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 by musicians from the Grammy-nominated album, The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project Vol. 1, and participants in the upcoming Vol. 2. The show also includes loving interpretations of some of John's most adored classic songs.
Megan Lynch Chowning is a seven-time national fiddle champion and respected Nashville musician and educator. Originally from Redding, CA, Megan spent years touring with legendary country music artists Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan, her acclaimed duo with Bill Evans, BEML, and bluegrass stars like Dale Ann Bradley and Larry Cordle. She judged the National Fiddle Championships three times, and is the co-director of the IBMA-award-winning Nashville Acoustic Camps. Megan is known as a captivating performer and storyteller as well as a dedicated educator, focusing on helping people of all ages live their dream of playing folk, bluegrass, and old time music in this vibrant community. She first laid eyes on John Hartford in 1986 at the Strawberry Music Festival. His dancing, his playing, and his hat made a strong impression on her and as she has matured into a torch-bearer of traditional musical education she is often stunned and perpetually honored by her role in preserving and furthering John's legacy.
Joining her on mandolin and upright bass is Sharon Gilchrist. Sharon has performed and recorded with the Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet, Scott Nygaard & John Reischman in the Harmonic Tone Revealers, The CA Bluegrass Reunion Band, Darol Anger, Uncle Earl, Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands, and many others. She is also a respected and influential music educator offering multiple online mandolin courses at pegheadnation.com and teaching at music camps around the globe. In 2024, Sharon joined the John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. 2 as an artist and co-producer along with Megan Lynch Chowning and Katie Harford Hogue. The Vol. 2 album is due for release in early 2025. Through a lifetime of musical involvement in various bluegrass hotspots from Dallas to Nashville to San Francisco Bay Area, Sharon has distinguished herself as a knowledgeable and valuable artist in the American roots music scene.
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.
With decades of performance experience and reputations as stewards of tradition, the John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project Vol. 1: The Tour brings this unexplored part of John Hartford’s legacy to life. Megan Lynch Chowning, who helped copy edit the accompanying fiddle tune book, is known for her expert knowledge of fiddle tunes and their histories much in the same way John was through his extensive note taking and interviews with masters. As an educator, Sharon has helped carry the torch of tradition through to future generations. As a performer she has worked for decades with many of John's musical contemporaries. She and these artists share John's ethos of collaborations grounded in tradition while celebrating new sounds and personal expression. As a writer, Rachel attempts to make sense of the world in a down to earth way. As both a banjo and fiddle player, John and Rachel are connected not only by the fact that Rachel lives in what used to be John’s guest house where she can watch the boats pass by the same Cumberland River that inspired much of John’s writing, but also by their deep passion for both preserving and innovating American traditional music. In that same paradoxical way, these three use their combined talent to present a show that is both fresh and familiar, historical and never before heard, and a way to relive the “Goodle Days.”
