Walk-the-walk songwriting: Jack Hardy, 1947-2011

[Ian David]

Walk-the-walk songwriting: Jack Hardy, 1947-2011
by Sharon Goldman on March 11, 2011

As songwriters, we all talk about getting into the songwriting groove and writing more songs — constantly working to improve, consistently putting pen to paper. But very, very few of us could ever hope to walk-the-walk — and not just talk-the-talk — when it comes to writing songs as Jack Hardy did.

An institution in New York City’s Greenwich Village and famous in folk/acoustic music circles worldwide, you might never have heard of Jack — but you might have heard about some of the songwriters he inspired, from Suzanne Vega and John Gorka to David Wilcox and Richard Shindell and The Roches.

He was famous for his Monday night pasta dinners/songwriting feedback gatherings at his little (very little) apartment on Houston Street in Greenwich Village, where over the years hundreds of songwriters spent cozy evenings eating, drinking, sharing songs and getting feedback on their tunes which were supposed to be brand-new works-in-progress — ideally, less than a week old. I did a little Q&A blog post with Jack in October of 2009 — we exchanged e-mails and he answered some questions about the ”Songwriter’s Exchange,” which started back at the Cornelia Street Cafe in the mid-70s.

Unfortunately, Jack passed away today, after a sudden diagnosis of lung cancer.



More:
http://www.songwritingscene.com/2011/03/walk-the-walk-songwriting-jack-hardy-1947-2011/

Hat-tip to: http://www.facebook.com/RedSchwartz