See the strip of wood behind his chair? Reminds me of when he came to Bellingham, WA to play at Western Washington State College (now WWU) in '72 or '73. Two bandmates & I were asked by the Student A&E director to play some acoustic 'warm-up' tunes if John felt like he wanted to loosen up backstage for a longer period. 'Loosening up' for John was simply checking the tuning on his guitar and applying Jack Daniels liberally to get that mellow effect. We got to share the bottle with him and then it was "Yeah, let's do it". The stage in the Viking Union hall was a 4' riser against the back wall and curtain and John was set up with a mike and chair. Since we'd been backstage with him, we had great views from immediate stage right. Part way through his set, he was really in to one of his long compositions and we could see that his chair was slowly 'walking' back toward the wall. He got right to the edge of the riser and the back legs dropped into the void behind. Why we didn't react quicker is still unclear to me (Jack Daniels Syndrome?) but we got him upright and way forward on the stage and he carried on as if nothing untoward had happened. He may have struggled with some demons in life, but what wonderful music he created. Just glad I got to share a little time with him.
The thing about Fahey's music is that he takes you somewhere you have never been before when he plays. His guitar is the "vehicle" and the "place" is somewhere in your subconscious mind. He opens the door of consciousness by the creation of Alpha waves when he plays. Fahey understood music and its purpose better than anyone who ever picked up a guitar; that is why he is so special...
@John White- I was driving in my car in I think late 1998 or early 1999, when a local radio station in my home town of Portland OR, announced that John Fahey would play for free this afternoon in the Eastside Music Millennium Record Store where I had bought many recordings over the years. I raced there to find people standing out the front door to get in. I politely wedged my way through the crowd and walked to the upstairs. The place was jam-packed as I looked down to the lower level, a grungy street bum looking guy moseyed in the front door. He was disheveled and wore a tee-shirt with stains and holes all over it and carrying a well worn guitar case. It was Fahey in his finest form. He sat down and looked upstairs to us, asking if someone had a spark plug or a screwdriver or a wrench. An employee in the store tossed down a screwdriver, I think it was. Fahey picked it up off the floor and began scratching the guitar strings in an unstructured ambient form for maybe 10 minutes. Then he set the screwdriver down and began to play Oh Come All Ye Faithful in the finest classical traditional playing that I have ever witnessed live. There were people in the crowd literally in tears. He played a few more of his favorite compositions for maybe a half hour, then everyone lined up to buy his new CD, City of Refuge and he autographed an 8 X 10 glossy portrait of himself with sunglasses to go with the purchase, as I'm sure you've all seen it on that CD inside liner notes and other online sites. I had to shake his hand and tell him how honored I was to meet him and watch him play for my first time, [little did I know then it would be my last] and I asked him what he thought of recording Leo Kottke. I am still mesmerized today 16 years later as I recount this experience on that cool grey rainy day there. I accidentally saved a stack of old New York Times in my home, packing up to recycle one day in early 2001, and accidentally paged across the obituary of John Fahey, not knowing that he passed away several months earlier that year in a Salem Oregon hospital near my home town of Portland Oregon. Still today, as I read this obituary, I weep at the raw humanity of this mans truth. Here is that obituary, that I still have the copy of today with the small photo of Fahey at the top, (this is the NY Times electronic archive version without photo). > ttp://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/25/nyregion/john-fahey-61-guitarist-and-an-iconoclast-is-dead.html
John Fahey is the first master of the solo acoustic guitar. He took blues based riffs and his own ideas and strung then together into instrumental pieces that were the basis for Kottke and evryone else to follow. This piece is one of his best and the peferformace is outstanding. Thanks for posting!!
In 1973 one Houston’s rock stations would play Peter Lang’s, “Future Shot at the Rainbow.” I quickly bought the LP that featured that song (it was on Takoma Records). Later I bought Takoma’s, “Lang, Fahey, and Kottke,” with 4 songs by each artist. I bought it because of Lang but found myself only listening to Mr Fahey’s - they just seemed to have more gravity and seriousness. I sought out many of his records. Years later - I think in ‘86 - I got to see him at Anderson Fair. Strange to see his hulking presence. Fair owner, Tim Leatherwood, would bring out pitcher after pitcher of what looked to be Coca Cola. I’m sure now it was more likely bourbon and coke. The man obviously needed lots of fuel to keep going - whatever it was. What a thrill - and honor - to see him. Rest his soul.
Seeing people try to compare Fahey and Kottke here reminds me that I once (a long time ago) heard John Fahey say in an interview, "I've just written a new song. I can't play it, but Kottke can."
