The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 116

Fame Gives 'Gentle' Nute "T- ft I I Naslm es In Hartford fS 0iEK 1)1 ny felllf iliy ft By KATHY SAWYER IT'S probably a good thing that John Hartford stepped off the fast-track to Music City long enough to take lessons in commercial art. He learned more than how to mix a good red. He learned, somehow, to mix words. He skill In painting "word-movies," as in his hit "Gentle on My Mind," recently caught the wide eye of Tommy Smothers and the result is that former Nashville disc-Jockey, song-writer, song-singer and banjo picker John Hartford makes his national television debut on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," Sunday, Mar. 3, (8 p.m., Ch.

5). Plans are being finalized to make him a regular script-writer for the show's summer replacement, which will be hosted by another Music City recording personality, Glenn Campbell the Time I Get to Hartford will make a minimum of three or four appearances on the show through out the summer in addition to his writing duties. Not Waiting It's not as though he has been lying around like a gold-vein in a rock, waiting to be discovered. He had recorded a few albums and singles for RCA, all of them exclusively songs he had written himself. And some of his songs had been recorded by other artists.

But he was more or less submerged in the sea of song writers who come here to struggle and hope while they repair TV's, teach school or sell cars. Then came "Gentle," and he bobbed up like the top of the Iceberg to become a "personality." "Gentle" was recorded by Patti Page, Glen Campbell, and Floyd Cramer, and a number of others, as well as by Hartford. The song is nominated for Grammy Awards as Song of the Year, Best Performance (as sung by Hartford) and in two western categories. Didn't Realize "I wrote It in 20 minutes." Hartford shrugged, taking a drag on his pipe. "I didn't realize what I had written until I came back later and looked at it Actually, it's about free love.

You know?" Brown-eyed, Intensely casual and with an air of vagabond mis-adventure about him, Hartford's favorite working outfit is levis and a tee shirt. He spices his conversation with "groovy" and but also with "I reckon." Many believe he bridges the gap between country and pop, and between young and old. But he himself tends to shun labels and pidgeon holes. Not Confused "He knows where he's going, and he's not confused or frustrated," said Bill Thompson, administrative assistant to Tom Smothers, from CBS Television City in Los Angeles. It was Thompson who first sent some of Hartford's songs to Smothers.

Thompson was "knocked out" by the recordings, and made a point of looking him up when he came to Nashville. "Jan Howard (Decca artist) arranged for us to meet at a party, and I spent six hours just talking to him. He could talk intelligently on any subject, from Vietnam on down." When the Smothers heard the albums, Thompson said, "They dug him." Thompson was, at the time, a dee jay on LA radio station KGBS. When the Smothers went for Hartford, they hired Thompson too. (He had been Tommy Photo by John Grine wife, Betty and Jamie, 2Vz, Smothers' manager when they were both in high school.) Local Appearances "Hartford will be making several TV appearances locally, while he's out here taping the Comedy Hour," Thompson said.

"Steve Allen wants him for his syndicated show, and we are hoping to book him at clubs up and down the coast, if we can work it out with his managers." Hartford is taking it all in stride so far, but he says, "When I stop and get back to earth, my mind's gonna blow." Hartford learned to pick a banjo and fiddle for square dances during his childhood in southeastern Missouri. The son of a doctor, he "had trouble passing high school English, because I couldn't (He says he still can't.) Along the Way He migrated to Music City a few years back, with stops along the way for studies at Washington University in St. Louis and lessons in art. "I've also worked as deckhand on the river, ad agency layout artist, disc jockey, newsman, sign painter, farm hand and I've washed dishes for pay," he added. When he first arrived here, he worked as a disc jockey for WSIX Radio.

Took Tapes And he wrote songs. He took a tape of his songs to Chuck Glaser, who was to become his as he is called on Hartford's album liner notes. Glaser, of Tompall and the Glaser Brothers, and of their partnership in Glaser Productions and Glaser Publications, comments on that first tape: "It was the first time I ever knew anyone to write with so much realism John has always insisted that his writing is made up of things he simply has to say. His Interest in whether anyone else agrees, likes, or even listens, is secondary." Glaser productions handles Hartford's bookings, promotions and publicity. Glaser Publications publishes his songs.

