You read about somebody, and it doesn't really matter whether or not they really exist - the point is that you get into them like real characters.

Hartford said often that the first time he heard Earl Scruggs pick the banjo changed his life. Louis Walk of Fame. Aereo-Plain and Morning Bugle are often considered to be Hartford's most influential work coming as they did at the very beginning of a period in which artists such as Hartford and the New Grass Revival led by Sam Bush would create a new form of country music blending their country backgrounds with influences from a number of other sources.

Hartford performed with a variety of ensembles throughout his career and is perhaps best known for his solo performances where he would interchange the guitar banjo and fiddle from song to song. John Cowan Hartford (December 30 1937 – June 4 2001) was an American folk country and bluegrass composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle and banjo as well as for his witty lyrics unique vocal style and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River lore.