I got hold of the tablature for this song and discovered that the open tuning in "G" actually makes this fairly simple to play. But I never played it this well, or with this amount of soul. Man, what a composer and performer he was!
You can buy a booklet with the "official" tabs. However, these match the earliest recordings from the '50s-'60s, and not the significantly modified (and, in my opinion, improved) versions shown in these videos of Fahey's '78 Hamburg performance. The fingering with the left hand is not too challenging with the open chord tuning, as you say, however the plucking with the right hand is tricky and getting the timing and intensity of the plucking just right really makes all the difference, in my opinion.
every time i listen to this alien being emit his note hoard, i become engorged with currents upon currents of heavy feeling.Not a sadness really. Not bleakness. Not emptiness. More alike some odd fullness, or completeness, to which i feel something of a stranger to myself. Attaining such fullness, i know the feeling of completion and totality, at which moment i am certain beyond the bounds of thought, that now, that at this time i am freed of some NEED to live, rather, it is a lovely time, as lovely as those notes, to die. .. to die with beauty and without regret of a thing missed. rip john 2001
I think one of the most beautiful fingerpicking style guitar songs i've heard so far... It really gets some kind of extra charisma when fahey plays it.
Four decades of fingerpicking guitar and scrugg's banjo and feel like a kid again, jazzed hearing some of best acoustic music as is this piece. I am sure John refined this piece as time went on, whatever age it began. I believe, easily, he did this as a teenager. I too have a couple of pieces like that and now, even some of the best players at workshops will stop and wonder. You had hours of the day to be with your strings because you just had to. Returning to the guitar more now after ten years of scrugg's hard work [and it is hard guy,s but worth it if you want it] it really is a new world to have videos available lightning fast, ten songs in less than an hour. To hear these works of so many players; M J Hurt, Rev Gary Davis, Taj Mahal etc. took months, years or not at all by mail, or hanging with jam joints. I have learned Poor Boy' early John just in the last two months, listening and watching his chord forms in open D. Music is not sport. It is art. Now, to be able to gain, borrow [someone ask's where that come from tell 'em or it's stealin'}. If I can maintain a" jazzed kid again" outlook the next ten years I'be quite satisfied, long comment, just sayin'...
I have been having such a great time listening for hours online, TH-cam in particular, so easy to just follow a musical thread and end up in new listening spaces. And here is the inimitable John Fahey from decades ago! Terrific. :>)
Feel blessed to have been to a half- dozen of his concerts during my years in Seattle. From the first one at the UofW in '68, to the last one at a Ballard club just a few years before his death.
Fahey is a new discovery for me. I find the energy and power of his music quite amazing. Wish there was someone comparable playing his stuff who would tour (the UK) - maybe there is...
I heard "Sunflower River Blues" on the radio late one night many years ago and went and ordered the album Peter Lang John Fahey & Leo Kottke the very next day. This has since becme my favourite piece from that outstanding album. I saw Kottke in Sydney a few years ago - absolute genius.
I felt so fortunate to see him in concert so many times, during my 40 years in Seattle. Saw him at Meany @ U.W., Seattle concert theater (long gone), Blue Moon, the HUB @ U.W., & Backstage (long gone), as well as MOHAI at Montlake. Was introduced to his music by a friend in our '67 Ravenna boarding house, when he played one of the early Takoma albums on his little Philco record player. Though scratchy, the sound mesmerized me...
IMO, Fahey was THE MAN when it came to fingerpicking acoustic guitar (sorry, Leo). I was graced to have seen him live at a pub in Cambridge, MA in the mid-80's. He played off the stage; I was almost close enough to touch him. He seemed to be, um, a little 'toasted' at the time, but you couldn't have told by his performance that night. One of the best live music experiences of my life.
@@erricomalatesta8741 E. Malatesta I 1st heard him play after buying an LP in 60's .The name of album was "Blind Joe Death " a alter ego Fahey invention. I was playing some guitar then and with no instruction I figured out an open tuning, on a tuning if you're not familiar with..is you can have a pleasant consonant sound without fingering and you just "noodle" around for notes in that key, Most Occidental music is based on a three chord system called in Roman numerals I IV V..quite easy when you catch on so ie...key G (I chord) C = IV. & D,-D7 = V chord..it's based on starting chord. With open tuning all you need to do Is as Fahey does is barre 5th fret =IV. & 7th fret = V. ( A "barre is placing left index finger across all strings or ½ barre ) in practically EVERY piece Fahey does he uses open or alternate tuning and just uses that simple technique. It actually is derived from "old school blues " like Robert Johnson and Son House..nothing more..IMHO Fahey is no genius he just has put on this 60's hippie oddball character and stretches out these long improvised noodling pieces. If anyone who understands basic old blues will tell you, he's just no genius.
