John Fahey ( February 28, 1939–February 22, 2001) was an American guitarist and composer, and one of the first guitarists to perform solo instrumental steel-string acoustic guitar. His music, described by some as American Primitivism, drew inspiration from American folk music, blues, classical music, Brazilian music, and Indian music. In several of his later works, he experimented with electric dissonance and noise; these later works have been compared with musique concrète and industrial music. February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... February 22 is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... An acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the Classical guitar, but generally strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. ... American Primitivism is the guitar music genre started by John Fahey in the late 1950s. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the common people. ... The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the full twelve note chromatic scale plus the microtonal intervals and a characteristic eight and twelve-bar chord progression. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... Strong influences on the music of Brazil come from Africa, India, Portugal and the natives of the Amazon rainforest and of other parts of the country. ... Timeline and Samples Genres Classical (Carnatic and Hindustani) - Rock - Pop - Hip hop Awards Bollywood Music Awards - Punjabi Music Awards Charts Festivals Sangeet Natak Akademi – Thyagaraja Aradhana – Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana Media Sruti, The Music Magazine National anthem Jana Gana Mana, also national song Vande Mataram Music of the states Andaman and... Musique concrète (French; literally, concrete music), is the name given to a class of electronic music produced from editing together fragments of natural and industrial sounds. ... Industrial music is a loose term for a number of different styles of electronic and experimental music. ...

Career

John Aloysius Fahey was born in Takoma Park, MD into a musical household--both his parents played the piano. On weekends, the family often attended performances of top country and bluegrass groups of the day, but it was hearing Bill Monroe's version of Jimmie Rodgers' "Blue Yodel No. 7" on the radio that ignited the young Fahey's passion for music. Location Location in Maryland Coordinates , Government Country State County United States Maryland Montgomery Founded Incorporated 1883 1890 Mayor Kathryn H. Porter Geographical characteristics Area     City 5. ... Bill Monroe Bill Monroe (September 13, 1911 - September 9, 1996) developed the style of country music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the Blue Grass Boys, named for his home state of Kentucky. ... Jimmie Rodgers was the name of two singers: Jimmie Rodgers (country singer) Jimmie Rodgers (pop singer) Jimmie Rodgers (SPC Deputy Director General) Note that there was also a Jimmy Rogers (note the spelling), a blues singer born in 1924. ...

In 1952 he purchased his first guitar for $17 from the Sears-Roebuck catalogue. Along with his budding interest in guitar, Fahey was attracted to record collecting. While his tastes ran mainly in the bluegrass and country vein, Fahey discovered his love of early blues upon hearing Blind Willie Johnson's "Praise God I'm Satisfied" on a record-collecting trip to Baltimore with his friend and mentor, the musicologist Richard K. Spottswood. Much later, Fahey compared the experience to a religious conversion and remained a devout blues disciple until his death. Blind Willie Johnson Blind Willie Johnson (c. ... Richard K. Spottswood (aka Dick Spottswood) is a musicologist and author from Maryland who has cataloged and been responsible for the reissue of many thousands of recordings of vernacular music in the United States. ...

As his guitar playing and composing progressed, Fahey developed a style that blended the picking patterns he discovered on old blues 78s with the dissonance of contemporary classical composers he loved, such as Charles Ives and Béla Bartók. In 1958 Fahey made his first recordings. These were for his friend Joe Bussard's amateur Fonotone label. He recorded under various pseudonyms, mainly as Blind Thomas. This photo from around 1913 shows Ives in his day job: he was the director of a successful insurance agency. ... Béla Bartók in 1927 For other uses, see Bartok (disambiguation). ... Joe Bussard (born Joseph E. Bussard, Jr. ...

The following year, having no idea how to approach professional record companies, Fahey decided to issue his first album himself, using some cash saved from his gas station attendant job and some borrowed from an Episcopalian priest. So Takoma Records was born, named in honor of his hometown. On one side of the album sleeve was the name "John Fahey" and on the other, "Blind Joe Death," another Fahey pseudonym. He had 100 copies pressed. Some he gave away, some he sneaked into thrift stores and blues sections of local record shops, and some he sent to folk music scholars, a few of whom were fooled into thinking that there really was a living old blues singer called Blind Joe Death. It took three years for Fahey to sell the remainder. The word Episcopal is derived from the Greek επισκοπος epískopos, which literally means overseer; the word however is used in religious terms to mean bishop. ... Takoma Records was a record label which was acquired by Fantasy Records. ...

