John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project
The musical legacy of John Hartford returns with The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project: The Tour, a show consisting of the previously unheard compositions he left behind, performed partially by musicians from the Grammy-nominated album, The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project Vol. 1.
Megan Lynch Chowning is a seven-time national fiddle champion and respected Nashville musician and educator. She spent four years touring with legendary country music artists Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan, judged the National Fiddle Championships three times, and is the co-director of the IBMA-award-winning Nashville Acoustic Camps.
Joining her is Sharon Gilchrist who has performed with Darol Anger, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice Quartet, Mary and Mars, Uncle Earl, Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands, the Kathy Kallick Band, Bill Evans, and many others. Although not featured on Volume One, Sharon and Megan are currently co-producers of Volume Two along with John’s daughter Katie Harford Hogue. In addition to her performing career, Sharon is a well respected and influential educator in the mandolin community thanks in part to her work with the online learning platform Peghead Nation. With a lifetime of musical involvement in various bluegrass hotspots from Dallas to Nashville to San Francisco, Sharon has distinguished herself as a knowledgeable and valuable side(wo)man.
Rising-star Rachel Baiman rounds out the ensemble. Rachel has spent the last decade working as a musician in a wide variety of roles, from session musician (Molly Tuttle, Kelsey Waldon, Caroline Spence), to live sidewoman (Kacey Musgraves, Amy Ray), to bandmate and producer. Known in the bluegrass and old time world for her work with progressive acoustic duo 10 String Symphony, Rachel represents the new generation that carries on John Hartford’s legacy as both an instrumentalist and songwriter. Since 2017, Baiman has toured her solo project internationally with appearances at the Kilkenny Roots Festival in Ireland, the Mullum Music Festival in Australia, and the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington, DC.
One of the most respected musicians in Nashville history, John Hartford is well known for his songwriting, having been honored with four career Grammy Awards, including two for his 1967 recording of “Gentle on My Mind.” Still, few knew of his passion and academic approach toward the study of fiddle music in the later years of his life. After Hartford’s death in 2001, his family discovered over two thousand original and unrecorded fiddle tunes that he had been keeping in file cabinets under his desk. In time, an expansive idea of a project honoring his passion for the instrument began to take shape – first as a book, then as an album.