@@nonzerosum8943 I think you are missing the point if you judge Fahey’s music in those terms, for me it’s about what his playing makes you feel and where it takes you. A lot of people can play as good or better than him and create more theoretically complex/innovative music but not many can take you into deep places with them like Fahey does.
Fahey first mesmerized me 50 years ago, and still does. He gets lost inside his music, and we are along for the journey. As a solo artist, Tash Sultana may be his reincarnation.
Fahey is a great reminder that something like guitar playing, or lifestyles, can be approached from infinite directions. Mr Fahey takes me somewhere nobody else does.
Fahey opened the door. Kottke is deeply soulful and faster. For me, when I listen to Fahey deeper emotional tones (if you will) are reached. Kottke is great. Fahey is in another zone. Both are in that league of players where "better" is an inoperative word.
John Fahey was one of my earliest influences on guitar. I saw him.in Ohio at a local club in the 90s. I thought this would be the only time I would get to see him. He showed up onstage totally shitfaced, gave the sound man endless grief, and took a piss break in the middle of the show for about a half hour. Me and my friend left after about an hour.
Wow. This is brilliant. A little like Kotkke, but easier to "understand". If you were going to buy 2 or 3 of his albums, which ones would be a place to start. Great,great stuff. I want to hear more. Videos don't do justice, albums are what I need. People at one time used to listen to them, you know what I mean.
Have always loved Kottke , but Fahey takes my mind to different places . Was fortunate to see Fahey at a small Indy club - the Hummingbird . Sat about 6 feet away and had a beer with him on his break . He was touring the country in an old station wagon back then . I think this song was his first original composition . Sure gonna miss him .
Nice rendition. This is the Fahey tune I most enjoy playing myself. I was lucky enough to see a number of the great fingerstyle artists in person, including John Fahey once, Leo Kottke many times and also Michael Hedges several times. Will always remember seeing Leo and Michael in the same concert come out for an encore and play several tunes together. Now THAT was an interesting cross-pollination of styles. (to be continued...)
Amazing how everyone's suggestions are different as far as which lps they got/get behind so much they'd pick them to start someone down Fahey's path. The two that I'd pick for you to start with would be "America" and "The Legend of Blind Joe Death". The "America" album is truly a masterpiece. If you can get that in vinyl, the booklet inside will keep you occupied for some time as well.
I just discovered John Fahey and man, what a great talent! There's this canadian band the Tea Party, i don't think they're together anymore, that reminds me a lot of Fahey's style...
+sweet hair Haha, yeah it would seem so... But The Tea Party (the band) actually formed back in the late 90's, long before the abomination that is the American movement sprang out of the depths of political hell.
Im sorry bro. But the fuckin Tea Party? All those dudes came out of their moms #2, Strait up worst eyesore of a rock act that I've ever laid eyes on. SO BAD.
fahey was a cult figure with a style as idiosyncratic as it was complex. this track is beautiful and impressionistic yet slightly bluesy and dissonant. it displays the man's technical genius and his weird and wonderful musical vision.
@PaulAndrewsVideos I must agree with you. I have heard many fine guitar players cover him, but Fahey strikes the strings with an authority which no one else duplicates. He wrenches sounds out of the guitar and tears from my eyes. Played by others, many of these tunes seem unremarkable. Played by Fahey they make my adrenaline pump and my imagination soar.
I have an interview where Fahey states this is the first song he ever wrote when he was 12 or 13. That's worth keeping in mind while debating the worth of this song and performance.
Like another of my favorite guitarists, John Cipollina, Faheny's technique is all about the right hand. Brilliant unorthodox playing, and that doesn't even take into account his rich musical vocabulary and incredible sense of timing.
I had tickets to see him play only 4 or 5 months before he died. It was heart breaking. He was literally dying but had to tour because he didn't have health insurance. On the whole Fahey versus Kottke, I prefer Fahey, though I love both. Fahey is more of an innovator and can play more musically complex stuff (even if Kottke may have a better picking hand). But I love Kottke's personality onstage. They've both great.
The main thing is the beauty of the music. That said I've been playing guitar twenty years and it blows my mind how still his left hand looks compared to the sound he gets. Its a primitive american orchestra in his right hand and that's what I wish I knew when I picked up guitar. You can wank the fretboard all day with your left hand and it wont mean anything if your right isn't paying perfect precision.
I don't have a single favorite album, but "Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes" and "The Legend of Blind Joe Death" are two good places to start.
