When I found this guy ca. 1967, it felt like discovering the mother of all guitar music, Absolutely haunting, and primitive. He was clearly conversant with a lot of the music that preceded him, but he boiled it down to the basics. He inspired many followers of solo guitarists, from Leo Kottke through Michael Hedges. What comes across in these interviews is his underlying genius and crippling shyness. He spoke in the language of guitar.
I started buying John's records in the early 70's. From the get-go I understood this thing about playing what you feel. Got complaints because I didn't play stairway to heaven. John was walking and talking art, an example of what artists do. They do their thing. John just did it better than most. A guitarists guitar player.
Yeah it seemed that Stairway To Heaven was a lithmus test - if you couldn't play it then you sucked. Thankfully I came across Fahey, Kottke and Lang, then I could ask the other players if they could play THEM!
I do write music, acoustic compositions inspired by Fahey and many, many others. I write lyrics, sing ol' time blues, country. I'm not an innovator, I just love music, my whole heart and soul. Dedication comes naturally, it takes time. I'm thirty three, been playing since I was seventeen. Earlier I played and learnt songs. Anything from technical death metal to folk. These days I compose (still learning loads, though, my output changed). I play at least two hours six days per week. Sometimes ten hours, etc. When you love creation, playing, an instrument, time doesn't exist. It's kinda funny, how you do it just for the feeling you have, the sake of art, when you don't judge, just create. Fahey was unbelievable, what an Innovator, I can write an essay about him lol. Blessings y'all
For the time ,he was interesting. He said he didn’t practice much, but when he did he’d sit down and practice 6 or 8 hours. What he didn’t say was that at the end of the session he was faced and passed out, not to “practice” again for some time. Even most guitar acoustic players of any seriousness today are better. John was innovative for the time, but he was a mess
Fahey was a true original and such a huge inspiration for so many fingerpickers...his music is so atmospheric, really paints exotic scenes and carries you off somewhere far away).."play what you feel" yea brother.
been listening to fahey for a long time and for some reason never looked up an interview till now. he's unbelievably cool and humble and friendly, i love him. san bernadino birthday party is a real killer.
I never heard of him until recently, and thru a fan with links on his TH-cam page, can’t remember who exactly but thx a bunch this guy is really a gem!! For those who want to hear more there’s a 1999 interview on a channel called six string something or other, just an audio track but pretty darned interesting I thought, with very different content than this one.
Wow I relate fahey, I couldn't use a pick either an then when I found out more about fingerstyle guitar thats when I really got into guitar playin cause I couldn't use a pick but I could use my fingers an I was using my fingers before I learned about fingerpicking except I just didn't know about alternating bass an monotonic bass with the thumb
I'm here after watching the 2001 Joe bussard interview where he recorded John in the late 50s early 60s and his basement I think it's the same guy let me know thanks for the content
One of the greatest contemporary composers of all time. Yes "composer", exactly what he was. An infinite amount of rhythmic variation and melody playing that could easily be transcribed for an orchestra. It's a shame this comment section is focused on the meaningless behaviors of both Fahey and the interviewer. Just enjoy the weird eccentricities of one of the greatest humans ever and forget about all the other rubbish
But that's exactly what you have been doin. Then lied about it by sayin "nope". That's two crimes. Not to mention cussin and personal insult, which is a killin offense. Total -- four crimes.
@@Claytone-Records Yes l do, "The transfiguration of blind joe death" I think it was originally released in a vinyl pressing in 1965.. but it is just amazing even today.. and Yeah lm getting pretty old. Hahaha.
$500 in 1959 = $4316.72 in 2019. Berry Gordy began with $50,000 from his parents/familyplus several existin studios owned by his cousins, which he consolidated. Motown Records founded same year as Takoma Records. $50th in 1959 = $433,054.98. Sold the company for $30 million but sold film rights and other features separately.
John makes some fascinating statements. The interviewer asks no further questions, but just changes the subject. A frustrating and strained interview. John is very gracious.
