When two of America's best songwriters get together the result could be electric, but it is not. It is acoustic. Jack Hardy and David Massengill have known each other since they both moved to New York City in the mid-seventies, Jack from Colorado, David from Tennessee. The Boston Globe has said, "Jack Hardy is one of the most influential figures today in defining the American Folk Song." The same could be said of David Massengill. In this era of pop-driven acoustic music, these two have dual-handedly kept the folk tradition alive in songwriting.
Jack and David have shared many a stage together at clubs and festivals, been members of the weekly songwriters workshop since its inception, and worked on the Fast Folk Magazine together. They have traveled together, boulevardiered together, played softball together, had the occasional adult beverage together. And now they are forming a duo: The Folk Brothers. Move over Simon and Garfunkel and Don and Phil.
David brings the experience of six albums, nine bootlegs and nine books to the mix. Jack brings the experience of fifteen albums and eight plays to the mix. David's songs have been covered by such artists as Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, The Roches and Charlie King whereas Jack's songs have been covered by such artists as Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen, Lucy Kaplansky and Joel Rafael.
Their choice of material for this project draws from their own greatest hits such as David's "On the Road to Fairfax County," "Rider on an Orphan Train" and "My Name Joe" to Jacks' "Tinkers Coin," "I Ought to Know" and "The Zephyr" to covering songs of their friends such as Dave Van Ronk, Paul Siebel and Utah Philips, as well as covering traditional songs. David plays the mountain dulcimer (Dave Van Ronk said that "Massengill takes the *dull* out of dulcimer") as well as guitar. Jack plays guitar as well as mandolin. They are also noted as being great tellers of tales while introducing their songs.
Their first album as a duo, Partners in Crime, will be released in July, with transcendent harmonies, and a great mix of history, tradition, politics and irreverence. Rumor has it there is an alternate name for The Folk Brothers: "The Baloney Brothers," but we have been unable to confirm this rumor.
For more information visit: www.jackhardy.com and www.davidmassengill.com
![[Jack Hardy]](./JHpromo2.jpg)
Jack Hardy is "a more literate Celtic Townes Van Zandt, grave in his tone and generous in his ideals, as rooted in the present soil and sky of Ireland and America as he is fascinated by the legends of the past" (Roy Kasten, St. Louis Riverfront Times, February 3, 1999).
It is a strange mix of themes ranging from the American West to the ballads and jigs of Celtic ancestors that somehow seems to make sense in the musical world Jack Hardy has created. And it is a separate world to which the listener is transported; a timeless place inhabited by tinkers and cowboys, saints and sinners, elves, virgins and crones. From his extensive travels and reading he has forged an endearing non-academic approach to literature, one that is more at home in the pub than in the classroom. "He clearly seems to enjoy making his listeners think. He may dare his audience to figure out what he is saying, but he also credits them with the intelligence to do so" (Tom Nelligan, Dirty Linen, 1998).
In Europe, where Hardy has toured extensively for over 20 years, he is accepted as an ambassador for American music. In an Italian encyclopedia of rock Jack has a larger entry than many prominent rock stars.
"Nothing adventuresome is created in a vacuum," Jack says, "you get people together and the creative sparks fly." The weekly songwriters workshop which he has hosted for many years taught and nurtured countless songwriters, not the least of which are Suzanne Vega, John Gorka, Shawn Colvin, Richard Shindell and David Massengill. The Fast Folk Musical Magazine, which he founded and edited, released the first recordings of most of the artists currently headlining folk festivals. This collection of over 100 compilation albums has now been taken over by the Smithsonian.
Gregarious and outgoing when talking about his songs and songwriting in general, Jack fiercely guards the privacy of his personal life. Jack Hardy was born in Indiana, his father a musician, his mother a painter. He grew up in New York, Colorado, and Connecticut, studied opera and literature in college.
In 1998, Prime CD reissued his first ten albums in a box set as well as his eleventh album The Passing. In 1996, BCN Records released a tribute album The Songs of Jack Hardy: Of the White Goddess, a collection of his Celtic ballads (all sung by women). In 1997, Jack was the recipient of The Kate Wolf Memorial Award, given yearly to "an artist who makes a difference through his music" by the World Folk Music Association. In 2000, Prime CD has released Jack's twelfth album Omens.
Omens was recorded live to 24 track analog in two days, using the vintage recording equipment of Prime CD's Theater 99 recording studio in New York City, with no overdubs. The fourteen songs range from the uptempo Celtic "Sile na gCioch" where a tinker finds a dress on the side of the road and gives it to a young lass, to the majestic "West of Dingle" where a woman faces a choice between her lover and her fiddle; from the biting barrage of juxtaposed media images of "I Ought to Know" to the romantic ballad "Only One Sky" and back to the uptempo humorous Clancy Brother-ish "The Boney Bailiff." This album takes you on quite a musical voyage with some of Jack's best poetic imagery, but it is the sweeping beautiful melodies that carry these songs directly into your memory. The players include Jack's current touring band: Tom Duval on electric guitar and harmony (also heard on Jack's albums The Hunter and Civil Wars), Mike Laureanno on Hofner bass and harmony, Dave Anthony on Drums (also heard on Jack's album The Passing), and Kate MacLeod on fiddle. The album also features a buried bonus track containing 19 minutes of Suzanne Vega interviewing Jack on the subject of songwriting.
| For additional biographical information, see Reviews and Press. |
University of Hartford Observer: "What Ever Happended to Jack Hardy?"