Jayme Stone Presents: John Hartford!
Kathy Foster-Patton
photo by Mike Jackson
I rode up the canyon to my second Little Schoolhouse in the Pines show on May 22—a tribute to John Hartford, put together by stellar banjoist Jayme Stone. My four friends and I were very excited about the show. We knew that Jayme had gathered a group of high quality musicians to entertain us for the evening. We also knew the show was sold out and that we were among the lucky attendees.
John Hartford was and still is a legend in the bluegrass and old time music world. He lived from 1937 to 2001, and knew early-on that his place was in the music world. He was a multi-instrumentalist and taught himself banjo, inspired by Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe. His songwriting skills produced some seminal tunes that dig into one’s mind and are hard to let go of.
Stone explained prior to the show how he came upon the idea of doing the tribute to Hartford. “John Hartford’s songs, musical sensibility, and innovative banjo style have been a huge influence on me. I’ve been playing tunes of his for years and wanted to gather some like-minded musicians to pay tribute to his legacy. Everybody I talked with got immediately excited about the idea and wanted to be involved.”
Stone elaborated a little more on the preparations for the tribute. “It’s been such a joy to dig into John’s repertoire and banjo style. His music is a whole world onto itself with so many fantastic songs, old-time fiddle tunes, and music for all these different eras. We’ve been incorporating an arranging idea that John calls ‘windows.’ Everybody is encouraged to change what they are doing every 16 bars. That could be playing the melody, a harmony, a rhythmic figure, chromatic lines, or simply laying out. It’s a really organic way of keeping the music spontaneous and different every time. So I’m looking forward to hearing what everybody does!”
When we arrived at the Little Schoolhouse, we found a wonderful cast of musicians assembled to entertain us. Guitarist Brad Murphy and mandolinist Rich Zimmerman, of Slipstream fame, joined Jayme, along with Ryan Drickey on fiddle, and Ian Hutchison holding down the bass. K.C. Groves waited in the wings to lend her sweet vocals to some of the tunes. The crowd milled around prior to the start; many familiar faces from the local bluegrass scene were out in force for the event.
Prior to the show, I was curious to know how they settled upon the songs for the set list. Stone explained the methodology. “Everybody brought in tunes. I had a long list of favorites and it seems like we’re doing them all. There will be a bunch of lesser known gems and some tunes from out-of-print records, as well as his famous tunes like ‘Gentle On My Mind.’ There’s just so much music to draw from!”
The Little Schoolhouse was packed to the gills when the crew kicked things off with a tune called ‘Wrong Road,’ that had Zimmerman carrying lead, and Groves chipping in with harmonies. The musicians appeared even more excited than the audience members to be playing John Hartford music with each other.
The third tune in the first set, ‘Half Past Four,’ incorporated the ‘windows’ technique that Stone mentioned prior to the show. He explained laughingly to the audience that it cut down on rehearsals. The song was an Ed Haley fiddle tune that Hartford once recorded. Haley was a blind fiddler who traveled extensively throughout the Appalachian region, and made many recordings of his music prior to his death in 1951. Hartford took a keen interest in Haley in the 1990’s and researched his life and music. Stone’s tribute version showcased Ryan Drickey’s excellent fiddling skills and was a real crowd-pleaser.
They just went on and on with great songs that Hartford wrote or performed. Highlights for me were ‘The Goodle Days’, from his Steam Powered Aereoplane record, ‘Big Rock Candy Mountain,’ which he performed on the ‘Down From The Mountain’ Tour, and ‘Tall Buildings.’ Stone talked a little about the impact of that song and how he, Stone, played it once for a student who cried over it. Drickey and Groves did the vocals and it was a powerful effort on a powerful song.
The band closed out the first set with, as Stone put it, “one of the greatest tunes ever written.” Zimmerman crooned “Gentle On My Mind,” the song that is always associated with Glenn Campbell, and was Hartford’s greatest claim to fame. The tune won two Grammy awards in 1968 and was the theme song for Campbell’s television variety show from 1969 to 1972. It was the perfect song to end the set and ensure that the audience could not wait for more great music.
John Hartford lived in a house that overlooked the Cumberland River outside of Nashville. From an early age, the river called to him; he ran away as a teenager and joined a riverboat crew as a night watchman. He was certified as a steamboat captain and followed the activity of the boats fanatically from his home. During the second set, Groves relayed to the audience her experience when she met Hartford in Nashville and spent an hour with him at his house. She especially noted the joy he took in watching the river traffic. Stone chipped in, “John was in love with steamboats. He was a steamboat captain and wrote a bunch of tunes about the river.”
The second set honed in on some of those songs. The first tune out of the gate was ‘Steam Powered Aereo-plane,’ which Zimmerman sang. This was a seminal song that is sometimes attributed as contributing to the ‘newgrass’ that Hartford influenced later in his career. Groves also performed another Hartford song about the river called ‘Long Hot Summer Day.’
The second set also represented the old time quality of Hartford’s music. The tribute band performed songs that Hartford did not write, but performed, such as ‘Squirrel Hunters,’ ‘Old Grimes,’ and ‘Pea Patch Rag.’ The encore song to the evening was ‘Wish We Had Our Time,’ another old time tune that Groves has done with Uncle Earl, her old time band.
Stone elaborated later about Hartford’s qualities. “John is just so genuine, kind-hearted and honest. His speaking voice is the same as his singing voice. You can tell it’s him after hearing just one note. I value that in a musician. He was also a diverse musician, playing old-time fiddle, foreshadowing newgrass a decade early, writing quirky tunes and developing many unique techniques on the banjo. I’ve culled little things from his playing but more than anything, he’s someone I look to as an example of an artist who has truly found his own voice–always inspiring.”
Stone relayed the news to the audience that the tribute band has another gig lined up and expects to tour the project a little, so this won’t be a one-shot deal. He explained afterwards how strong the connection is with the musicians in the group. “These are all great friends and musicians I’ve played with informally over the last few years. They all share a love of old-time music as well as an openness to different approaches and sounds. I like the music to breath and the interaction to feel like a conversation and they are all the kind of people i could sit around and gab with, musically or otherwise.”
Hartford’s web site has this quote, which epitomizes his relationship with music. After recording his first record, he said, “Had I not made this record, I would have still made these songs and sung them to my family, my friends, and then softly to myself.” Amen to Jayme Stone and his tribute band for carrying on that tradition.
John Hartford Tribute
Little Schoolhouse in the Pines
May 22, 2009
Salina, Colorado
Audio
stream | mp3s | zip (mp3s)
Recording: 2 center mics: Marshall 2003’s>V3>R44 @2448 2 outer mics: AKG C1000s>R44 @2448 (mics set in front of band).
Mixed: using all open source tools. Audacity on Ubuntu 9.04 to normailize, mix to 2 tracks, 24>16bit,48000>44100, tracked, etree scripts to flac. comments: prennix at gmail.com.
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The Band
Jayme Stone – banjo
Rich Zimmerman – mandolin & vocals
Ryan Drickey – fiddle & vocals
Brad Murphy – guitar
Ian Hutchison – bass
KC Groves – vocals
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01 Wrong Road
02 Natural to be Gone
03 Half Past Four
04 Goodle Days
05 Going Across the Sea
06 Big Rock Candy Mountain
07 Tall Buildings
08 Gentle On My Mind
01 Aereoplane
02 Old Grimes
03 Long Hot Summer Day
04 Today (removed at artist request)
05 Pea Patch Rag
06 Here I am in Love
07 Squirrel Hunters
08 Up on the Hill
09 Encore: Wish We Had Our Time
Pastor Tim Says:
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