Tim Hardin

From Eugene to the Village

James Timothy Hardin was born on December 23, 1941 in Eugene, Oregon, to parents who were both musicians; his mother was a violinist and concertmaster of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He left South Eugene High School at 18 to join the Marines, was discharged in 1961, spent a short time at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and settled in Greenwich Village, where he befriended Cass Elliot, John Sebastian and Fred Neil. In 1963 he moved to Boston, where the producer Erik Jacobsen got him a Columbia audition; Columbia dropped him after about a year, and those demos later surfaced as This Is Tim Hardin (Atco) and Tim Hardin 4 (Verve).

Signed to Verve Forecast in 1966, he released Tim Hardin 1 in July 1966 and Tim Hardin 2 in April 1967, and played the 1966 Newport Folk Festival. Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert was recorded at the Town Hall in New York on April 10, 1968, and he played Woodstock in August 1969, solo on "If I Were a Carpenter" and with a band, though his set was left out of the film. Columbia issued Suite for Susan Moore and Damion in 1969, followed by Bird on a Wire (1971), Painted Head and Nine. He sang with Can for two UK concerts in November 1975, and played a homecoming show in Eugene on January 17, 1980, released in 1981. He died on December 29, 1980 in Los Angeles, aged 39. None of his albums was in print at the time.

Songs others made famous

Bobby Darin's 1966 version of "If I Were a Carpenter" reached eight in the US and nine in the UK, and the song was later recorded by Johnny Cash, the Four Tops, Robert Plant and the Small Faces. "Misty Roses" was a top-40 hit for Johnny Mathis, and "Hang On to a Dream" was recorded by Fleetwood Mac and Echo and the Bunnymen. Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy (2005) draws on his life, the Style Council took the title "Speak Like a Child" from his song, and Dylan reportedly called him the greatest living songwriter. Hang On to a Dream: The Verve Recordings (February 22, 1994, Polydor) collected his Verve work, and a 2013 tribute album was called Reason to Believe: The Songs of Tim Hardin.