote "Gentle on My Mind", one of the best-known songs of the 1960s. A banjo player, fiddler, dancer and licensed riverboat pilot, he helped start the newgrass movement.

Career

Hartford signed with RCA Victor in 1966 and released Looks at Life that year. His 1967 album Earthwords & Music included "Gentle on My Mind"; Glen Campbell's version made it widely known, and at the 1968 Grammys the song won four awards, two of them for Hartford. He became a regular on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and played on the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

In 1971 he moved to Warner Bros. with a band of Vassar Clements, Tut Taylor and Norman Blake and recorded Aereo-Plain, which Sam Bush has called the start of newgrass. In the 1970s he earned a steamboat pilot's licence and spent summers on the Julia Belle Swain. Later he founded his own label, recorded Retrograss (1999) with Mike Seeger and David Grisman, and played on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, earning another Grammy. He recorded more than 30 albums.

Songs and tunes

• "Gentle on My Mind"
• "Long Hot Summer Days"
• "Kentucky Pool"
• "Let Him Go on Mama"

Selected albums

Play his instruments: our guides to the banjo and fiddle.