John Hartford - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

John Hartford won Grammy awards in three different decades, recorded a catalog of more than 30 albums, and wrote one of the most popular songs of all time, Gentle On My Mind. He was a regular guest and contributor on the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour and the Smothers Brothers Show. He added music and narration to Ken Burns’ landmark Civil War series, and was an integral part of the hugely popular "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack and Down From The Mountain concert tour. He developed a love for the Mississippi River at a very early age and in 1969 he became Captain John Hartford, when he received his riverboat pilots license. John Hartford died in 2001 and is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Description: Born John Cowan Harford in New York on December 30, 1937, John grew up in St. Louis. He was a descendent of Patrick Henry and cousin of Tennessee Williams. At an early age, John fell in love with two things: music and the Mississippi River. They were passions that would last his lifetime, and their pursuit would be his life’s passage. In 1965 he moved to Nashville an in 1966 he was signed to an RCA recording contract by the legendary guitar player Chet Atkins.It was Atkins who convinced John to add a "t" to his last name, becoming John Hartford. In 1967 his second RCA release "Earthwords & Music" featured the single "Gentle on My Mind", a song Hartford wrote and later that year, the song earned four Grammy awards. Hartford would take home two awards, one as the writer and one for his own recording of the song. The other two went to Glen Campbell who had heard Hartford’s version on the radio and decided to record it. Campbell’s rendition became an instant classic, and the song became one of the most recorded and performed songs of all time. In 1968 John Hartford left Nashville for Los Angeles, where he became a regular guest and contributor on CBS's Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and later on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. In 1969 his love for the Mississippi River once again came to the forefront and he would earn his riverboat pilot's license. In 1976, John won another Grammy award for his contemporary folk masterpiece, Mark Twang. The album featured a set of quirky river-centric original songs, presented in stripped down arrangements, typically featuring only Hartford accompanying himself on banjo, fiddle, or guitar while tapping his feet on an amplified sheet of plywood. The combination was magical, and would become his trademark sound for many years as a solo act. Summer days might find him piloting the riverboat Julia Belle Swain on her afternoon run, before entertaining the passengers at night. During festival season, his amazing instinct for single-handedly captivating an audience would often have him leaving the stage and leading a processional of joyful dancers. He was often described as a fiddle-playing pied piper. In 2001, he was awarded a Grammy award for his contribution to the soundtrack of "O Brother Where Art Thou". His bittersweet appearance on the subsequent "Down From The Mountain" tour was immortalized in the concert film. John Hartford died on June 4, 2001, after a long battle with non-hodgkin’s lymphoma. He is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee. Source/Credit: http://www.johnhartford.com/biography.cfm Date of birth: 12/30/1937 Date of death: 06/04/2001 Area of notoriety: Entertainment Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Daily - During Daylight Hours Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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