John Fahey (February 28, 1939 – February 22, 2001) was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as American Primitive, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of his art. Fahey himself borrowed from the folk and blues traditions of America but incorporated classical, Brazilian, Indian and abstract music into his eclectic oeuvre. In 2003, he was ranked 35th in Rolling Stone's "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".^[1] Image File history File links JohnFahey. ... February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland. ... Official language(s) None (English, de facto) Capital Annapolis Largest city Baltimore Area  Ranked 42nd  - Total 12,407 sq mi (32,133 km²)  - Width 101 miles (145 km)  - Length 249 miles (400 km)  - % water 21  - Latitude 37° 53′ N to 39° 43′ N  - Longitude 75° 03′ W to 79° 29... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including: Traditional music: The original meaning of the term folk music was synonymous with the term Traditional music, also often including World Music and Roots music; the term Traditional music was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the magazine. ... The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time was a cover story of the 18 September 2003 issue of Rolling Stone magazine published in August 2003. ...

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. ... For the retired NBC News correspondent of the same name, see Bill Monroe (journalist). ... 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. Sears, Roebuck and Company is an American mid-range chain of international department stores, founded by Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck in the late 19th century. ... The only known photograph of Blind Willie Johnson Blind Willie Johnson (1897-1945) was an African-American singer and guitarist whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals. ... 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 the pseudonym 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 Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and collector of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music. ... Joe Bussard (born Joseph E. Bussard, Jr. ...

The following year, having no idea how to approach professional record companies and being convinced they would be uninterested, 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. One hundred copies of this first album were pressed. On one side of the album sleeve was the name "John Fahey" and on the other, "Blind Joe Death" - this latter was a humorous nickname given to him by his fellow blues fans. He attempted to sell these albums himself. 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. This article is about the Episcopal Church in the United States. ... 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 suggested that studying philosophy had been a mistake and that what he had wanted to understand was really psychology) and was equally unimpressed with Berkeley's (hippie) music scene. Fahey loathed the polite Pete Seeger-inspired revivalists he found himself classed with. 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. 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). ... Berkeley Davis Irvine Los Angeles Merced San Diego Santa Barbara Santa Cruz UC Office of the President in Oakland The University of California (UC) is a public university system in the state of California. ... The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ... Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhÄ“, spirit, soul; λόγος, logos, knowledge) is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... Singer at a modern Hippie movement in Russia Hippie (sometimes spelled hippy) refers to a member of a subgroup of the counterculture that began in the United States during the early 1960s, becoming an established social group by 1965, and expanding to other countries before declining in the mid-1970s. ... Peter Seeger (born May 3, 1919), almost universally known as Pete Seeger, is a folk singer, political activist, and author. ... Binomial name Ucla xenogrammus Holleman, 1993 The largemouth triplefin, Ucla xenogrammus, is a fish of the family Tripterygiidae and only member of the genus Ucla, found in the Pacific Ocean from Viet Nam, the Philippines, Palau and the Caroline Islands to Papua New Guinea, Australia (including Christmas Island), and the... 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 is a blues-rock/boogie band that formed in Los Angeles in 1965. ...

During this period Takoma Records was reborn. Fahey and ED Denson, a Washington, DC area friend who had also moved west, decided to track down Blues legend Bukka White by sending a telegram to Aberdeen, MS (White had sung that Aberdeen was his hometown, and Mississippi John Hurt had been rediscovered using a similar method). White became the first non-Fahey Takoma release. Fahey also, finally, released a second album in late 1963, called Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes. To their surprise the Fahey release sold better than White's and Fahey had a career going. But still Fahey did not begin playing in public for another year. Takoma Records was a record label which was acquired by Fantasy Records. ... Eugene ED Denson (the capitalization of both letters in his first name is his own spelling!) is an American music group manager, producer, record label owner, and - later - lawyer, who has made notable contributions to folk, blues, and early San Francisco rock. ... Bukka White album cover Booker T. Washington Bukka White (November 12, 1906– February 26, 1977) was a delta blues guitarist and singer born near Houston, Mississippi. ... Mississippi John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1892 , Teoc, Carroll County, Mississippi - November 2, 1966, Grenada, Mississippi) was an influential blues singer and guitarist. ...

