| Aereo-Plain | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 1971 | |||
| Genre | Bluegrass | |||
| Length | 40:04 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | David Bromberg | |||
| John Hartford chronology | ||||
| ||||
Aereo-Plain is a 1971 studio album by American bluegrass singer-songwriter and instrumentalist John Hartford. It reached number 193 on The Billboard 200 chart. [1]
The music on Aereo-Plain is a blend of traditional bluegrass musicianship and the hippie spirit of the '70s. [2] The album sold so poorly that Warner Bros. decided to devote no promotion at all to Hartford's next release Morning Bugle. Nevertheless, Aereo-Plain has been called the forerunner of the genre now known as "Newgrass". Hartford subsequently asked to be released from his contract and later signed with Flying Fish Records. [3]
The other members of the Aereo-Plain Band were bluegrass veterans Norman Blake, Vassar Clements, Tut Taylor, and Randy Scruggs. The sessions were controlled but relaxed, as Taylor commented, "John let us play what we wanted to play. 'Cause that's one of the beautiful parts about it—he just let us get in there and pick." Producer David Bromberg recounted, "We'd sit around and smoke pot and play "Sally Goodin" for an hour and a half. That approach kind of became, after a while, newgrass." [2] Hartford instructed Bromberg to "let the tapes roll, we don't want to hear playbacks until you've put the master together." [3]
In 2002 Steam Powered Aereo-Takes was released, which was a collection of outtakes and demos from the recording sessions for this album. [4]
The cover features a bearded, long-haired Hartford wearing old style, aviator goggles, a distinct contrast from his previous appearance as a regular on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour . On the original LP, the title is spelled "Aereo-Plain" but the title of the song is labeled "Steam Powered Aereo-plane". [5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+ [6] |
Aereo-Plain has received high praise in retrospective reviews. Writing for AllMusic, critic Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. wrote "The cult following of Aereo-Plain... has less to do with the music than with Hartford's quirky songs and even quirkier approach... One of the attractions to this material is that Hartford seems to be in his element, just doing what comes natural to him... Aereo-Plain signaled the full blooming of his eccentric talent. This is an essential album for any fan, revealing both his genius and the glory days of early '70s progressive bluegrass." [1]
Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ rating, writing "I must admit that Norman Blake's guitar, Tut Taylor's dobro, and Vassar Clements's fiddle complement Hartford with tact, wit, and sly razzmatazz. But I insist that it's Hartford's funny, quirkish songs, rather than his banjo, that save me from continued boorishness." [6]
Stylus Magazine's 2006 review praised Hartford and the album: "It would be easy to call Aereo-Plain an 'Old Weird America' classic, but Hartford’s loves were never so static, and he seemed in on the joke besides. Shame, then, that the augurs of American music never smiled on Hartford the way he beamed on them." [7]
All tracks composed by John Hartford; except where indicated
John Cowan Hartford was an American folk, country, and bluegrass composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle and banjo, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River lore. His most successful song is "Gentle on My Mind", which won three Grammy Awards and was listed in "BMI's Top 100 Songs of the Century". Hartford performed with a variety of ensembles throughout his career, and is perhaps best known for his solo performances where he would interchange the guitar, banjo, and fiddle from song to song. He also invented his own shuffle tap dance move, and clogged on an amplified piece of plywood while he played and sang.
Norman L. Blake is a traditional American stringed instrument artist and songwriter. He is half of the eponymous Norman & Nancy Blake band with his wife, Nancy Blake.
New Grass Revival was an American progressive bluegrass band founded in 1971, and composed of Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins, John Cowan, Béla Fleck and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989, releasing more than twenty albums as well as six singles. Their highest-charting single is "Callin' Baton Rouge", which peaked at No. 37 on the U.S. country charts in 1989 and was a Top 5 country hit for Garth Brooks five years later.
Vassar Carlton Clements was an American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and bluegrass along with roots also in country and other musical traditions.