Fahey was Kottke's mentor and teacher as well as fellow label mate on Tacoma Records along w/ Michael Hedges ....they all play mostly instrumental, open tuning, ambient guitar music so comparisons are gonna be inevitable but i agree no need to put anyone down ...they are all great in their own way
It's a Martin D-35. You can tell it's a D-35 and not a D-28 because the fingerboard's bound in white. If he flipped it around you'd see that gorgeous three-piece rosewood back.
Yes, it was an early Takoma LP with Leo Kottke, Peter Lang and John Fahey, with good stuff by all three. Fahey plays this tune on it and it is profoundly beautiful. You get to wallow in those wonderful descending discords. It is available on Amazon.
Thanks for the response shatchett0. I can remember seeing Suni play 40 years ago in Dayton, Oh. I didn't realize until much later that he was a world class artist with 3 Adelphi records to his credit. Fahey referred to his guitar as: " a place he goes to", not a thing or an ax etc. I think Suni also found that "place".
@freak49 That's not the first time I've heard that story about John Fahey - kinda sad, but it's a package deal. Talent and troubles often go hand in hand.
fahey claims he wrote this at the age of 14. i wonder if this is revised /improved upon as he progressed as a player. at least i hope it is, otherwise im doomed
I know your comment is three years old but this song has definitely been revised. Even in 1965 on Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death the song was quite a bit slower and written differently, so imagine what 12 years of prior revision could have done to the arrangement, since Fahey was around 26 when Blind Joe Death was released
(...continued) For those commenting that one artist was "better" than another -- John Fahey had an inimitable style, earthy and visceral, which he himself called "American Primitive Guitar". Kottke picked up where Fahey left off, adding a more etherial sound, with what some would argue was a more sophisticated style. Hedges went off-planet completely for a style that was impossible to classify at all. (to be continued...)
Yes, but there was a contemporary who picked up where Kottke and Fahey left off; namely, Suni McGrath; whose music I refer to as the" Andres Segovia of the steel string guitar". If you are curious about this statement then plz investigate his music and I think that you will agree. Happy listening!
See the strip of wood behind his chair? Reminds me of when he came to Bellingham, WA to play at Western Washington State College (now WWU) in '72 or '73. Two bandmates & I were asked by the Student A&E director to play some acoustic 'warm-up' tunes if John felt like he wanted to loosen up backstage for a longer period. 'Loosening up' for John was simply checking the tuning on his guitar and applying Jack Daniels liberally to get that mellow effect. We got to share the bottle with him and then it was "Yeah, let's do it". The stage in the Viking Union hall was a 4' riser against the back wall and curtain and John was set up with a mike and chair. Since we'd been backstage with him, we had great views from immediate stage right. Part way through his set, he was really in to one of his long compositions and we could see that his chair was slowly 'walking' back toward the wall. He got right to the edge of the riser and the back legs dropped into the void behind. Why we didn't react quicker is still unclear to me (Jack Daniels Syndrome?) but we got him upright and way forward on the stage and he carried on as if nothing untoward had happened. He may have struggled with some demons in life, but what wonderful music he created. Just glad I got to share a little time with him.
Wow. Amazing story.
Lovely story, thank you for sharing. Hope you're enjoying a peaceful existence from wherever you see this.
@Karen Turner
Well i have to admit: I'm just a jealous guy.
How often can you find heartwarming stories like this in the TH-cam comments section?
Very cool.
Jack danels on the guitar strings or drinking it?
The thing about Fahey's music is that he takes you somewhere you have never been before when he plays. His guitar is the "vehicle" and the "place" is somewhere in your subconscious mind. He opens the door of consciousness by the creation of Alpha waves when he plays. Fahey understood music and its purpose better than anyone who ever picked up a guitar; that is why he is so special...
I don't know how, but Fahey's playing always makes me feel really emotional. Sublime.