This is the man I learned from in real time, 60's on. I now play the surbihar, it is currently in a cabin in northern CA as the Dixie fire threatens the area as I wait to hear of the outcome, I hope it as well as my guitars are safe,
I'm just now finding these interviews, after basically a lifetime spent listening to Fahey - he was a formative influence on my playing. My first reaction upon seeing a much earlier clip was that John was a lot like Michael J. Pollard in demeanor - sorta innocently awkward but with an edge of something deeply weird, possibly not quite right mentally. He seems much more at ease here, less weird for sure, which is surprising. Very talented guy, sort of a tragic life towards the end.
I think you're thinking of , Dick Waterman, Phil Shapiro and Nick Perls;who rediscovered Son House in 1964.It was John Fayhe, Bill Barth and (Canned Heat guitarist) Henry Vestine who rediscovered Skip James the same year .All of them were friends: along with Alan (Blind Owl) Wilson ,who was also from Canned Heat. Unfortunately Alan Wilson missed all three rediscovery, Son House, Skip James and Bukka White ,but he did get to preform with them shortly after.
He went to Italy and wrote hours of music for Zabriskie Point, but they got into an argument and Fahey punched him, the music wasn't used but it's floating around on the internet.
+MistuhCoolio john had alcoholism problems and also prescription drugs abuse. I think the reason he sounds so zoned out here (and in most of his interviews) is because of the medication he took. I don't know, it might just be his personality.
Lucky enough to see John play three times in my life and actually had a short chat with him once. First time I saw him was at Kane Hall at the University of Washington. 1976 or so. My neighbor Linda Waterfall opened. What a great life I've had.
Isn't TH-cam incredible? The youngins have no idea how great they have it! So glad I found this one.
some of us do! :)
Grateful asf rn
Best advice ever …
Play what you feel.. Play what you like.. don’t worry about what others are doing👍😎
th-cam.com/video/t_XNghTKvq8/w-d-xo.html
These interviewers don’t get enough credit. He asked a lot of great questions
A light trance state. Hmm. I get there listening to his music.
When I found this guy ca. 1967, it felt like discovering the mother of all guitar music, Absolutely haunting, and primitive. He was clearly conversant with a lot of the music that preceded him, but he boiled it down to the basics. He inspired many followers of solo guitarists, from Leo Kottke through Michael Hedges.
What comes across in these interviews is his underlying genius and crippling shyness. He spoke in the language of guitar.
He reminds me of the old country blues players the way he gently plays his guitar in the background as he tells stories.
I’m 30 in a hardcore punk band. Guitar hero right here.
I started buying John's records in the early 70's. From the get-go I understood this thing about playing what you feel. Got complaints because I didn't play stairway to heaven. John was walking and talking art, an example of what artists do. They do their thing. John just did it better than most. A guitarists guitar player.
Yeah it seemed that Stairway To Heaven was a lithmus test - if you couldn't play it then you sucked.
Thankfully I came across Fahey, Kottke and Lang, then I could ask the other players if they could play THEM!
This man was saying how he practices 6-8 hours like it's nothing. That's dedication to art
Thats how my dad was back in the day
I do write music, acoustic compositions inspired by Fahey and many, many others. I write lyrics, sing ol' time blues, country. I'm not an innovator, I just love music, my whole heart and soul. Dedication comes naturally, it takes time. I'm thirty three, been playing since I was seventeen. Earlier I played and learnt songs. Anything from technical death metal to folk. These days I compose (still learning loads, though, my output changed). I play at least two hours six days per week. Sometimes ten hours, etc. When you love creation, playing, an instrument, time doesn't exist. It's kinda funny, how you do it just for the feeling you have, the sake of art, when you don't judge, just create. Fahey was unbelievable, what an Innovator, I can write an essay about him lol. Blessings y'all
For the time ,he was interesting. He said he didn’t practice much, but when he did he’d sit down and practice 6 or 8 hours. What he didn’t say was that at the end of the session he was faced and passed out, not to “practice” again for some time. Even most guitar acoustic players of any seriousness today are better. John was innovative for the time, but he was a mess
"What was your question?" That's the crux of John Fahey.