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 Catfish 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. A statue of Ralph Vaughan Williams in Dorking. ... Nehemiah Curtis Skip James (June 21, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. ... Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

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. Gamelan - Indonesian Embassy in Canberra A gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesian origin typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings, and vocalists may also be included. ... The Red Krayola (NOT Red Crayola, as it is sometimes misspelled) was a psychedelic, avant-garde rock band from Houston, Texas, formed by art students at the University of St. ... Drag City is a Chicago based independent record label. ...

In addition to his own creative output, Fahey expanded the Takoma label, discovering fellow guitarists Leo Kottke, Robbie Basho 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. Other artists with albums on the label included Mike Bloomfield, Rick Ruskin, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Maria Muldaur, and Canned Heat. In 1979 Fahey sold Takoma to Chrysalis Records. Jon Monday, who had been the General Manager of the label since 1970 was the only employee to go with the new company. Chrysalis eventually sold the rights to the albums, and Takoma was in limbo until bought by Fantasy Records in 1995. Leo Kottke (born on 11 September 1945 in Athens, Georgia, USA, North America) is an acoustic guitarist. ... Robbie Basho (born August 31, 1940, died February 28, 1986) was one of the pioneers of the acoustic steel string guitar in America. ... Peter Lang (born ?) is an accomplished acoustic guitarist, from the same genre, American Primitivism, as the better-known virtuosos Leo Kottke and John Fahey. ... George Winston (born 1949) is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up in Miles City, Montana. ... 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. ... For the astronaut, see Michael J. Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American musician, guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, into a well-off Jewish family on Chicagos North Side. ... The Fabulous Thunderbirds are a blues-rock band, formed in 1974. ... Maria Muldaur (Born Maria DAmato on September 12, 1943 in New York) is a roots-folk singer best known for her song Midnight at the Oasis. ... Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie band that formed in Los Angeles in 1965. ... Chrysalis logo (1987-2005) Chrysalis Records is a record label that was created in 1969. ... Fantasy Records is a United States based record label, which was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. ...

Later years

By the mid-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, divorced again, and moved to Salem, Oregon in 1981 to live with his third wife. In 1986, Fahey contracted Epstein-Barr syndrome, a long-lasting viral infection similar to chronic fatigue syndrome, which exacerbated his diabetes and other health issues. He continued to perform in and around the Salem area, as he was managed by friends David Finke and his wife Pam. The trio attempted to keep Fahey's career afloat by radio appearances and small venue performances. 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. Nickname: Location in Marion and Polk Counties, state of Oregon Coordinates: , County Founded 1842 Government  - Mayor Janet Taylor 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 one of several names given to a poorly understood, highly debilitating disorder of uncertain cause, which is thought to affect approximately 4 per 1,000 adults[1] in the United States and other countries, and a smaller fraction of children. ... 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. Gigs had dried up, due to his health problems. He paid his rent by pawning his guitars and reselling rare records he found in thrift stores.

Following a 1994 entry on Fahey in Spin magazine's spin-off 'Alternative Record Guide' publication, 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. Byron Coley published a large article called "The Persecutions and Resurrections of Blind Joe Death" (also in Spin magazine) and at the same time a two-cd retrospective called "The Return of the Repressed" all combined to kick-start Fahey's career. Suddenly new releases started to appear in rapid succession, in parallel to the reissue of all the early Takoma releases by Fantasy Records. Sonic Youth is a seminal American alternative 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 in Solihull) is an English 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 critically-acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera. ... ORourke in Stockholm 2005 Jim ORourke (born 1969) is an American musician and producer. ...

Jim 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 is the lead guitarist of Cul de Sac). This late flowering showed Fahey had changed. Gone was the melodic dreaminess and folk-based meditations of the 60s and 70s, which Fahey himself characteristically denounced as "cosmic sentimentalism". Now his music was harsh, grating, and confrontational.

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 March 15 or March 25, 1929 in New York City) is an American pianist and poet. ... The Stanley Brothers (Carter Stanley, 1925-1966, and Ralph Stanley, born 1927) were American bluegrass musicians. ... Sir Richard Bishop is an experimental American guitarist and member of Sun City Girls. ... The Sun City Girls were a United States experimental rock band formed in Phoenix, Arizona in 1982. ... 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. His life appeared to observers to be spiralling out of control. Old fans often walked out of these concerts, but Fahey didn't care.