@John White- I was driving in my car in I think late 1998 or early 1999, when a local radio station in my home town of Portland OR, announced that John Fahey would play for free this afternoon in the Eastside Music Millennium Record Store where I had bought many recordings over the years. I raced there to find people standing out the front door to get in. I politely wedged my way through the crowd and walked to the upstairs. The place was jam-packed as I looked down to the lower level, a grungy street bum looking guy moseyed in the front door. He was disheveled and wore a tee-shirt with stains and holes all over it and carrying a well worn guitar case. It was Fahey in his finest form. He sat down and looked upstairs to us, asking if someone had a spark plug or a screwdriver or a wrench. An employee in the store tossed down a screwdriver, I think it was. Fahey picked it up off the floor and began scratching the guitar strings in an unstructured ambient form for maybe 10 minutes. Then he set the screwdriver down and began to play Oh Come All Ye Faithful in the finest classical traditional playing that I have ever witnessed live. There were people in the crowd literally in tears. He played a few more of his favorite compositions for maybe a half hour, then everyone lined up to buy his new CD, City of Refuge and he autographed an 8 X 10 glossy portrait of himself with sunglasses to go with the purchase, as I'm sure you've all seen it on that CD inside liner notes and other online sites. I had to shake his hand and tell him how honored I was to meet him and watch him play for my first time, [little did I know then it would be my last] and I asked him what he thought of recording Leo Kottke. I am still mesmerized today 16 years later as I recount this experience on that cool grey rainy day there. I accidentally saved a stack of old New York Times in my home, packing up to recycle one day in early 2001, and accidentally paged across the obituary of John Fahey, not knowing that he passed away several months earlier that year in a Salem Oregon hospital near my home town of Portland Oregon. Still today, as I read this obituary, I weep at the raw humanity of this mans truth. Here is that obituary, that I still have the copy of today with the small photo of Fahey at the top, (this is the NY Times electronic archive version without photo). > ttp://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/25/nyregion/john-fahey-61-guitarist-and-an-iconoclast-is-dead.html
awesome story. thanks for sharing.
teethdontgrind
Yea, tell it again.
I'm sure many people will dismiss it,but that you for sharing this story
Thank you
Mark Semibold : thanks for great story about this inspirational guitarist😀.Can you please tell us what he said about Leo Kottke !??🐂💨💨💨
John Fahey is the first master of the solo acoustic guitar. He took blues based riffs and his own ideas and strung then together into instrumental pieces that were the basis for Kottke and evryone else to follow. This piece is one of his best and the peferformace is outstanding. Thanks for posting!!
Overwhelmingly, heartbreakingly beautiful. Thank you, John.
In 1973 one Houston’s rock stations would play Peter Lang’s, “Future Shot at the Rainbow.” I quickly bought the LP that featured that song (it was on Takoma Records). Later I bought Takoma’s, “Lang, Fahey, and Kottke,” with 4 songs by each artist. I bought it because of Lang but found myself only listening to Mr Fahey’s - they just seemed to have more gravity and seriousness. I sought out many of his records. Years later - I think in ‘86 - I got to see him at Anderson Fair. Strange to see his hulking presence. Fair owner, Tim Leatherwood, would bring out pitcher after pitcher of what looked to be Coca Cola. I’m sure now it was more likely bourbon and coke. The man obviously needed lots of fuel to keep going - whatever it was. What a thrill - and honor - to see him. Rest his soul.
John Fahey taught me the power of open strings.
I'm pretty sure Al Wilson taught him
Seeing people try to compare Fahey and Kottke here reminds me that I once (a long time ago) heard John Fahey say in an interview, "I've just written a new song. I can't play it, but Kottke can."
privileged to witness that
I got hold of the tablature for this song and discovered that the open tuning in "G" actually makes this fairly simple to play. But I never played it this well, or with this amount of soul. Man, what a composer and performer he was!
You can buy a booklet with the "official" tabs. However, these match the earliest recordings from the '50s-'60s, and not the significantly modified (and, in my opinion, improved) versions shown in these videos of Fahey's '78 Hamburg performance. The fingering with the left hand is not too challenging with the open chord tuning, as you say, however the plucking with the right hand is tricky and getting the timing and intensity of the plucking just right really makes all the difference, in my opinion.
Absolutely true, and well said.
So sad that hes gone. Thanks for posting
Sometimes I’m on the dark side of the moon and other times I’m on the sunny side of the ocean
I could listen to Fahey for hours: and have.
John was a gift!
one of my favourite acoustic pieces of all time, so moving
every time i listen to this alien being emit his note hoard, i become engorged with currents upon currents of heavy feeling.Not a sadness really. Not bleakness. Not emptiness. More alike some odd fullness, or completeness, to which i feel something of a stranger to myself. Attaining such fullness, i know the feeling of completion and totality, at which moment i am certain beyond the bounds of thought, that now, that at this time i am freed of some NEED to live, rather, it is a lovely time, as lovely as those notes, to die. .. to die with beauty and without regret of a thing missed. rip john 2001
Well said.
that's what every one says
Yes
Good God that's gay
I think one of the most beautiful fingerpicking style guitar songs i've heard so far... It really gets some kind of extra charisma when fahey plays it.
