Posted by Sharon - feeona on June 06, 101 at 18:45:44:
When I think of John Hartford, I think of the Julia Belle Swain. With no tv reception back in the early 1980's, I went to the Starved Rock Lodge to watch my favorite show and discovered that the Julia Belle made a trip up the Illinois River to the lodge every Monday. John often accompianied the String Pickers on Monday evenings. He'd stand around in a circle and pick, sing and play with Jamie, Scott, Ben, Ace, Libby and Amanda. I've still got some of those sessions I taped on cassette. I can also remember hitch hiking from Macomb, Illinois to Peoria to take a ride on the Julia Belle just to hear John play. It took us a dozen rides and a day to get back home, but was well worth it. I was able to hear John in April, 2000 at Cambridge, MN and was sad to hear of his condition. John had a special way of sharing his love for the river, steamboats and ordinary stuff. I first discovered John's music at a used record store, and that $3.25 copy of Nobody Knows What You Do / and $3.00 used copy of Aereo Plane are still among my favorites.