Jamie Hartford and Friends. photo by Cindy Steele
The John Hartford Memorial Festival
~ by Jeff Tryon
Local favorites The White Lightning Boys, The Whipstitch Sallies, and New Old Calvary will join national touring artists such as Peter Rowan, Pokey LaFarge, Jamie Hartford and Friends, Pert Near Sandstone, and Betse Ellis, at“ The Most Laid-Back Festival In America,” the fourth annual John Hartford Memorial Festival May 29 through 31 at Bill Monroe’ s Music Park and Campground in Bean Blossom.
Larry and Jenny Keel. photo by Cindy Steele
48 Our Brown County • May / June 2014
The Festival is on a mission to preserve and continue the legacy, music, and ideals of John Hartford, one of America’ s most beloved songwriters, performers, and musicians.
“ I’ m thrilled to be a part of honoring John’ s memory and to bring life back into the songs he crafted,” said Mike Compton, a Grammy and IBMA award-winning recording artist and one of the modern masters of bluegrass mandolin.
“ I think John’ s passion for sound and lyrics has been felt for decades, and has altered the path of string band music,” Compton said.“ He’ s sort of the granddaddy of this Jamgrass scene. There’ s an awful lot of his repertoire in the bedrock of the scene, from before the Aereo-Plain album to the present.
Compton had played with John Hartford, recording a half-dozen records and touring extensively with him until John’ s death in 2001.
The Hartford Festival’ s unique genre-busting line-up has a list of performers whose music is varied, different, fresh and original, rooted in the Spirit of John Hartford.
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