After graduating from American University with a degree in philosophy and religion, Fahey moved to California in 1963 to study philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley. Arriving on campus, Fahey — ever the outsider — began to feel dissatisfied with the program's curriculum (he later confessed that studying philosophy had been a mistake and that he had intended to study psychology) and was equally unimpressed with Berkeley's (hippie) music scene. The following year, Fahey moved south to Los Angeles to join the folklore master's program at UCLA at the invitation of department head D.K. Wilgus. While living in Los Angeles, Fahey made a pilgrimage to the Deep South and was instrumental in the rediscovery of bluesmen Skip James and Bukka White. Fahey's UCLA master's thesis on the music of Charley Patton, later published, is considered among the very best of folklore academia. He completed it with the musicological assistance of his friend Alan Wilson, who shortly after became a member of Canned Heat. For other universities known as American University, see American University (disambiguation). ... The University of California (UC) is a public university system in the state of California. ... A singer dresses in a stereotypical hippie outfit. ... The University of California, Los Angeles, popularly known as UCLA, is a public, coeducational university situated in the neighborhood of Westwood within the city of Los Angeles. ... Skip James (June 21, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. ... Bukka White album cover Bukka White (or Booker T. Washington White, probably born November 12, 1909, near Houston, Mississippi died February 26, 1977) was a delta blues guitarist and singer. ... Charley Patton Charley Patton (May 1, 1891–April 28, 1934) was an American delta blues musician, and one of the first mainstream stars of the genre. ... Canned Heat album cover Canned Heat is a blues-rock/ boogie band that formed in Los Angeles in 1965. ...

While a graduate student, Fahey continued to record. His releases during the mid '60s employed odd guitar tunings and sudden style shifts rooted firmly in the old time and blues stylings of the 1920s. But he was not simply a copyist, as compositions such as "When the Cactus is in Bloom" or "Stomping Tonight on the Pennsylvania/Alabama Border" demonstrate. Fahey described the latter piece as follows : "The opening chords are from the last movement of Vaughan Williams' Sixth Symphony. It goes from there to a Skip James motif. Following that it moves to a Gregorian chant, 'Dies Irae'. It's the most scary one in the Episcopal hymn books, it's all about the day of judgement. Then it returns to the Vaughan Williams chords, followed by a blues run of undetermined origin, then back to Skip James and so forth." A hallmark of his classic releases was the inclusion of lengthy liner notes, parodying those found on blues releases. Typically, these were epic acts of self-mythologization, mixing personal biography, reverie, folklore and myriad obscure blues and bluegrass references. Ralph Vaughan Williams, OM (October 12, 1872 – August 26, 1958) was an influential British composer. ... Skip James (June 21, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. ... Gregorian chant is also known as plainchant or plainsong and is a form of monophonic, unaccompanied singing, which was developed in the Catholic Church, mainly during the period 800-1000. ...

Later albums from the sixties, such as Requia and The Yellow Princess found Fahey making sound collages from such elements as Gamelan music, Tibetan chanting, animal and bird cries and singing bridges. In 1967, Fahey recorded with Red Crayola at the 1967 Berkeley Folk Festival, music that resurfaced on the 1998 Drag City reissue, The Red Krayola: Live 1967. Fahey is rumoured to have recorded a further album with that group around this time, but this is apparently lost. Gamelan - Indonesian Embassy in Canberra A gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesian origin typically featuring metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs. ... The Red Crayola was a psychedelic, avant-garde rock band from Houston, Texas, formed by art students in the late 1960s and led by singer/guitarist and visual artist Mayo Thompson. ... Drag City is an independent record label in the United States. ...

In addition to his own creative output, Fahey expanded the Takoma label, discovering fellow guitarists Leo Kottke, Robbie Băsho and Peter Lang, as well as emerging pianist George Winston. Kottke's debut release on the label, 6- and 12-String Guitar, ultimately proved to be the most successful of the crop, selling more than 500,000 copies. Fahey eventually sold Takoma to Chrysalis Records in the mid-'70s. Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945) is a legendary acoustic guitar virtuoso who has developed a cult following of fellow guitarists and fans over the span of a 30-year career of recording and performing. ... George Winston (born 1949) is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up in Miles City, Montana, United States. ... 6- and 12-String Guitar is a solo steel-string guitar album recorded by Leo Kottke and released by John Faheys Takoma Records in 1969. ... Chrysalis Records is a record label that was created in 1969. ...

