Following on the success of the John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project in 2020, a recording featuring top fiddlers playing tunes found in the massive collection of the late John Hartford, the family of the hugely influential musician has announced that work has commenced on a Volume 2.
Hartford was like a force of nature during his performing career. Playing both banjo and fiddle, and accompanying himself and his distinctive baritone voice with foot percussion, John was a headline artist at festivals and shows all over the US. His solo appearances at festivals were so powerful, and affected audiences so intensely, that other acts would write into their contracts that they not be booked to follow him on stage.
For those who never saw him live, words fail in trying to describe the way that he mesmerized a crowd, speaking very little, and letting his music do the talking in an hour-long show. On top of that, his deep and ongoing study of both his instruments, and the players that came before him, only added to his artistry. Oh… and he was a songwriter with few peers, whose catalog lists a number of true classics, some so Hartford-esque that they are quite rarely performed by others.
Since this second volume of the Fiddle Tune Project is primarily a labor of love, the Hartford family is asking fans for their assistance in funding the album. They are offering pre-orders for both the CD and vinyl editions of Volume 2, and have established a Patreon page for those who want to be clued in on the progress. And it appears that the recording will specially feature female artists interpreting John’s tunes.
Like the first, this effort draws on tunes published in the book by Matt Combs, Greg Reish, and Katie Hartford Hogue, John Hartford’s Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes, containing 176 of his tunes, along with drawings the great man scribbled out during his life.
Produced by Sharon Gilchrist and Megan Lynch Chowning, with John’s daughter, Katie Hartford Hogue, announced participants include Rachel Baiman, Phoebe Hunt, Missy Raines, Ginger Boatwright, Natalie and Brittany Haas, Allison de Groot, Della Mae, The Price Sisters, Uncle Earl, and Deanie Richardson, with others to be named as well.
The producers have scheduled a concert for October 7 to help fund the album, where Brittany and Natalie Haas will play through all 176 tunes in the Mammoth Collection, assisted by a house band. It will be held at Nashville’s American Legion Post 82, with all proceeds going to the recording fund.
Here’s a video produced to help promote the project.
Full details and pre-order links can be found on the official John Hartford web site.
