Bill Monroe and John Hartford
Old Riverman
“Old Riverman,” also called “Old Riverman Blues,” is a song associated with Bill Monroe and John Hartford. The two recorded it together in the 1980s; Hartford, a licensed riverboat pilot with a deep knowledge of river lore, was a natural partner for such a song.
The song is the testimony of a lifelong riverman. It names the great American rivers one after another — the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, the Allegheny — and follows the lonesome, restless life of a man who has spent his years on the water.
The song joined the body of river songs that run through American roots music. The version heard here is by the Nashville Bluegrass Band.