The record critic John Swenson gave 5 star (highest) ratings to several of Fahey's records (Blind Joe Death, and Best of John Fahey) in the best selling book The Rolling Stone Record Guide (1979). This page refers to the year 1979. ...

Later years

By the 1970s Fahey's output had slowed and he was beginning to suffer from a drinking problem. He lost his home in the dissolution of his first marriage, remarried in the late '70s and moved to Salem, Oregon in 1981. In 1986, Fahey contracted Epstein-Barr syndrome, a long-lasting viral infection similar to chronic fatigue, which exacerbated his diabetes and other health issues. He broke up with his third wife and his life began to spiral downwards. He made what appeared to be his last album in 1990, and silence descended. Flag Nickname: The Cherry City Location Location in the state of Oregon Coordinates , Government County Marion County, Polk County Founded 1842 Mayor Janet Taylor Geographical characteristics Area     City 120. ... The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), also called Human herpesvirus 4 (HHV-4), is a virus of the herpes family (which includes Herpes simplex virus and Cytomegalovirus), and is one of the most common viruses in humans. ... Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a condition of excessive fatigue, cognitive impairment and other varied symptoms. ... This article is about the disease that features high blood sugar. ...

Although he won his five-year battle with Epstein-Barr, Fahey spent much of the early 1990s living in poverty, mostly in cheap motels, where he paid his rent by pawning his guitars and reselling rare records he found in thrift stores.

In a remarkable quirk of fate, Fahey was "rediscovered" in 1994 by Spin magazine writer Byron Coley in the same way as he himself had rediscovered Skip James. Coley had written a devoted entry on Fahey for the magazine's spin-off 'Alternative Record Guide' publication of that year. Fahey was informed that he now had a whole new audience, which included alternative US bands Sonic Youth and Cul de Sac, British comedian and writer Stewart Lee and the avant-garde musician Jim O'Rourke. O'Rourke went on to produce a Fahey album, 1997's Womblife, while in the same year Fahey recorded an album with Cul de Sac, The Epiphany of Glenn Jones (Glenn Jones played in Cul de Sac — the implication of the title being that Fahey's music was Jones's epiphany). The mid-late 1990s, then, saw a flood of Fahey releases in a completely different, much harsher style than those of the sixties and seventies. At the same time an extensive re-issue programme of all his Takoma albums was underway, which Fahey characteristically denounced, describing his old compositions as "cosmic sentimentalism". Spin is a music magazine that reports on all the music that rocks. Founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. ... Sonic Youth is a rock group formed in New York City in 1981. ... Cul de Sac are a rock music group formed in 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts and led by guitarist Glenn Jones. ... Stewart Lee (born April 5, 1968) is a British stand-up comedian, writer and director probably best known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the successful and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera. ... ORourke in Stockholm 2005 Jim ORourke (born 1969) is an American musician and producer. ...

At the same time as he was delving into more experimental electric music, Fahey's passion for traditional roots music did not subside. After coming into some money upon the death of his father in 1995, Fahey used the inheritance to form another label, Revenant Records, to focus on reissuing obscure recordings of early blues, old-time music and anything else Fahey took a fancy to. In 1997, the label issued its first crop of releases, including albums by artists such as British guitarist Derek Bailey, American pianist Cecil Taylor, guitarist Jim O'Rourke, bluegrass pioneers the Stanley Brothers, Rick Bishop of Sun City Girls and slide guitarist Jenks "Tex" Carman. Revenant's most famous release would become Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton, a seven-disc retrospective of Charley Patton and his contemporaries, which won three Grammy awards in 2003. Revenant Records is a record label based in Austin, Texas which concentrates on folk and blues. ... Derek Bailey pictured at the Vortex Club, Stoke Newington, 1991. ... Cecil Percival Taylor (born in New York City March 15, 1930) is an American pianist and poet now generally acknowledged to be one of the great innovative sources of free jazz (along with the better known Ornette Coleman). ... The Stanley Brothers (Carter Stanley, 1925-1966, and Ralph Stanley, born 1927) were American bluegrass musicians. ... Since 1984, the Sun City Girls trio have recorded over 26 critically acclaimed albums from their home base of Sun City, Arizona. ... Charley Patton Charley Patton (May 1, 1891–April 28, 1934) was an American delta blues musician, and one of the first mainstream stars of the genre. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music...

