A few years back, Jamie Hartford told me that amongst the goodies stashed in his father's office were recordings of John Hartford playing flat-out bluegrass with Tony Rice and Vassar Clements, joined by Mark Howard on mandolin and Roy Huskey on bass.
"And Tony isn't playing for the show here. He's really, really playing," he told me.
I've never been the hugest Tony Rice fan. He's a huge, huge talent and influence, but not every great musician designs his output to my taste. My initial wish was that Norman Blake had been back on board, sort an an Aereo Plain semi-reunion.
On the other hand, Jamie is as serious a listener and analyst as he is a player, and he's an extremely serious player.
Hartford/Rice/Clements sounnds like these guys were rehearsing for something. I have quite a few John Hartford jamming tapes, and this is not that. The harmonies are in place, the endings are firmed. This is definitely later Hartford, and he's not playing any fiddle, just banjo and vocals. It's really straight up and down, especially by Hartford standards. It's very standard bluegrass fare. This is the stuff he and Vassar owned. And Tony steps in and reminds you he owns it too. I've never heard Tony play more as if it mattered than he does here.
So, after years, after John and Vassar have left us, here's the other Great Lost John Hartford Album. The first, Radio John, was to have been his last album for RCA.
H/R/C isn't going to convert anybody. But to those of us for whom Aereo Plain was something of a gateway drug to traditional bluegrass, it's almost the prequel.