Four decades of fingerpicking guitar and scrugg's banjo and feel like a kid again, jazzed hearing some of best acoustic music as is this piece. I am sure John refined this piece as time went on, whatever age it began. I believe, easily, he did this as a teenager. I too have a couple of pieces like that and now, even some of the best players at workshops will stop and wonder. You had hours of the day to be with your strings because you just had to. Returning to the guitar more now after ten years of scrugg's hard work [and it is hard guy,s but worth it if you want it] it really is a new world to have videos available lightning fast, ten songs in less than an hour. To hear these works of so many players; M J Hurt, Rev Gary Davis, Taj Mahal etc. took months, years or not at all by mail, or hanging with jam joints. I have learned Poor Boy' early John just in the last two months, listening and watching his chord forms in open D. Music is not sport. It is art. Now, to be able to gain, borrow [someone ask's where that come from tell 'em or it's stealin'}. If I can maintain a" jazzed kid again" outlook the next ten years I'be quite satisfied, long comment, just sayin'...
I have been having such a great time listening for hours online, TH-cam in particular, so easy to just follow a musical thread and end up in new listening spaces. And here is the inimitable John Fahey from decades ago! Terrific. :>)
this was the one that won me over, none of us can review how amazing this is.
Feel blessed to have been to a half- dozen of his concerts during my years in Seattle. From the first one at the UofW in '68, to the last one at a Ballard club just a few years before his death.
Warms my heart. I appreciate you sharing this.
Fahey elevates my spirit every time, & has for decades...this is poetry
Fahey is a new discovery for me. I find the energy and power of his music quite amazing.
Wish there was someone comparable playing his stuff who would tour (the UK) - maybe there is...
James Blackshaw plays open tunings on 12 string and is from sassnech place
I heard "Sunflower River Blues" on the radio late one night many years ago and went and ordered the album Peter Lang John Fahey & Leo Kottke the very next day. This has since becme my favourite piece from that outstanding album. I saw Kottke in Sydney a few years ago - absolute genius.
I felt so fortunate to see him in concert so many times, during my 40 years in Seattle. Saw him at Meany @ U.W., Seattle concert theater (long gone), Blue Moon, the HUB @ U.W., & Backstage (long gone), as well as MOHAI at Montlake. Was introduced to his music by a friend in our '67 Ravenna boarding house, when he played one of the early Takoma albums on his little Philco record player. Though scratchy, the sound mesmerized me...
truly a masterpiece...brilliant
Now this just is. Unreal. Well done, John. You were the man then, you the man now.
IMO, Fahey was THE MAN when it came to fingerpicking acoustic guitar (sorry, Leo). I was graced to have seen him live at a pub in Cambridge, MA in the mid-80's. He played off the stage; I was almost close enough to touch him. He seemed to be, um, a little 'toasted' at the time, but you couldn't have told by his performance that night. One of the best live music experiences of my life.
this is my favorite Fahey tune, and I'm going to die trying to play it on guitar half as good as him.
Machete Moonlight yeah me too. and there's a lot to choose from. i love the beautiful melancholy at 2.32. so moving.
Goals. Gotta have 'em. 🙌🏼
@@erricomalatesta8741 E. Malatesta
I 1st heard him play after buying an LP in 60's .The name of album was "Blind Joe Death " a alter ego Fahey invention. I was playing some guitar then and with no instruction I figured out an open tuning, on a tuning if you're not familiar with..is you can have a pleasant consonant sound without fingering and you just "noodle" around for notes in that key, Most Occidental music is based on a three chord system called in Roman numerals I IV V..quite easy when you catch on so ie...key G (I chord) C = IV. & D,-D7 = V chord..it's based on starting chord. With open tuning all you need to do Is as Fahey does is barre 5th fret =IV. & 7th fret = V. ( A "barre is placing left index finger across all strings or ½ barre ) in practically EVERY piece Fahey does he uses open or alternate tuning and just uses that simple technique. It actually is derived from "old school blues " like Robert Johnson and Son House..nothing more..IMHO Fahey is no genius he just has put on this 60's hippie oddball character and stretches out these long improvised noodling pieces. If anyone who understands basic old blues will tell you, he's just no genius.
@@nonzerosum8943 I think you are missing the point if you judge Fahey’s music in those terms, for me it’s about what his playing makes you feel and where it takes you. A lot of people can play as good or better than him and create more theoretically complex/innovative music but not many can take you into deep places with them like Fahey does.
still one of my fahey favorites
Fahey first mesmerized me 50 years ago, and still does. He gets lost inside his music, and we are along for the journey. As a solo artist, Tash Sultana may be his reincarnation.
Fahey is a great reminder that something like guitar playing, or lifestyles, can be approached from infinite directions. Mr Fahey takes me somewhere nobody else does.
