Hartford and Hartford

The album was made around May 1991 at the Cowboy Arms Hotel and Recording Spa in Nashville, with Mark Howard producing and playing guitar, Roy Huskey Jr. on bass and Kenny Malone on percussion; John Hartford co-produced, and Clement was executive producer. Its eleven songs mix old-time and country material with new writing: Johnny Bond’s “Love Grown Cold,” Stringbean’s “Run Little Rabbit,” A. P. Carter’s “When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland,” “Sweet Sunny South” and Jimmie Davis’s “Nobody’s Darling But Mine,” along with Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor,” John Hartford’s “New Love” and “Put All Your Troubles Away,” “I Know You Don’t Love Me No More,” written by John with Benny Martin and Jeannie Seely, and two songs by Jamie, “Painful Memories” and “She’s Still Gonna Break Your Heart.”

The same year John Hartford started his own label, Small Dog a’Barkin’. Jamie Hartford went on to a career of his own as a singer, guitarist and songwriter; his album What About Yes came out on Paladin in 1997, and he later recorded an album of his father’s songs. In August 2000, at Overdub Lane in Durham, North Carolina, father and son recorded Hamilton Ironworks as John and Jamie Hartford, a set of fiddle tunes with Bob Carlin, who produced, Mike Compton and Larry Perkins; Rounder released it, and it was nominated for the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. John Hartford died in Nashville on 4 June 2001.