Boats: Steamboat Edition

John Hartford: Steamboat Whistle Blues [purchase]

John Hartford: Julia Belle Swain [purchase]

Jimmy Work: Hear That Steamboat Whistle Blow [purchase]

John Hartford was truly one of the greats. He's not as well known as he should be, but almost everyone’s heard his most famous composition Gentle On My Mind, which was a huge hit for Glen Campbell in 1968. Campbell’s version alone has received more than 5 million radio plays, and the song has been covered by hundreds of other artists.

So what do you do when you’ve got a hit song under your belt and royalty money coming in? Well, if you’re John Hartford, the answer is to get a job as a steamboat captain and go have yourself some fun on the river.

Hartford, a man of many talents, not the least of which was banjo picking, was a frequent guest pilot on the Julia Belle Swain out of Peoria. Notably, the Julia Belle Swain bested the heavily-favored Delta Queen to win the Great American Steamboat Race of 1976.

Learn more about John Hartford (and get more songs) here.

Learn more about Jimmy Work, another under-appreciated country great, here.

Where else but a muddy old river, would a person want to be?