Articles
Band of Loveland siblings releases bluegrass CD
By Pamela Dickman
Loveland Reporter-Herald
At 10, Laura Hartman is still smaller than her bass.
Gone is the red glove she used to wear because her fingers were not strong enough to handle the strings, but she still stands on a stool to play.
Now, she is a recorded musician.
She and siblings 18-year-old Courtney, 17-year-old Rachel, 14-year-old Phillip and 12-year-old Hannah recently released their first bluegrass CD.
"Borrowed Time," by The Hartmans, is almost like watching the brothers and sisters live — minus the jokes and friendly banter. Close your eyes, and you can see the smiles as they strum the guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin and fiddle.
The siblings wrote nearly half the songs on their album, mixed all of them in the studio and bankrolled their own recording and studio time with money they earned from playing gigs around the region.
Putting together a compact disc is very different from playing live, said Phil.
Each band member was in a separate room playing his or her piece at the same time.
Later, they added vocals and mixed the music.
"When you record for a whole year, you really see how much you’ve changed," Phil said.
"It’s kind of embarrassing how we were a year ago. We’ve gotten a lot better."
Their legion of fans — people flock to their shows, tap their feet to the tune and break into smiles when seeing the siblings on stage — thought The Hartmans were good enough a year ago. In fact, fans asking "Where’s your CD?" spurred the Loveland band to record.
Boxes of the finished product arrived at their home west of town three weeks ago. Their mom, Natalie, was excited to see and hear the the finished product. She popped a copy into a player and listened.
"I bawled through the whole thing," she said. "I realized how many years of practice and work they put into it.
"It’s a beautiful thing."
One of the five original songs was written by Natalie.
"I do more than laundry and cook," the mother of 10 joked.
Years ago while she was at home while her husband traveled, she became inspired.
"I had eight children at the time," she said. "I was out milking a goat and having a pity party. I decided I needed to talk to the Lord about my troubles."
The Hartmans find inspiration in their daily lives.
They practice daily, before and after their home school lessons, and play about 50 gigs per year. The siblings have an easy camaraderie; it’s apparent they like each other and the fun music they play.
While in Nashville at the International Bluegrass Music Association convention (Sept. 29-Oct. 5), the siblings met famed songwriter and producer Jack Clement. They jammed with the man who wrote Johnny Cash’s "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" and George Jones’ hit "She Thinks I Still Care."
Clement has produced music for Louis Armstrong, U2, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Filmmakers working on a project called "Searching for the Heart of the Heartland" filmed some of that and another jam session and clips of the siblings at their hotel.
The Hartmans could be included in the film, which will debut in January in Holland. A museum there is collaborating on the project with a museum in Chicago.
While in Nashville, the Hartmans gave away about 100 compact discs to promote their music and have sold 20 copies.
Courtney stopped to think about the number of people living in Loveland versus the 1,000 compact discs they ordered.
"If one out of 50 people buy one, we’ll be sold out," she said.
Phil chuckled, "Let’s put it in the news in China."
Courtney joked, "It’s easy to go platinum there."
But joking aside, the Hartmans plan to go places with their music.
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The Hartmans practice during a Sunday in May in their home near Masonville. Clockwise from bottom left are Hannah, 12, Courtney, 18, Laura, 10, Philip, 14, and Rachel, 17. Reporter-Herald/Christopher Stark
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