Album Notes

Hardy, who has released 13 albums and toured extensively across America and Europe, is a mentor and inspirational force to many of those at the forefront of the "new folk" movement. Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, Steve Forbert and John Gorka have all honed their craft at Hardy's New York City Songwriter's Exchange. For twenty -five years, a constantly changing group of performers critiques each other's songs, pooling their efforts to keep an ancient art alive.

"My passion has always been writing," Hardy said, noting that he writes at least one song a week.

Before Jack Hardy moved to New York City, he lived for many years in Colorado where he worked on ranches as a teenager and after college.

Songwriting has also helped Hardy deal with the overwhelming tragedy of Sept.11. Not only was he at home, a dozen blocks away from Ground Zero when the World Trade Center was attacked -- he was also on the street to witness the collapse of the towers. His younger brother, Jeff, who was on the 101st floor of the north tower that morning, died in the attack. Jack wrote about eight or nine songs on the subject, until he forced himself to write about other things. Two of these songs are included on the VIGIL CD project.

Here's what two fellow singer-songwriters say about Jack....

"Jack Hardy has written some of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard." Lucinda Williams

"Jack Hardy writes literature. His songs don't just lie there on the page. He makes a song come alive." John Gorka