john fahey on you tube

Subject: john fahey on you tube
From: The Sandman
Date: 22 Sep 07 - 07:25 PM

Lovely Guitar playing.

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: GUEST,buspassed
Date: 23 Sep 07 - 11:57 AM

Fahey was the man!

Andy Kershaw told a lovely story about Fahey being invited to do a session for BBC R3. The man turns up very late for the gig then takes out a guitar with no strings. Someone is despatched to buy a set of strings, comes back and Fahey spends twenty minutes restringing and seemingly tuning then puts the instrument back in the case and makes to leave!

Kershaw ,a bit non-plussed asks "What about the gig John? Fahey replies "What do you think the the last twenty minutes were?"

Great bloke!

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: GUEST,John Robinson
Date: 23 Sep 07 - 03:58 PM

Great guitar player indeed.

But I don't admire unprofessional behaviour - whatever form that takes. Turn up on time, sober and .... deliver.

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: Mark H.
Date: 24 Sep 07 - 03:16 AM

It could have been worse. Mr. F. would be just as likely to clean his picks a few times, whic hardly makes a sound at all.

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 24 Sep 07 - 07:20 PM

He was peerless. I can forgive the behavior for that.

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: voyager
Date: 24 Sep 07 - 07:26 PM

As a life-long Fahey-fan (listening to Blind Joe Death CD in my daily commute today), I am often remembering the first performances I saw John give, at the Ash Grove, in LA, circa late 1960's.

He would sit in a chair, usually with a Pepsi bottle at his side (spiked to be sure) and would sway from side-to-side as if to almost fall from his chair. In what seemed to be something of a drunken revelry, Fahey would come to his senses and play 45 minutes of melodious American Primitive Guitar.

From the audience, we listened, spell-bound.

Don't know what John was drinking in those days, but his music rings true over all these forty years.

Sligo Creek Blues
voyager

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: GUEST,buspassed
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 11:51 AM

Came across JF's music by total accident in '68 while browsing in Chris Wellard's record shop in SE London, the Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death was playing on the shop's PA, I'd never heard anything like it and had the temerity to ask if is was playing at the right speed! Not a well received question so I bought the album to cover my embarassment and have been a fan ever since.

Sadly never saw him play live, think he toured the UK in the late '90's and I don't think he was at his best at that time.

His music is always celebrated in our house at Christmas with thse wonderful seasonal albums he recorded.

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: van lingle
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 12:17 PM

Fahey was a local hero where I came from in Maryland and as starting out fingerpickers my buddy Woody and I tried to figure out what he was doing on those open tuning songs before the flood of transcriptions came along. Looking at these vids I see we came pretty close on some things but we definitely wound up with our own version of tunes like Poor Boy, Sunflower River Blues etc.
A beginning fingerpicker could do a lot worse than studying Fahey's pieces as many of them are not too difficult technically but almost all of them are infused with the Fahey characteristics of excellent tone, attack and feeling, IMO.

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: open mike
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 11:53 PM

link?

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: open mike
Date: 25 Sep 07 - 11:58 PM

http://www.johnfahey.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAdmDyUAESs

February 28, 1939 – February 22, 2001

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Sep 07 - 12:17 AM

Thanks, open mike. There's a really neat 1969 interview and performance by him at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP3hY8HQFSE&mode=related&search=.

That first piece, Lion, sounds like at least two guitars and players are going at once!

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: open mike
Date: 26 Sep 07 - 12:29 AM

one of the you tube songs is "When the catfish is in bloom"

and on his home page http://www.johnfahey.com/
is a book called How blue grass music destroyed my life..
how many of us could write a chapter to add to it??!@!

Subject: RE: john fahey on you tube
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 26 Sep 07 - 06:17 PM

There was a huge article about him in the LA Times I think not too long before he died about how he had fallen into severe poverty. It seemd so wrong considering how his 2 Xmas albums always seemed to sell like hotcakes during the season. Now, sadly, you can't get the two albums as they were - just a combination CD which shortens several of the tunes and omites many others. Of course, that may have changed since I last checked - if so Please advise and I'll promptly go and buy them both.