Will the Circle be Unbroken is the seventh studio album by American country music group The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, with collaboration from many famous bluegrass and country-western players, including Roy Acuff, "Mother" Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Merle Travis, Pete "Oswald" Kirby, Norman Blake, Jimmy Martin, and others. It also introduced fiddler Vassar Clements to a wider audience. The album was released in November 1972, through United Artists Records.
Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prolific." A fourteen-time Grammy winner, he has been called “dobro’s matchless contemporary master,” by The New York Times, and is among the most innovative recording artists in music, both as a solo artist and member of numerous bands, such as Alison Krauss and Union Station and The Earls of Leicester. He has been a co-director of the Transatlantic Sessions since 1998.
Really is the second studio album by J. J. Cale. It was released in 1972.
Mark Twang is a 1976 album by American bluegrass singer-songwriter and instrumentalist John Hartford. Much of his songs for the album were inspired by Hartford's experiences working on a riverboat, notably "The Julia Belle Swain" and "Let Him Go on Mama." The album was recorded all acoustic in the studio with Hartford by himself on all instruments and vocals. At the Grammy Awards of 1977, Mark Twang won the Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording.
Steam Powered Aereo-Takes is a collection of outtakes, demos and jam-sessions from John Hartford's groundbreaking 1971 album Aereo-Plain, released in 2002. The music is a blend of traditional bluegrass musicianship, and the hippie spirit of the '70s. The other members of the Aereo-Plain Band were Norman Blake, Vassar Clements, Tut Taylor, and Randy Scruggs.
The Great Dobro Sessions is a 1994 country music and bluegrass album featuring an all-star line-up of 10 American resonator guitar players, produced by dobro players Jerry Douglas and Tut Taylor.
The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol.2 is an album by Béla Fleck. Going back to his bluegrass roots, Fleck put together a band of all-stars of the genre: Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Tony Rice, Mark Schatz, Vassar Clements, John Hartford and others.
Robert Arthur "Tut" Taylor Sr. was an American bluegrass musician.
Norman Blake/Tut Taylor/Sam Bush/Butch Robins/Vassar Clements/David Holland/Jethro Burns is a studio album recorded by American musicians Norman Blake, Tut Taylor, Sam Bush, Butch Robins, Vassar Clements, and Jethro Burns and British bassist Dave Holland. It was released in 1975.
Nobody Knows What You Do is an album by John Hartford, released in 1976.
Shacktown Road is an album by Americana and folk musicians Norman Blake, Nancy Blake and Tut Taylor, released in 2007. It was the first time Blake and Taylor recorded together since they were members of John Hartford's Aero-Plain band in the 1970s.
Friar Tut is an album by Americana and Bluegrass dobro player Tut Taylor, released in 1972. Taylor is joined by Norman Blake, Sam Bush and David Taylor. Taylor's son David was 16 years old at the time of this recording.
Bluegrass Album, Vol. 5 - —Sweet Sunny South is a fifth album by bluegrass supergroup, Bluegrass Album Band, released in 1989. Violinist Vassar Clements is on this album replacing Bobby Hicks, and bass duties are taken over by Mark Schatz (instead of Todd Philips, who otherwise plays on all Bluegrass Album Band albums.
Bluegrass Album, Vol. 6 – Bluegrass Instrumentals is the sixth and final album by bluegrass supergroup, Bluegrass Album Band, released in 1996. Violinist Bobby Hicks and bassist Todd Philips reunite with the group, while Vassar Clements remains in the lineup for this ultimate recording to produce a fantastic double-fiddle sound together with Hicks.
Courtney Johnson was an American banjo player, best known for his work as an original member of the band New Grass Revival. Influenced by Ralph Stanley and his Clinch Mountain Boys, Johnson is often considered to be an inventor of the newgrass style of banjo playing, polished and improved later on by such personalities as Béla Fleck, Alison Brown, Scott Vestal of Sam Bush Band and Jens Krüger of Kruger Brothers.
David Bromberg is the debut album by American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter David Bromberg. It was released by Columbia Records in February 1972. The album includes "The Holdup", written by Bromberg and George Harrison, and "Sammy's Song", which features Bob Dylan on harmonica.