Fahey was a true original and such a huge inspiration for so many fingerpickers...his music is so atmospheric, really paints exotic scenes and carries you off somewhere far away).."play what you feel" yea brother.
i want to hear the first song he wrote that doesnt make any sense
Just found out about this man...best day in a long time.
Just be careful - I left the Grateful Dead for him for about 3 years lol. The Fahey rabbit hole is long and weird.
I love Eraserhead
Dude me too.. he’s such an enigmatic musician
Death chants, breakdowns and military waltzes - one of the formative albums of all time.
I especially enjoy the death chants on that album
been listening to fahey for a long time and for some reason never looked up an interview till now. he's unbelievably cool and humble and friendly, i love him. san bernadino birthday party is a real killer.
I never heard of him until recently, and thru a fan with links on his TH-cam page, can’t remember who exactly but thx a bunch this guy is really a gem!!
For those who want to hear more there’s a 1999 interview on a channel called six string something or other, just an audio track but pretty darned interesting I thought, with very different content than this one.
Wow I relate fahey, I couldn't use a pick either an then when I found out more about fingerstyle guitar thats when I really got into guitar playin cause I couldn't use a pick but I could use my fingers an I was using my fingers before I learned about fingerpicking except I just didn't know about alternating bass an monotonic bass with the thumb
“Play what you feel, play what you like.”
Great advice.
th-cam.com/video/t_XNghTKvq8/w-d-xo.html
I lived in his childhood home (himself long gone from there) for a month. Also saw him at GWU in the sixties.
I'm here after watching the 2001 Joe bussard interview where he recorded John in the late 50s early 60s and his basement I think it's the same guy let me know thanks for the content
He's a lot more coherent than when I saw him perform in the late 70s. Weird creative mind.
One of the greatest contemporary composers of all time. Yes "composer", exactly what he was. An infinite amount of rhythmic variation and melody playing that could easily be transcribed for an orchestra. It's a shame this comment section is focused on the meaningless behaviors of both Fahey and the interviewer. Just enjoy the weird eccentricities of one of the greatest humans ever and forget about all the other rubbish
I'll enjoy whatever I want, don't need you telling me what I should enjoy.you have the airs and graces of a pompous little prick too
Rebel you see yourself in others. If not, they wouldn't upset you, you would be able to "shrug them off".
Nope.
Just don't like cunts with large egos telling others what's what,and you seem to be sailing in that area yourself...
But that's exactly what you have been doin. Then lied about it by sayin "nope". That's two crimes. Not to mention cussin and personal insult, which is a killin offense. Total -- four crimes.
@@trukeesey8715 seems you are the same,seen as you can't shrug it off
Now fuck off
One of my favorite guitarists of all time...a true legend..
Do you have a favorite recording or three of him?
@@Claytone-Records
Yes l do,
"The transfiguration of blind joe death"
I think it was originally released in a vinyl pressing in 1965.. but it is just amazing even today.. and
Yeah lm getting pretty old.
Hahaha.
i love you john fahey
This man really knew how to play a guitar.
$500 in 1959 = $4316.72 in 2019.
Berry Gordy began with $50,000 from his parents/familyplus several existin studios owned by his cousins, which he consolidated. Motown Records founded same year as Takoma Records. $50th in 1959 = $433,054.98. Sold the company for $30 million but sold film rights and other features separately.
John makes some fascinating statements. The interviewer asks no further questions, but just changes the subject. A frustrating and strained interview. John is very gracious.
naw honestly compared to what you sometimes see, i think chris boyo did alright.
sometimes its hard for the interviewers too
Marvellous JOhn Fahey...forever. It's always a pleasure seeing him . Grazie
A beautiful soul.
Play you're own mojo....SOULJAHROCKER....JAHBLESS,
A true artist.
They were odd in the 80s. It's like they were all either sober (John) coming off drugs. Or they were coked-out like the interviewer.
So loaded when I saw him in a Santa Monica club he was falling down ripped and incomprehensible.
