Steamboats' Favorite Artist John Fahey
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How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life
by John Fahey
Excerpt from the Amazon review: "conversationally voiced collection of ostensibly
fictitious but semiautobiographical short stories."
Read more readers' reviews at Amazon.com.
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America
An Amazon music fan from Annandale, Va , comments:
Fahey's Greatest Work - 10 Stars.
John Fahey's music, for those who have never heard it, is an unlikely combination of early 20th century acoustic black
blues, ragtime and Ravi Shankar Ragaesque drone sitar type music. Played on solo acoustic guitar, real time recording.
No vocals. Unique. Impossible to pigeon-hole.
Full of Jazz-like improvization in a blues idiom.
A symphony for solo guitar, full of invention!
For those who think they know Fahey, America, his greatest work, will come as a revelation. Instead of the 3-4 minute
pieces you may be used to from his other work, on America one hears full blown 20 minute pieces which grab, transfix
and hypnotize the listener.
Playful, tragic, bluesy, happy, profound. Illustrated with Fahey's
vision of the future. Brilliant.
This record inspired much of the "new age music" on Wyndam Hill and
countless other artists.
And even better, Fahey only released half of it in 1970, convinced that a double album wouldn't sell. Half of it sat in the
can for over 25 years! Here you have the whole thing!
One of the ten best releases of the 90's. Cannot be too highly recommended.
This is what the 60/70's were really about.
I only hope that Fantasy/Takoma will now release "The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party" and "Days Have Gone
By". Buy it while you can still get it!
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The Essential John Fahey
An Amazon music fan from Hampton Roads, VA , comments:
This album documents the creation of a genre of music
In the late 1950's, 6-string acoustic guitar was the instrument of hillbillies, folk, and bluegrass players who used it as
a tuned, chordal drum to accompany vocal tunes. John Fahey appeared and began to compose and perform elaborate,
eclectic instrumentals on the guitar, pioneering a style that merged styles as disparate as Bartok, Indian raga, John
Cage, and the delta blues of Skip James and Bukka White.
This album documents the creation of a genre that Fahey called American Primitive Guitar and paved the way for
future innovators such as Leo Kottke, Michael Hedges, Preston Reed, Pierre Bensusan, and others. Fahey's
hypnotic, droning, angular music is unique among the annals of guitar. The Essential John Fahey catalogs his more
known early work on Fahey's now defunct Takoma label. Many guitarists wore out the grooves in John's vinyl
albums trying to cop licks and figure out his varied open tunings. It's a must-listen for every student of the acoustic
guitar. Fahey will someday be esteemed as highly as Segovia is in the world of classical guitar.
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John Fahey, Peter Lang, Leo Kottke
An Amazon music fan from Irvine, California comments:
A must for finger-style players
Perhaps the best compilation of players from the "Fahey" school of fingerstyle guitar. Kottke's Cripple Creek is an
unaccompanied arrangement and really shows the focused power of his early playing. I've probably listened to this
track about 1000 times and have yet to get tired of it. Lang was a revelation to me when I bought this record. A very
polished player whose records are hard to find now. Fahey checks in with nicely remastered versions of older
favorites. Why don't you already own this record? Buy it yesterday!
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Christmas Guitar
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1998
City Of Refuge
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1997
Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1998
The Epiphany Of Glenn Jones
John Fahey, Cul De Sac / Audio CD / Released 1997
Georgia Stomps, Atlanta Struts, And Other Contemporary Dance Favorites
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1998
God, Time And Causality
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1990
The John Fahey Christmas Album
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1998
The Legend Of Blind Joe Death
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1996
Let Go
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1997
Old Girlfriends And Other Horrible Memories
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1991
Popular Songs Of Christmas And New Year's
John Fahey, Terry Robb / Audio CD / Released 1998
Rain Forests, Oceans, And Other Themes
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1987
Requia & Other Compositions For Guitar Solo
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1997
Return Of The Repressed: The Anthology
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1994
The Transfiguration Of Blind Joe Death
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1997
The Voice Of The Turtle
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1996
Vol. 1-Christmas Guitar
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1998
Womblife
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1998
I Remember Blind Joe Death
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1987
The Yellow Princess
John Fahey / Audio CD / Released 1990
Visit the John Fahey section of the new bookshop - click here.
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