Customer Reviews

Hamilton Ironworks

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Given how 2001 turned out, I guess it must be said that John Hartford's passing was not the worst thing that happened, but it certainly was a long way from the best, either. If there's anything good to be said about the death of a musician and personality gloriously unlike anybody else's, it is that he left the world with one last great, fully realized musical statement, also gloriously unlike anybody else's. On it Hartford is playing mostly little-known fiddle tunes with old pal Bob Carlin and others, interjecting stories about where he heard them and who was doing them. The music is mesmerizing, the tales sad and funny and strange. In a tribute to Hartford in the liner notes to Down from the Mountain, the Coen brothers and T Bone Burnett write, "He walked away from TV stardom to go to the outskirts of Nashville to devote himself to fiddle playing and the study of American traditional music. It was not the usual career arc." Because of what he did, the rest of us have the gift of this magnificent recording. The beauty of Hamilton Ironworks feels boundless.

As a youth in St. Louis, Missouri, Hartford fell in love with riverboats and the mighty Mississippi River...was very much influenced by Earl Scruggs and Stringbean, this is when the five-string bango came into being...but his fiddling and telling of stories is the heart of who he is...nothing like him has come along since.

His style is hard to describe, not completely Bluegrass...but a mixture of traditional & progressive country, old-time-down-home early Americana and just plain good natured music, that everyone young and old can enjoy.

Hats off to ~ Bob Carlin (producer), Wes Lachot (recorder/mixer) and Rounder Records for this trip back to Hamilton Ironworks, preserving moments from one of the most original songwriters, string players and lyrical performers ever to grace this planet ~ JOHN HARTFORD!

You might try other John Hartford-Rounder releases, all worthy of a good listen ~ "The Speed of the Old Long Bow" (0438)..."Morning Bugle" (0356)..."Aereo-Plain" (0366)...please check out my reviews on amazon.com/music.

Total Time: 74:11 on 23 Tracks ~ Rounder Records 82161-0442-2 ~ (2001)

Sadly John Hartford left us this past summer at far too early an age. In the wake of this tragedy, however, the recording industry appears to have pumped a fresh supply of his greatest music onto the market. Some earlier work was a bit goofy, but not so this and several others. Any lover of the "old time" styles who wants to hear it at its best should buy this one. Oh heck, whatever you like in music, this one should please you.

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!

First off, I am a bit biased on a couple fronts. One, I am already a long-time Hartford fan, and two, my late father-in-law
was cousin to Gene and Cecil Goforth. In fact, I recently had the pleasure of playing guitar behind Cecil, who is still playing wonderful fiddle. As one reviewer said, the little commentaries in the music won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I think they make the CD an important little capsule of history for anyone interested in ozark fiddle music. Get this one. Get the Gene Goforth CD, Emminence Breakdown, which John recommends in the intro, and get the CD "Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, Volume One:Along the Eastern Crescent." The latter featuring many other fiddle players of the area. These three make a real nice little package. Enjoy!

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.

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.

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.

A no brainer. Absolutely the most prolific student of American Fiddle Music has given us our best while he was laying down these tracks. I have no words... just listen, The tunes are so very good, very good ...it was soooo good. I have been listening for years now and believe me, I wish there was more John... So much we miss the best fiddler anyone anywhere has ever heard... Buy this album if you want to hear 21st Century American Music. Great great Album.!!!! Thankyou so much to whoever produced this album.

I own a nursery (James Horton, Horticulturist), and am very particular about the music I play for my customers, as well as my plants. John Hartford's last studio LP, "Hamilton Ironworks," is fine and uplifting, real music for real people.

It's a beautiful as sunshine among the flowers.