The John Hartford Days Weekend and Julia Belle
The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Volume 2Julia Belle: The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Volume 2
One of the many reasons why John Hartford is on the cover of this issue of Bluegrass Unlimited is that in January 2025 there are two very special events that coincide with this John Hartford cover. The first is a special “John Hartford Days” Weekend event being produced by the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky. This weekend, hosted by Sam Bush (and the Sam Bush Band), will be three days of music, panel discussions, and one or two documentary film showings that all focus on the life and music of John Hartford.
After the great success of the Jerry Garcia weekend in March of 2024, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum decided to move forward from that success to plan more multi-day collaborative events. Carly Smith, the museum’s curator, explained that events like this are important for a number of good reasons. First, she said that they help the museum preserve the legacy of Bluegrass Hall of Fame members, not only through the display of artifacts at the museum, but through multi-day events that bring musicians and fans together with scholars, friends and family members of the featured Hall of Fame member. She said, “We want to help keep their legacy alive.”
John Hartford was selected for the January 2025 event because the new album Julia Belle: The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Volume 2 will be released in February of 2025, with the first single being released during the weekend of the event in late January. Also, since the John Hartford Memorial Festival held its last event for the foreseeable future in 2022, and many of the fans who attended that festival also attend the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum’s ROMP festival, this event in January 2025 is a great way to provide those Hartford fans another event that celebrates his life and music.
In addition to the already significant John Hartford artifacts that currently reside in the museum, there will be a separate special pop-up exhibit on display during the weekend event that will contain additional artifacts. Musicians who will be performing during the weekend event include Sam Bush, Jamie Hartford, Mike Compton, Rodney Dillard, Alison Brown, Jim Lauderdale and others, who will soon be announced. There will also be panel discussions consisting of the above-mentioned artists and other Hartford friends and family, including John’s daughter Katie Harford Hogue. Each night there will be an opening act followed by the main theater set (hosted by Sam Bush and featuring special guests) and then an after-party set on the lobby stage. The film Banjos, Fiddles and Riverboats will also be shown.
Julia Belle: The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Volume 2 is a historic recording that includes 13 instrumental tunes and five legacy vocal tracks performed by 48 of the most talented women in bluegrass music. All of the fiddle tunes and songs were written by John Hartford and are presented to help further John’s legacy and continue to bring his music to old friends as well as new audiences. Produced by Sharon Gilchrist, Megan Lynch Chowning, and Katie Harford Hogue, Vol. 2 includes female artists such as Alison Brown, Sierra Hull, Missy Raines, Kathy Mattea, Megan Lovell, Rachel Baiman, Phoebe Hunt, Ginger Boatwright, Mary Meyer, Brittany Haas, Allison de Groot, Della Mae, Sister Sadie, The Price Sisters, Uncle Earl, Laurie Lewis, Kathy Kallick, Susie Thompson, Holly Odell, and many more!
The vocal songs on this record include many Hartford favorites, including “Steam Powered Aereo Plane,” “No End of Love,” “Julia Bell Swain,” “Learning to Smile All Over Again” and “I’m Still Here.”
Speaking about her father and this album, Katie Harford Hogue said, “He loved the bluegrass community and he wrote all of these songs for people to have, play and enjoy and we want to get them out there. It is as much a letter as an album.”
