John Hartford Memorial Festival

2013 Winner Scott Carnder

2013 was our very first songwriting contest. Congratulations to Scott Carnder of Hickory Robot for winning the 2013 Songwriters Contest with his original song "Hartford's Bend".

Scott Carnder, Hickory Robot mandolinist from Cincinatti, OH won 1st place in our first John Hartford Memorial Festival Songwriting Contest. Contestants have to either mention John Hartford, one of John Hartford’s song titles in the song, or have the song be about John Hartford. Scott’s song, “Hartford’s Bend” was written about the bend on the Cumberland River where John Hartford used to hang out and watch and talk to the riverboats coming downstream. Congratulations to Scott! "People tend to like me as I'm polite and rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks." Scott says. Scott's favorite quote is "Music is the timeless experience of constant change"- Jerry Garcia. 
Scott has this to say about the John Hartford Memorial Festival and our Songwriting Competition, ""JHMF is a wonderful festival that really feels imbued with Hartford's spirit.  The lineups are remarkably diverse, yet can all be tied back to some aspect of his music, which makes for an incredibly dynamic and entertaining festival experience.   As for the songwriting contest, I would encourage anyone to enter.  John's songs are all very personal.  They're fun, experimental, bittersweet, nostalgic.  They're him.   They're unique and idiosyncratic.  Yours can be, too. If you mean it, it'll be a good tune.  Good luck!"
Contact Scott and Hickory Robot at http://www.hickoryrobot.com/ and also on Facebook.

 

Scott Carnder on mandolin, with his band Hickory Robot performing his winning song at the Riverbend Festival.

Top 10 finalists for the first Song Writing contest at the 3rd Annual Hartford Festival.