(Albums recorded by Hartford so far are: "John Hartford Looks at Life," "John Hartford, Earthwords and Music," and "John Hartford: The Love Album." Singles include "Gentle on My Mind," "Jacks in the Sacks," "A Simple Thing as Love," and "Good Old Electric Washing Machine." all on RCA. Vital Statistics Their promotion sheet lists his vital statistics as follows: Born Dec. 30, 1937; stands 5 feet 11, weighs 150 has brown hair, brown eyes and flat feet. The rest about him is in his songs. He admits he is obsessed with writing them, with the creative urge.

He also admits that years ago, when he began writing, he had dollar signs mixed in his brain with the words. But then, he said, "I realized I was not getting anywhere and I wasn't having any fun." Left 'Demon' So he turned his back on what he calls the commer Hartford at home with his cial music." He wrote what he felt. And he became commercial in spite of himself: "It's knowing that your door is always open And your path is free to walk That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag rolled up and stached behind your couch. And it's knowing I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds And the ink stains that have dried upon some line. That keeps you in the back roads by the rivers of my memory.

That keeps you ever gentle on my mind." Or "All around somebody else's pad You stumble as you chance the latest fad. If you're confused with all the things you find, Just wait until the crowd makes up your mind." The melodies aren't especially important, except as wrapping for the poetry, although sometimes the melodies are very fine. 'My Standards "I write what I feel, what I think is real. Those are my standards. I have no set formula," said Hartford.

"I'm not a hippie, though I know they dig what I do. Tobacco is my only drug. I try to clarify my vision, you know? And drugs only distort it. "I think in pictures, like paintings using words and sound." Overcame Problem He has overcome the problem of self-consciousness that troubles so many writers, but it wasn't always so. "Gentle on My Mind," copyrlaht 1947 by Glaser Publications, Inc.

"Like Unto a copyright 1947 by Glaser Publications, Inc. "At first I felt like I might as well take off all my clothes In the middle of Broadway, I was so self-conscious about writing my real feelings. But now," he grinned, "I'm an exhibitionist. I'm not self-conscious anymore. I think it's a time-wasting way to be.

You shouldn't let the "blue laws" get in the way. It was the music industry that led Hartford to Nashville, and he likes it here. "I'm spoiled by this place the people, the location, the way things are done To me this is where it's happening, and will be happening. "In big towns, you have to park at a meter, and go up in a big office building in a tie. Here, Record Row is like a big campus It's a groovy, creative atmosphere." Hartford lives In Madison, with his wife Betty and their son Jamie, 2.

Always a Studio "Wherever he lives, he has to have a studio, with recorders and mikes, pad and pencil, typewriter," said Glaser. "All four walls are covered with bulletin boards so he can stick the things he jots down on it. If there is a picture he likes, he might sit and study it, and then write something about it. "He does a tremendous amount of writing, from which he takes the songs he publishes." Hartford's social life is sporadic, of course because of his personal appearance schedule, and he has little time for hobbies, except maybe a little painting or drawing. (He also likes to take a hand in the designs of his album covers.) His friends? Says Hartford, "All shapes, sizes, colors, fleflsity, viscosity1.

I 5 T. 11 TT co Ask Showcase 20 It's Grammy Time Again 10 Movies on TV 23 Movie Guide 12-13 Sports on TV 15 DAILY TV LISTING: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, 11; Wednesday, 14; Thursday, 15; Friday, 18; Saturday, 21. Sunday Skowcast, i Weekly Entertainment Guide to Muaio City, U.S.A, ii produced end edited by the Sunday Department of THE NASHVILLE TEN-NESSEAN. Original material Copyright, 1967. THE NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN SILLIMAN EVANS, Publisher (1937-1955) SILLIMAN EVANS, Publisher (1955-1961) AMON EVANS.

Publisher JOHN SEICENTHALER, Editor EUGENE WYATT, Sunday Editor.