Fahey opened the door. Kottke is deeply soulful and faster. For me, when I listen to Fahey deeper emotional tones (if you will) are reached. Kottke is great. Fahey is in another zone. Both are in that league of players where "better" is an inoperative word.
Kottke is too busy for me, almost like he's showing off. Fahey has a better sense of composition and restraint to my ears. Very melodic and tasteful.
Fahey and Basho are light-years above and beyond kotke..
Knock it off. All those players have completely different style and different stories to tell.
I sure do miss John. Thanks for the clip. It is good to watch him play even thought there is no comparison to the sound of a session recording.
Didn't know this artist and glad to have discovered him today, he's very inspiring. Wish I could find his disks in popular shops.
John Fahey was one of my earliest influences on guitar. I saw him.in Ohio at a local club in the 90s. I thought this would be the only time I would get to see him. He showed up onstage totally shitfaced, gave the sound man endless grief, and took a piss break in the middle of the show for about a half hour. Me and my friend left after about an hour.
this is another world created by mister john fahey
this is so good. i keep coming back to it. as a piece of music, just gorgeous, and really not like too much else out there.
Это что то !!! Слушаю и восхищаюсь !!!?
Watching him tune on the fly is like watching a bee look for just the right flower to drink nectar from.
he wrote this song when he was 15.......self taught.........PRAISE HIM
Wow. This is brilliant. A little like Kotkke, but easier to "understand". If you were going to buy 2 or 3 of his albums, which ones would be a place to start.
Great,great stuff. I want to hear more. Videos don't do justice, albums are what I need. People at one time used to listen to them, you know what I mean.
Priceless! Thanks for sharing!
Have always loved Kottke , but Fahey takes my mind to different places . Was fortunate to see Fahey at a small Indy club - the Hummingbird . Sat about 6 feet away and had a beer with him on his break . He was touring the country in an old station wagon back then . I think this song was his first original composition . Sure gonna miss him .
I mean isn't TH-cam the best? John Fahey, Gary Davis then over to Wes and Barney, B.B and Bonfa!
Thanks for posting!!
Nice rendition. This is the Fahey tune I most enjoy playing myself. I was lucky enough to see a number of the great fingerstyle artists in person, including John Fahey once, Leo Kottke many times and also Michael Hedges several times. Will always remember seeing Leo and Michael in the same concert come out for an encore and play several tunes together. Now THAT was an interesting cross-pollination of styles. (to be continued...)
this sounds like the kind of songs my dad used to play when i was a kid.
Amazing how everyone's suggestions are different as far as which lps they got/get behind so much they'd pick them to start someone down Fahey's path.
The two that I'd pick for you to start with would be "America" and "The Legend of Blind Joe Death". The "America" album is truly a masterpiece. If you can get that in vinyl, the booklet inside will keep you occupied for some time as well.
I just discovered John Fahey and man, what a great talent! There's this canadian band the Tea Party, i don't think they're together anymore, that reminds me a lot of Fahey's style...
+adurtube wow someone actually references "the" tea party. Thats like a hot shit sandwich rite there..
+sweet hair Haha, yeah it would seem so... But The Tea Party (the band) actually formed back in the late 90's, long before the abomination that is the American movement sprang out of the depths of political hell.
Im sorry bro. But the fuckin Tea Party? All those dudes came out of their moms #2, Strait up worst eyesore of a rock act that I've ever laid eyes on. SO BAD.
fahey was a cult figure with a style as idiosyncratic as it was complex. this track is beautiful and impressionistic yet slightly bluesy and dissonant. it displays the man's technical genius and his weird and wonderful musical vision.
Here we are in the era of artificial intelligence and it could never match the beauty and soul of John Fahey’s music. Couldn’t touch him.❤
So, so good.
Fantastic tune.
@PaulAndrewsVideos I must agree with you. I have heard many fine guitar players cover him, but Fahey strikes the strings with an authority which no one else duplicates. He wrenches sounds out of the guitar and tears from my eyes.
Played by others, many of these tunes seem unremarkable. Played by Fahey they make my adrenaline pump and my imagination soar.
I have an interview where Fahey states this is the first song he ever wrote when he was 12 or 13. That's worth keeping in mind while debating the worth of this song and performance.
Like another of my favorite guitarists, John Cipollina, Faheny's technique is all about the right hand. Brilliant unorthodox playing, and that doesn't even take into account his rich musical vocabulary and incredible sense of timing.