Fahey performed in Europe in Autumn 1999, including a sell-out show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in September. On this tour, he showcased his interpretation of Gershwin's "Summertime", which would later appear in recorded form on his final studio recording, Red Cross, released posthumously in 2003. In 2000, the American record label Drag City published a volume of Fahey's esoteric short stories, How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life, edited by Damian Rogers with an introduction by O'Rourke. Drag City is an independent record label in the United States. ...

In February 2001, just a few days before what would have been his 62nd birthday, John Fahey died at Salem Hospital after undergoing a sextuple bypass operation. In medicine, a bypass generally means an alternate or additional route for blood flow, which is created in bypass surgery, e. ...

In 2006, two John Fahey tribute albums were released as a testament to his reputation as a 'giant of 20th century American music' (Byron Coley). First I Am the Resurrection featuring artists like M. Ward, Sufjan Stevens and Devendra Banhart who mainly play their interpretations of Fahey songs. A month later came John Fahey and Friends - Friends of Fahey Tribute featuring artists like George Winston, Tihn, Peter Lang, John Doan, John Renbourn, Stefan Grossman, and Mark Lemhouse playing their own compositions inspired by John Fahey, plus a track from the last acoustic recording session John Fahey ever did. I Am The Resurrection is a tribute album to guitarist John Fahey released in 2006. ... M. Ward is the stage name of a Portland, Oregon based songwriter named Matt Ward. ... Sufjan Stevens (IPA pronunciation: ) (born July 1, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Detroit, Michigan. ... Devendra Banhart / © Laurent Orseau. ... Friends of Fahey Tribute is a tribute album to guitarist John Fahey released in March, 2006 by Slackertone Records. ... George Winston (born 1949) is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up in Miles City, Montana, United States. ... Peter Lang is an accomplished acoustic guitarist, from the same mould as the better-known virtuosos Leo Kottke and John Fahey. ... John Renbourn is a British guitarist and songwriter. ... Stefan Grossman is a New York guitarist. ...

Discography

• 1959 Blind Joe Death
• 1963 Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes (1st edition)
• 1964 The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites
• 1965 The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death
• 1966 The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party and Other Excursions
• 1967 Days Have Gone By
• 1967 Requia
• 1968 The Yellow Princess
• 1968 The Voice of the Turtle
• 1968 The New Possibility
• 1971 America (full version released 1998)
• 1972 Of Rivers and Religion
• 1973 After the Ball
• 1973 Fare Forward Voyagers (Soldier's Choice)
• 1974 Old Fashioned Love
• 1975 Christmas with John Fahey Vol. 2
• 1977 The Best of John Fahey 1958-1977
• 1979 John Fahey Visits Washington D.C.
• 1980 Yes! Jesus Loves Me
• 1980 Live in Tasmania
• 1981 Railroad
• 1982 Christmas Guitar Volume I (A rerecording of The New Possibility)
• 1983 Let Go
• 1983 Popular Songs For Christmas and the New Year
• 1985 Rain Forests, Oceans and Other Themes
• 1987 I Remember Blind Joe Death
• 1989 God, Time and Causality
• 1990 Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memories
• 1991 The John Fahey Christmas Album
• 1994 The Return of the Repressed (all previously released)
• 1996 Double 78
• 1997 The Mill Pond (Double EP)
• 1997 City of Refuge
• 1997 Womblife
• 1997 The Epiphany of Glenn Jones
• 1998 Georgia Stomps, Atlanta Struts and Other Contemporary Dance Favorites
• 1999 The Best of the Vanguard Years
• 2000 Hitomi
• 2003 Red Cross
• 2005 On Air

Blind Joe Death is the first album by John Fahey. ... The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death is a 1965 album by John Fahey. ...

External links

• Official web site
• John Fahey at the All Music Guide
• Tribute site
• NY Times article