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 a Chicago based independent record label. ...

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, five years after his death, no less than four John Fahey tribute albums were released as a testament to his reputation as a 'giant of 20th century American music' (Byron Coley). Currently, six tribute albums have been recorded.

The John Fahey Tribute Album, Revenge of Blind Joe Death, was released in 2006 on the Fantasy Records label and has Fahey tunes and original compositions performed by Dale Miller, George Winston, Michael Gulezian, Alex de Grassi, Charlie Schmidt, Canned Fish (Fito de la Parra and Larry Taylor from Canned Heat and Barry "The Fish" Melton (from Country Joe and the Fish), David Doucet, Country Joe McDonald, Peter Lang, Terry Robb, Sean Smith, Henry Kaiser & John Schott, Nick Schillace, Stefan Grossman, Rick Ruskin, Phil Kellogg, Andrew Stranglen, Nels Cline & Elliot Sharp, Pat O'Connell, and Blind Joe Death. The album was produced by Jon Monday. Blind Joe Death is the first album by John Fahey. ... Fantasy Records is a United States based record label, which was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. ... Dale Miller is a Democratic member of the Ohio Senate, representing the 23rd District since he was appointed in March 2006. ... George Winston (born 1949) is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up in Miles City, Montana. ... Alex de Grassi is a Grammy Award-nominated American fingerstyle guitarist. ... Larry The Mole Taylor (June 6th 1942 -) Larry Taylor is an American Bass Guitarist best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. ... Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie band that formed in Los Angeles in 1965. ... Country Joe and the Fish, from the cover of Feel Like Im Fixin to Die Country Joe and the Fish was a rock music/folk music band known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1965 to 1970. ... Country Joe McDonald Country Joe McDonald (born Joseph McDonald, on January 1, 1942 in El Monte, California) was the leader and lead singer of the 1960s rock & roll group Country Joe and the Fish. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Sean Smith was a fictional character in the UK soap Opera Brookside. ... Henry Kaiser is: An industrialist involved with the construction of Boulder (now Hoover) Dam, see Henry J. Kaiser; A musician—see Henry Kaiser (musician). ... Stefan Grossman is a New York guitarist. ... Nels and his Jazzmaster. ... Elliot Marsh Sharp of City Sleeps at Warped Tour 2005 Elliot Marsh Sharp is the lead singer of Atlanta, Georgia based band City Sleeps. ... Blind Joe Death is the first album by John Fahey. ...

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
• 1969 Memphis Swamp Jam (Three guitar duets by John Fahey, and Bill Barth using the pseudonyms of R L Watson and Josiah Jones.)
• 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 1959-1977
• 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
• 2004 The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick
• 2005 On Air
• 2006 Sea Changes & Coelacanths: A Young Person's Guide to John Fahey

Blind Joe Death is the first album by John Fahey. ... The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death is a 1965 album by John Fahey. ... The Voice of the Turtle is a 1968 album by American folk musician John Fahey. ... Bill (William Henry) Barth (December 13, 1942 in New York City - July 14, 2000 in Amsterdam, Holland) was an American Blues guitarist who along with John Fahey, and Henry Vestine located 1930s blues great Skip James in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi in 1964. ...

Written works

• Fahey, John (1966). A textual and musicological analysis of the repertoire of Charley Patton. (Thesis (M.A.)--University of California, Los Angeles.). LCCN 67-003863. 
• Fahey, John (1970). Charley Patton. London: Studio Vista. LCCN 70-548903. 
• Fahey, John (2000). How bluegrass music destroyed my life : stories / by John Fahey. Chicago: Drag City Incorporated. LCCN 99-075130. 
• Fahey, John (2003). Vampire Vultures / by John Fahey. Chicago: Drag City Incorporated. 

The Library of Congress Control Number or LCCN is a serially based system of numbering books in the Library of Congress in the United States. ... The Library of Congress Control Number or LCCN is a serially based system of numbering books in the Library of Congress in the United States. ... The Library of Congress Control Number or LCCN is a serially based system of numbering books in the Library of Congress in the United States. ...

References

This article is about the magazine. ...

External links

• Official web site
• Blind Joe Death Memorial Site
• John Fahey at All Music Guide
• Tribute site