At age seven, Micah has already been on the stage for six years. He is a natural entertainer who loves to make people laugh. He started out strumming on the “bic” (an instrument oldest brother Aaron made for him from an old tambourine) and sitting in a little red rocking chair Anna got to carry around. Then he found out he could get up! Since then, he has been “playing” with us on fiddle and mandolin for the first four songs of most sets---unless we can keep him on stage a little longer. Someone told us that a person will never be as good as he could be unless he starts at age three (too bad for the rest of us!) so Tom (“Daddy”) got Micah started on the fiddle several years ago. He is learning rapidly! He sings “Bile Them Cabbage Down,”  “Amazing Grace,” and “Oh, Susanna,” but almost everyone’s favorite is his version of “Mary Ann”, which he ‘dedicates’ to any Mary Ann in the audience!  

 

Tom and Deb met over 20 years ago at a Spanish language and missionary training school in McAllen, Texas.   After spending a summer in Guatemala, they returned to Arkansas and pastored a church.  They also began building their family and had 5 children in six years  (Anna, Aaron, Josiah, Daniel and Abigail).  Micah surprised them seven years after Abby.  During their years together, they’ve tried everything: from house building  to organic gardening to working with international students, homeschooling and playing bluegrass music!  Now  they get to meet lots of wonderful folks and share the Good News of  God’s love and grace through Jesus with songs and stories.  Tom plays the banjo and guitar and adds some vocals now and then.  He is the leader of the band, decides what songs to play at each performance, and helps arrange songs.  His gift of storytelling is a highlight of the Hartley Family’s performances.  Deb is the bass player and provides a warm alto harmony.  Her singing and playing give the music a solid foundation, and she is the one who keeps everybody fed and happy!

Anna is the songwriter and singer of the band, and The Hartley Family’s performances feature her lead vocal most of the time.  She writes and arranges a large percentage of HFB songs. Her songs usually have a strong family theme and deliver a thought-provoking message.  Although she had several full college scholarships offered to her, she decided to stay with her family for now to play music and help out with the Internet/computer/recording work for the band.  (However, we’re just emerging from the 1800s and still haven’t quite realized that the 21st century is here!)  Anna is the main rhythm player for the band, and plays lead guitar on a few of Abby’s songs.

Seventeen-year-old Josiah has been playing the fiddle since January 3rd, 2003---three days before youngest brother Micah’s birth.  His hard-driving, energetic style of playing has been a defining part of the Hartley Family’s music.  So far, no one has been able to convince him to sing a solo.  (One that’s not so low you can’t hear it.)  Anna keeps telling him that he probably has an exceptional voice hiding inside him that he won’t discover until he tries a little more.  He says if he had a great voice, you’d think he’d be the one to know!

Josiah has been a major contributor to the family effort to teach Micah how to play the fiddle.  He also helps arrange our songs, and worked alongside Anna to produce the newest CD, A MILLION THINGS.

Daniel is our jack-of-more-than-one-trade!  He started playing the mandolin at the same time Josiah did, and his ability to hear and immediately play any tune has put him in the lineup to play almost all of our songs.  His picking-and-grinning has won the hearts of audiences wherever we have played. Several years ago, Daniel decided he wanted to play the dobro, and since then he has made amazing progress.  In November of 2007, he bought a new dobro, and he is still excited about playing it.  Already he has almost passed himself up (on the mandolin) and has thought about switching to playing dobro most of the time.  He is sixteen years old.

Abby is the youngest teenager in the family (now 15) and our main lead guitarist. She started playing at age almost-8, just picking out melodies by ear.  Then, in March of 2004, Tom bought the girls an instructional book on flatpicking the guitar.  Anna started playing, giving Abby a little bit of competition, and since then, Abby has been picking every song, trying hard to set her own bar a little higher each time she plays.  She has that high lonesome harmony that adds that "something special": an edge to our traditional bluegrass songs and emotion to the softer ones.  Her lead voice is high, clear and has volume rare for someone this young.  “Muleskinner Blues” is her most-requested song, and has brought many a crowd to life!  She usually chooses traditional songs (both gospel and bluegrass) for her lead vocals.