"Skip James music wasn't at all spacey... It had a melody... Fahey wouldn't have known a melody if it bit him on his ass... "

Well I don't really know what you mean by "spacey" then... I was thinking of "lots of space" (something that I think is UNDENIABLE about Skip James's playing). He's not a dense player, he's a sparse player. But also in the sense of "outer space", otherworldly. The Skip James recordings of the 1960s have a lot of quite out-there, particularly in the intros. (They're a bit like the introductions to Indian ragas in that respect.)

I notice you don't quibble with "disjointed": again, I think it would be hard to deny that Skip's playing (like Fahey's) is disjointed, and that that's what makes it GOOD. I'd say the same about some of Buddy Moss's playing, some of Archie Edwards' playing, and definitely about CeDell Davis's playing. Respected bluesmen all. But it's the rough edges, the disjointedness that makes em interesting.


As for Fahey and melody.... well, I am humming one of John Fahey's melodies right now, this thread having prompted me to go listen to Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, my favorite Fahey album.