Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Knockin' at Your Door
3. Woodchopper's Breakdown
4. Hamilton Ironworks
5. Jawbone
6. Politic
7. Wooliver's Money Musk
8. Ragtime Dream
9. Quail Is a Pretty Bird
10. Emminence Breakdown
11. Ragged Bill
12. Hi Dad in the Morning
13. Black River
14. Green Corn
15. Devil's Hornpipe
16. Wolves a Howlin'
17. Fiddler's Hornpipe
18. White River
19. Greenback Dollar
20. Comin' Down from Denver on a Trip to Galway Here and There
21. Chicken Oh Chicken
22. Goforth's Dusty Miller
23. Turkey Buzzard

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58705 in Music
• Released on: 2009-09-22
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Hamilton Ironworks, the last album recorded by the late, great John Hartford, is one of the most unique and bewitching stringband records in recent memory. While it can be argued that every note that John Hartford played is a tribute to his stylistic forefathers (given his thorough knowledge of rural American music), this is his first album entirely devoted to exploring his formative influences and experiences. Effortlessly blending singing, fiddling, and storytelling, Hartford creates a moving document that simultaneously pays homage to his heroes while retaining the ingenuous spark that has characterized his own music of the past four decades. Joining Hartford is the unassailable Hartford Stringband, which features Bob Carlin, Mike Compton, Larry Perkins, and Chris Sharp.

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Hartford's last gift
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.

"rollicking & good natured Hartford takes you back"
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)

"OLD TIME" FIDDLE MUSIC DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER
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.