Customer Reviews

The Speed of the Old Long Bow

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This is a great example of that wonderfully infectious old-time music that gets my feet a'tappin every time. The notes inside the cover give a nice bit of background info, and Hartford puts into words the significance of Ed Haley's music as it realtes to this CD. He explains right off the bat that, though he doesn't sound just like Haley, he loves trying. The music has temporarily cured the cabin fever I get in the wintertime after a summer of old-time music festivals. If you like this kind of music, folks, you literally won't be able to keep your seat- my parents and I were dancing around the kitchen when we first put it on!! -happy listenin'!

John Hartford makes traditional music HIS. He's done that all his life. Speed of the Old Long Bow shows us once again that John can take old-time music and pump new life into it. That's what music, especially "folk" music is supposed to be about. Never static, always growing as each player puts his mark on it, and then passes it on. John has always played with the best pickers, this CD is no exception. Excellent picking abounds. It's like sitting in John's living room with friends and lettin' it rip. You will no be let down on any track. If you're a fiddler, just try and keep up!

As a compulsive collector of old-time fiddle CDs and tapes, I can say that this is maybe the most high-spirited and musically interesting CDs in the genre. This is Hartford at his loosest and best -- the instrumentation is full of surprises for players, and a really good introduction to those who dont know the music. i'm buying it for all my friends for christmas. Once I've paid that off, I'm going to quit my job and go play the fiddle by some river for the rest of my days. thanks, John.

With all the ardor of passionate love, John Hartford pays homage to the great fiddle player Ed Haley. By recreating for a new generation of listeners a style of music that not only demonstrates dexterity but is inherently enlivening, Hartford creates with this album (and his other late-in-life works WILD HOG IN THE RED BRUSH and HAMILTON BREAKDOWN) the surest cure for whatever blues may ail you. Hillbilly fiddle doesn't get any better than this.

There are great musicians, and there are great musicians who are also great artists. Mr. Hartford falls into the latter category. Perhaps one day, Mark O'Connor will call upon Mr. Hartford and ask for a lesson in artistry. I hope so.