[.ca] Hamilton Ironworks

Superb fiddle playing, and a little history too:
John Hartford mastered just about every effect anyone ever got out of a fiddle, plus a whole lot of new ones, and he had a definite feeling about how best to play each tune. Every sound and effect that he sensed might be made by a fiddle was pursued and turned into reality, and he was almost hypnotically tuned into what the next bunch of notes should be in any piece he was playing. His attention to the gait or tempo of each piece was also a key to his musicianship. In this Hamilton Ironworks album, whenever a break from the sound of the fiddle is needed, his voice interjects anecdotes, chants, and fragments of thought that have the sound and rhythm of music. Over the course of the whole album you find out how he learnt about fiddling and string-band playing, and get to know the individuals and families that peopled his musical life - all those Goforths, Dillards, Pursingers and Woolivers. The tunes in a minor key, such as "Dusty Miller" and "Quail is a Pretty Bird", are perhaps my favorites on the album. His is a kind of bottom-up playing, evolving out of what sounds he intuited as being right for a tune, rather than top-down, i.e. created to please as large a mass of people as possible. The period when he decided to write and perform music for the mass market must have been a time of conflict for him, as reflected in some of his songs of that time. The lure of fame and money must not have been strong enough to overcome the power of the instinctive path that he needed to follow in his music - releasing the sounds that intuition told him must be found and played, as exemplified in Hamilton Ironworks.

A loving, thoughtful, and entertaining musical scrapbook.:
In his last studio project, John Hartford returned to his roots--the Missouri fiddle tunes he learned jamming in kitchens and basements and parlors when he was growing up near St. Louis. This is more stringband music than bluegrass, and John's fiddle is the featured instrument. As he explains in the illuminating liner notes, these fiddle tunes were designed to showcase the fiddler, not the other players. Still, the band assembled for this project seems just right. Maybe it's simply because I'm from the same part of the country, but I love John's discourses during the songs in which he recalls how he learned the tune, where it came from, the people he played with, and the times he grew up in. It indicates that John came of age in remarkable time when this kind of music was given flesh and bone by the people who played it for the sheer love of it. I think this recording is a wonderful keepsake from a remarkable storyteller, historian, and musician.

Thanks for the memories John!:
I have loved John's music over the years. I think this masterpiece kind of wraps it all up. Being John's last album it seems he wanted to leave a trail for others to follow back to a slice of Old time/Blue Grass music. What one hell of a fine job he did. I can't stop listening to it and thinking back on what a neat life he must have led. This is a must if you are even remotely into John Hartford!

Hartford's Last Offering:
Any fan of Hartford's will be aware of his most recent musical direction.The unique stringband sound that he has created with his last few albums and his touring band have created a stir among fans. Some fans of the more minstrel linked singing troubador persona find his dedication to the old time fidddle tunes of Ed Haley and others to be less entertaining than Hartford's meaningful and comical songs. This direction is not something that Hartford happened upon recently in the years before his death. This album chronivles his upbringing as having been steeped in the old time fiddle tradition that he so loves. A warning to anyone unfamiliar with Hartford: Love John Hartford's music, love his personality. That is to say; the stream of consciousness narratives that accompany his music are not everybody's cup of tea. Personally I love them. They bring the man and the music closer together in my mind, and we are allowed a peek in to the late, great man's heart and soul.

Excellent!:
As one relatively new to old-time fiddlin, I found this a wonderful CD in all respects - from the music to the history. For anyone who is a John Hartford fan, wants to become more familiar with what he loved, or is just plain interested in old-timey fiddlin, I couldn't recommend it more.

• Intro
• Knockin' at Your Door
• Woodchopper's Breakdown
• Hamilton Ironworks
• Jawbone
• Politic
• Wooliver's Money Musk
• Ragtime Dream
• Quail Is a Pretty Bird
• Emminence Breakdown
• Ragged Bill
• Hi Dad in the Morning
• Black River
• Green Corn
• Devil's Hornpipe
• Wolves a Howlin'
• Fiddler's Hornpipe
• White River
• Greenback Dollar
• Comin' Down from Denver on a Trip to Galway Here and There
• Chicken Oh Chicken
• Goforth's Dusty Miller
• Turkey Buzzard