Performance · Other credits

John Hartford

real name John Cowan Harford

New York City, United States · 1937-12-30 – 2001-06-04

John Hartford is credited on 2,677 releases across 651 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1960–2026 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.

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2,677

Credits

651

Albums

Decades active

371

In collections

Biography

source

(December 30, 1937–June 4, 2001) John Hartford was born in New York City to parents Dr. Carl and Mary Harford. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri where he was exposed to the influence that would shape much of his career and music, the Mississippi River. From the time he got his first job on the river, at age 16, Hartford was on, around, or singing about the river. John changed his last name to 'Hartford' later in life at the behest of Chet Atkins. He is the father of Jamie Hartford and was married.
From the 1980s onwards, Hartford had Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. On June 4, 2001, at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 63, he died of the disease.
John is largely credited for inventing the musical style known as Newgrass. He played the banjo, fiddle, guitar and was a singer-songwriter.

Bio from Discogs