The winner is Steve Margulis
July 24, 2020 TRIVIA QUESTION
John Hartford Trivia!!
Two-part question: Where was songwriter/banjoist/fiddler/dancer (and some call the Father of Newgrass), John Cowan Harford born (record executive Chet Atkins made him change his last name to Hartford); and what is a “genuine old-fashioned authentic steam-powered aereoplane” as he sang about on his ground-breaking 1971 newgrass LP, Aereo-Plain?
- St Louis MO/a drug-induced hallucination during an airplane journey
- Hartford CT/an early “steampunk” flying machine illustration
- Nashville TN/a Civil War military hot air observation balloon
- Los Angeles CA/a “Wrecking Crew” studio musicians’ term for a Hammond B3 electric organ
- New York City/a stern-wheel or side-wheel river steamboat
Additional Bowden Comments
Wonderful to see so many entries this week! Tell your friends!
John’s hometown was indeed St. Louis.
Hartford CT is a well known river city and it aligns with his nom de plume — also John was a GIFTED cartoonist and calligrapher (I have copies of a couple of cartoons he drew of Earl Scruggs and Benny Martin).
He was happiest living in NashVegas, in a lovely riverside home on a bluff above the Cumberland River (technically in Madison TN, where Earl Scruggs lived too).
John started his career in Los Angeles and was part of that whole music scene, which included the famous studio band “The Wrecking Crew” that backed up SO MANY artists’ LA recordings — he worked directly with and for Glen Campbell who moved up from being a Wrecking Crew guitar player to having his own TV show and making John’s song Gentle On My Mind a GIGANTIC hit that kept John in the money for the rest of his life (letting him afford to play old time music and pay fine sidemen to assist him with his dream).
Like they say in the chip dip salsa tv commercial — NEW YORK CITY?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, John’s other great love WAS old paddle-wheel steamboats. As a teenager he worked them (tow-boats) as a deck hand all over the Mississippi drainage. He studied hard and became a licensed steam boat pilot (again, living on the income from Gentle On My Mind).
Thanks to all the players, even those Beyond the Pale. Stay healthy and safe!
E. But it wasn’t NY City. John was a licensed riverboat captain that frequently piloted on the Mississippi.
E, please.
Hi Steve, you and Andy Bing better not go hatching a coup while you’re Beyond the Pale!! Spend your time in quiet discussion, socially distanced and masked, of course.
Greetings and good luck to all from beyond the Pale.
E
E
I think John was born in New York City and the steamboat that is in my mind.
I’m going with d. Semi-educated guess.
E!
Just for fun, since I am still beyond the Pale, E, NYC/Steamboat. Among his many other accomplishments, JH was a fine fiddler and helped to popularize many great old tunes. He also had a great radio announcer voice and one of my favorite early JH recordings is “Station Break,” a parody of a WSM announcer in which he manages to very slightly and hilariously mangle the names of practically every Opry star then (mid 60s) going.
Andy Bing, I invite you to transcribe that wonderful “Station Break” here for people to read, and practice reciting in a “radio voice”. John loved tongue-twisters — he could really pull them off. Another favorite, set to music, was More Big Bull Fiddle Fun.
The correct answer is “E”, New York City / A stern-wheel or side-wheel river steamboat.
I pick B. hart-beat!
The answer is E
New York City / Side Wheel
Of Course ‘The Father of Newgrass’ would come from our great city.
Dick… Tell us
Who is the father of progress banjo playing
Also from the northeast?
What ‘Genre Bending’ NYC artist produced Hartford’s ‘Aereoplane’?
What is Hartford’s ‘New Grass’ Classic that
Sam Bush continues to cover in honor of his great friend?
And for today.
Please tell us of two Legendary ultra progressive, mind bending, Grass Bands from NYC in the 70’s & the bands line up.
Sassano
I’m guessing he’s a city boy — A
A.
E Just a wild guess.
B
F. It’s the Salamander Crossing..I really know about it!!!
F??????????????