I had tickets to see him play only 4 or 5 months before he died. It was heart breaking. He was literally dying but had to tour because he didn't have health insurance. On the whole Fahey versus Kottke, I prefer Fahey, though I love both. Fahey is more of an innovator and can play more musically complex stuff (even if Kottke may have a better picking hand). But I love Kottke's personality onstage. They've both great.
The main thing is the beauty of the music. That said I've been playing guitar twenty years and it blows my mind how still his left hand looks compared to the sound he gets. Its a primitive american orchestra in his right hand and that's what I wish I knew when I picked up guitar. You can wank the fretboard all day with your left hand and it wont mean anything if your right isn't paying perfect precision.
Did Fahey write a better song?! Wow! Thanks again for posting.
78! the year i learnt this
saw him a few years later...eeehhh
John Fahey...guitar god...
John Fahey...comb-over KING
Love, Devotion, Surrender...
I don't have a single favorite album, but "Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes" and "The Legend of Blind Joe Death" are two good places to start.
Fahey was Kottke's mentor and teacher as well as fellow label mate on Tacoma Records along w/ Michael Hedges ....they all play mostly instrumental, open tuning, ambient guitar music so comparisons are gonna be inevitable but i agree no need to put anyone down ...they are all great in their own way
the greatest.
Great thanks for all your help on this - will check that album out :-)
Papa John at his best,,,,,I used to see him and talk to him in the flesh at the Ash Grove
definately start from the beginning, The Legend of Blind Joe Death is his first and is brilliant.
It's a Martin D-35. You can tell it's a D-35 and not a D-28 because the fingerboard's bound in white. If he flipped it around you'd see that gorgeous three-piece rosewood back.
He's just so into it, its cool to see.
Fahey fully locked in right here
love him.
one of my favorites :)
LOVE IT
Yes, it was an early Takoma LP with Leo Kottke, Peter Lang and John Fahey, with good stuff by all three. Fahey plays this tune on it and it is profoundly beautiful. You get to wallow in those wonderful descending discords. It is available on Amazon.
even his mistakes are better than what is now on the radio
Thanks for the response shatchett0. I can remember seeing Suni play 40 years ago
in Dayton, Oh. I didn't realize until much later that he was a world class artist with 3 Adelphi records to his credit. Fahey referred to his guitar as: " a place he goes to",
not a thing or an ax etc. I think Suni also found that "place".
i gave both comments a thumbs up
What is he doing with his head? One of the best guitar players ever. So sorry he's gone.
working his way through a portal to another dimension
It's soo much more than shreding, man.
Kottke, Fahey and Lang was a great album
Again, thank you so much for this posting; I get so emotional over this. Does anyone know if this is a commercially available video?
Su armonia me recuerda la del maestro cubano Leo Brouwer........Maravilloso!
In my country we have a acoustic guittar called Yamandu Costa search in TH-cam thanks for share.
@freak49
That's not the first time I've heard that story about John Fahey - kinda sad, but it's a package deal. Talent and troubles often go hand in hand.
john lennon was the best at doing what did, john fahey is the best at doing what he did.
He was a genious!
Fantastic
....the real deal. How effing Clapton has so many other guitarist's creaming in their jeans is beyond me......
Lolz
Simply Epic ! :D
I like the way you can't really tell when it starts.
Does anyone know what the "ultimate acoustic album Leo and John and Peter" is that mbliddle is referring to?
fahey claims he wrote this at the age of 14. i wonder if this is revised /improved upon as he progressed as a player. at least i hope it is, otherwise im doomed
I know your comment is three years old but this song has definitely been revised. Even in 1965 on Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death the song was quite a bit slower and written differently, so imagine what 12 years of prior revision could have done to the arrangement, since Fahey was around 26 when Blind Joe Death was released
The version he plays in this video is available in tab-form on ultimateguitar.com. The other, earlier renditions of the song are more difficult.
Unbelievable.
Every time I see the thumbnail for this I think that it's Donald Sutherland..
Steven Roberts don't look now.
(...continued) For those commenting that one artist was "better" than another -- John Fahey had an inimitable style, earthy and visceral, which he himself called "American Primitive Guitar". Kottke picked up where Fahey left off, adding a more etherial sound, with what some would argue was a more sophisticated style. Hedges went off-planet completely for a style that was impossible to classify at all. (to be continued...)
volume 6...days have gone by..search for impressions of susan, great tune
this is a genius.
Can definitely hear some 'what the sun said' licks in there
Yes, but there was a contemporary who picked up where Kottke and Fahey left off; namely, Suni McGrath; whose music I refer to as the" Andres Segovia of the steel string guitar".
If you are curious about this statement then plz investigate his music and I think that you will agree. Happy listening!