John Hartford

Multi-instrumentalist, John Harford, mastered the fiddle by the time he was 13, subsequently picking up banjo, and dobro, before turning to the guitar. He moved to Nashville in 1965, swiftly earning a reputation as a session player before recording his debut album, Looks At Life, in 1966. The follow-up, Earthwords & Music (1967), included his best-known composition, ‘Gentle On My Mind’, which won three Grammy awards. In 1969, Dean Martin’s version hit number 2 in the UK, and sold over a million copies. Hartford continued his session playing; appearing on the groundbreaking Byrds set Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. In 1976, he released the Grammy-nominated album, Mark Twang. Hartford died in June 2001 following a 21-year battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.