John Hartford

By the time Hartford recorded 1976's Mark Twang, his first release for the Flying Fish imprint, the progressive bluegrass icon was performing solo, switching between fiddle, guitar, banjo and amplified plywood. The record sounds both archaic and wholly modern, as if Hartford were a backwoods Appalachian learned in avant-garde art and poetry. Tunes like "Little Cabin Home on the Hill Waugh Waugh" aren't even real tunes, just super-odd vocal workouts featuring Hartford's unmistakable humor.

Hartford's come a long way from "Gentle on My Mind" and eccentric bids for stardom. These days he sings mostly about the mighty Mississip (too thick to navigate, too thin to plow) and records eccentric river music for a folk label. He's slightly the better for it, on the whole--but I wouldn't say his living sounds so secure that he should turn down a gig on the Proud Mary. A gig playing, or a gig navigating. (Grade: B)