I'm pretty sure he is a stoned Jesus. Love all of his music
Man he reminds me of Oddball from the movie Kelly Heroes or visa versa LOL
"This psychoanalysis I know" Haha,I can relate
This is the man I learned from in real time, 60's on. I now play the surbihar, it is currently in a cabin in northern CA as the Dixie fire threatens the area as I wait to hear of the outcome, I hope it as well as my guitars are safe,
Magnificent
I'm just now finding these interviews, after basically a lifetime spent listening to Fahey - he was a formative influence on my playing. My first reaction upon seeing a much earlier clip was that John was a lot like Michael J. Pollard in demeanor - sorta innocently awkward but with an edge of something deeply weird, possibly not quite right mentally. He seems much more at ease here, less weird for sure, which is surprising. Very talented guy, sort of a tragic life towards the end.
eclectic
deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
To all who comments below,...
■Watch the film about him■
LEGEND
Play what you feel.
At my peak guitar playing I was practicing 6 hours a day.
Interviewer is a young George Strait lookalike
THE immortal.
He had chronic fatigue syndrome
Hes really playing good now apparently
This is such an 80s interview.
Thanks for sharing! Any idea if there is footage of the performance he gave before the interview?
only thing I know for sure is that it's from a cable access show in New York called “The Guitar Show” from 1984 onwards
only watching this because he was a friend of Al , he has a real bad habit of not giving Al Wilson his credit. 😢
Did he mean son house and not skip James?
I think you're thinking of , Dick Waterman, Phil Shapiro and Nick Perls;who rediscovered Son House in 1964.It was John Fayhe, Bill Barth and (Canned Heat guitarist) Henry Vestine who rediscovered Skip James the same year .All of them were friends: along with Alan (Blind Owl) Wilson ,who was also from Canned Heat. Unfortunately Alan Wilson missed all three rediscovery, Son House, Skip James and Bukka White ,but he did get to preform with them shortly after.
GOLD
this interviewer is as good as it gets!!!!
He doesn’t look too well.
Thank you
Well interviewed.
So who were John's influences?
Charley Patton and the rest of the Mississippi delta bluesmen and early bluegrass, Bill Monroe et al.
John had a room conversation with the founder of the Hare Krsna movement, Śrīla A C Bhaktivedanta Swami on June 14, 1972 in Los Angeles.
🙏🏻
Jack Daniel’s, Johnnie Walker……
High SOB, lucky
Thanks for timecodes
Like far out man!
is he stoned?
he always talks like that th-cam.com/video/1BmZghEA2_0/w-d-xo.html
playing WELL*
Such a talented guy. Couldn't believe it when he got Sydney the 2000 Olympics.
Um, that is a different John Fahey.
@@rayjr62 Really?
I wonder what Antonioni film he did the music for.
He went to Italy and wrote hours of music for Zabriskie Point, but they got into an argument and Fahey punched him, the music wasn't used but it's floating around on the internet.
In the end Antonioni only used the Dance of Death in the final soundtrack th-cam.com/video/lP9wmQV6bTU/w-d-xo.html
why are they sitting so close together lol
Damn this question way too real now
Ah ah what was the question ah yeaaaah man like far out I'm soooooostoned
What make of guitar is this?
He's so drunk here. Shame he destroyed himself.
Gage Grider what do you mean he destroyed himself?
+MistuhCoolio john had alcoholism problems and also prescription drugs abuse. I think the reason he sounds so zoned out here (and in most of his interviews) is because of the medication he took. I don't know, it might just be his personality.
+Charles Crumb He seems to have talked like that all his life, check this clip :) th-cam.com/video/1BmZghEA2_0/w-d-xo.html
TV LIES thanks! I'll definitely check that out
***** yes, you're absolutely right
Lucky enough to see John play three times in my life and actually had a short chat with him once. First time I saw him was at Kane Hall at the University of Washington. 1976 or so. My neighbor Linda Waterfall opened. What a great life I've had.
I love his way of playing ... Trow stuff at the wall see what sticks ... Keep it and trow again
John's voice is amazing.