John Hardy

John Hardy may refer to:

John Hardy (song)

"John Hardy" is a traditional American folk song based on the life of a railroad worker living in McDowell County, West Virginia in the Spring of 1893. The historical John Hardy got into a drunken dispute during a craps game held near Keystone and killed a man named Thomas Drews. Hardy was found guilty of murder in the first degree, and was hung on January 19, 1894. Three Thousand people attended Hardy's hanging. John Hardy made peace with the lord the morning before his death when he was baptized in the river.

The song has been performed by numerous artists from the 1920s through the present, including Tom Adams, Clarence "Tom" Ashley, Joan Baez, Long John Baldry, Bobby Bare, Leon Bibb, Norman Blake, Dock Boggs, Jimmy Bowen, The Carter Family, Billy Childish, Roy Clark, Michael Cleveland, The Coachmen, Fred Cockerham, Country Gazette, The Country Gentlemen, The Dillards, Lonnie Donegan, The Easy Riders, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Paul Evans, Raymond Fairchild, Flatt & Scruggs with Doc Watson, Bela Fleck, Michael Fracasso, Bill Frisell, The Gun Club, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Roy Harvey, Wayne Henderson, Bart Hopkin, Lightnin' Hopkins, Cisco Houston, Burl Ives, Tommy Jarrell, Buell Kazee, Kentucky Colonels, The Kingston Trio, Koerner, Ray & Glover, Tim Lake, Lead Belly, The Lilly Brothers, Laura Love, Manfred Mann, Ed McCurdy, John McEuen, Katy Moffatt, Bill Monroe, Andrew Morse, Alan Munde, Northern Lights, Osborne Brothers, Peter Ostroushko, Pine Valley Cosmonauts, Jerry Reed, Ola Belle Reed, Don Reno, Tony Rice, Luther Russell, Doug Sahm, Earl Scruggs, Charles Seeger, Mike Seeger, Pete Seeger, Silver Apples, Martin Simpson, Sir Douglas Quintet, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, Hobart Smith, Chris Smither, Roger Sprung, John Stewart, Ernest Stoneman, The String Cheese Incident, Steve Suffet, Todd Taylor, George Thorogood, Tony Trischka, The Twilights, Uncle Tupelo, Ben Webster, The Williamson Brothers and Glenn Yarbrough

John Hardy (composer)

John Hardy is an English-born composer who has been commissioned by the Arts Council/National Lottery, the BBC, Welsh National Opera and the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, among others. His work includes opera, choral and orchestral pieces, site-specific theatre events and film.

Hardy studied at Oxford University and Guildhall School of Music & Drama before directing music at Cardiff Laboratory Theatre, Edington Festival then Welsh performance group Brith Gof, whose 1988 production Gododdin was performed with percussion group Test Dept and described by The Independent as “elemental, wild and exhilarating… an exceptional achievement.”

In 1994 Hardy won the first of his five BAFTA Cymru awards for the soundtrack to Hedd Wyn, an Oscar-nominated film about the Welsh poet. At this time he began collaborating with playwright Ed Thomas, composing music for Song From A Forgotten City (1995), House Of America (1996), Gas Station Angel (1998) and Stone City Blue (2004).

Music Theatre Wales commissioned and in 1994 premiered Flowers, a chamber opera described as “rich and evocative” by Opera, “communicating… the whole gamut of human emotions” by The Times and by Steven Walsh in The Independent as "a strong piece that seems to do what it sets out to… with terrific conviction, with a flair for torturous sonic imagery, and with no hint that the composer is not in complete control of his materials."