I remember when John Hartford came on the scene. I had the album with Gentle on My Mind. I wasn't a huge fan, but I surely enjoyed his music.
Around '78 he was the headline act at a local folk/bluegrass festival. He closed the show on Saturday night. The festival was set up in 2 hour blocks, 15 min. setup and teardown 90 min. performance. Some acts played straight through, others did 2 40 min. sets. John played for 55 min. and walked off stage without so much as a "thank you and good night". A little disappointing, but the music was good. The next year he came back and did the same thing. I mean the exact same songs, jokes and patter. Year 3, he closed on Fri. night, and it was announced in the festival advertising, that he had all new material. Same deal, except for 2 new songs. Year 4 he went on at 7:00 P.M and it was the same as the year before. He never appeared at that festival again.
I'm not trying to slam the guy, I think he had a lot of talent. Most of his fans really didn't seem to mind. I heard that he had problems with the festival organizers. True or not, he took the gig 4 years running, and I found his actions to be unprofessional. It's hard to believe he did this his whole career, I never really paid him much attention after that.
I still like a lot of John Hartford's music, I just wish I hadn't seen him live. :? :?
