Jun 262020
 

John HartfordOn the Road: A Tribute to John HartfordSongwriter, banjo-picker, old-time fiddler, dancer, tv star, radio dj, and, perhaps most importantly, professional riverboat pilot. Welcome to the weird, wide world of John Hartford.

Hartford was a cross between Bill Monroe and Mark Twain—he titled one of his albums Mark Twang. He was among the first to join hippie sensibilities with hillbilly ways. During the late ’60s and early ’70s, Hartford was both a vivid reminder of America’s past musical heritage, and also a harbinger of things to come; he shaped contemporary music almost in spite of himself. “Newgrass,” which in turn fed into the jam band phenomena, is basically Hartford’s concoction (though mandolinist Sam Bush gets some credit too). Even Americana, as it is currently defined, is impossible to imagine without him—the blockbuster O Brother, Where Art Thou project has Hartford’s fingerprints and spirit all over it.

So a new John Hartford Tribute album is most welcomed, and now we have one in hand: On the Road, from LoHi Records. It’s a dang good tribute album, too, starting with the opening cut (by Hartford’s co-conspirator Sam Bush), and never letting up.
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Jun 142018
 
devildriver john carter cash

I interviewed John Carter Cash – Johnny’s son – a few years ago (for my book‘s chapter on “Hurt”). He told me how, as a huge metal fan growing up in the 1980s, he dragged his dad with him to Metallica and Iron Maiden concerts. It’s not clear that created a deep and abiding appreciation of heavier sounds in the Man in Black – lord knows it proved hard enough for Rick Rubin to convince him to cover Nine Inch Nails – but maybe this new metal “Ghost Riders in the Sky” cover would convince him.

It comes from California metal band DevilDriver, who take on all sorts of outlaw-country classics on the upcoming album Outlaws ‘Til The End: Vol. 1. And for their cover of Cash’s cover of “Ghost Riders in the Sky” (the song was first recorded by its writer, Stan Jones), they recruited a ringer to bridge the gap: John Carter Cash himself. Continue reading »