Who loves John Fahey like me?

jsh · **Posted:** Wed Oct 26, 2005 3:23 pm

I kind of feel like he encompasses everything that contributes to music's lockhold on my life: balanced consonance and dissonance, employment of a certain space, palpable emotion without singing a word, crudeness and yet allusions to virtuosity, patience, raga, droning, yada yada blah blah.

Do you know?

no guru · **Posted:** Wed Oct 26, 2005 3:57 pm

Well, yeah.

He plays good, yeah.

mcaputo · **Posted:** Wed Oct 26, 2005 3:59 pm

Have you heard any Jim O'Rourke ? If not checkout 'Bad Timing'
Certainly a disciple of John Fahey.

ptrck · **Joined:** Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:55 pm **Posts:** 5568

Just started listening to John Fahey. Ill get back to you.

jsh · **Posted:** Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:12 pm

mark decapitate Wrote:

Have you heard any Jim O'Rourke ? If not checkout 'Bad Timing'
Certainly a disciple of John Fahey.

"Bad Timing", you're right, does definitely follow in his lineage. Very seamlessly composed that one is. And, I guess, "I'm Happy, I'm Singing, and a 1-2-3-4", or whatever, is O'Rourke as Fahey's digital disciple.

mcaputo · **Posted:** Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:16 pm

Quote:

Happy, I'm Singing, and a 1-2-3-4", or whatever, is O'Rourke as Fahey's digital disciple

Exact - a - mundo

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:41 pm

John Fahey is quality.

I need to hear more. I've only got a couple of his earlier records.

Also, those two Jim O'Rourke albums are really nice. My favorite things of his.

Finch Platte · **Posted:** Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:02 pm

I like Leo Kottke.

jsh · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 12:49 pm

Speaking of which, I think this is a terrible idea, and I vow to avoid hearing it;

Exclusive: Sufjan, Devendra to Appear on Fahey Tribute

Matt Amis reports:
Here's a lark: a tribute album that actually makes sense. I mean, what do we need yet another lukewarm round of Beatles worship for, really? On February 14, Vanguard Records will release I Am The Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey, featuring homages to the late experimental acoustic guitar legend by Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhart, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, Grandaddy, and Calexico, among others. In this freak-folk age, the deification of Fahey is more than appropriate.

Produced by Merge Records picker/crooner M. Ward, the project has been in the works since last summer, when Vanguard began recruiting indie artists who have clearly been influenced by Fahey's work. Since 2006 marks the 40th anniversary of Fahey's signing to Vanguard, as well as the fifth anniversary of his death, the label is going all out: February 14 will also see Vanguard reissue Fahey's long out-of-print 1968 album The Yellow Princess. The new version will include the album's original liner notes, as well as three new tracks.

I Am The Resurrection tracklist:

01 Fruit Bats - Death of the Clayton Peacock
02 Pelt - Sunflower River Blues
03 Sufjan Stevens - Variation on 'Commemorative Transfiguration & Communion at Magruder Park'
04 Devendra Banhart - Sligo River
05 Calexico - Dance of Death
06 Lee Ranaldo featuring the Lazy 8 Chorale - The Singing Bridge of Memphis, Brooklyn Bridge Version: The Coelcanth
07 M. Ward - Bean Vine Blues # 2
08 Cul de Sac - The Portland Cement Factory at Monolith, CA
09 Granddaddy - Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace King Phillip XIV of Spain
10 Immergluck, Kaphan, Krummenacher, & Hanes - Joe Kirby Blues
11 Currituck Co. - Medley: John Hurt Shiva Shankarah
12 Peter Case - When the Catfish Is in Bloom
13 Howe Gelb - My Grandfather's Clock

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 12:52 pm

No Six Organs of Admittance? pffft.

jsh · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:00 pm

Dead Crow Wrote:

No Six Organs of Admittance? pffft.

My guess is that Chasny was approached with the idea, and thought better of it. That's the story I choose to believe.

Radcliffe · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:10 pm

Boonor Obnerst Wrote:

Produced by Merge Records picker/crooner M. Ward, the project has been in the works since last summer, when Vanguard began recruiting indie artists who have clearly been influenced by Fahey's work. Since 2006 marks the 40th anniversary of Fahey's signing to Vanguard, as well as the fifth anniversary of his death, the label is going all out: February 14 will also see Vanguard reissue Fahey's long out-of-print 1968 album The Yellow Princess. The new version will include the album's original liner notes, as well as three new tracks.

I Am The Resurrection tracklist:

01 Fruit Bats - Death of the Clayton Peacock
02 Pelt - Sunflower River Blues
03 Sufjan Stevens - Variation on 'Commemorative Transfiguration & Communion at Magruder Park'
04 Devendra Banhart - Sligo River
05 Calexico - Dance of Death
06 Lee Ranaldo featuring the Lazy 8 Chorale - The Singing Bridge of Memphis, Brooklyn Bridge Version: The Coelcanth
07 M. Ward - Bean Vine Blues # 2
08 Cul de Sac - The Portland Cement Factory at Monolith, CA
09 Granddaddy - Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace King Phillip XIV of Spain
10 Immergluck, Kaphan, Krummenacher, & Hanes - Joe Kirby Blues
11 Currituck Co. - Medley: John Hurt Shiva Shankarah
12 Peter Case - When the Catfish Is in Bloom
13 Howe Gelb - My Grandfather's Clock

That seems like a pretty awesome tribute. And how appropriate is it that M. Ward is producing it? He's the first guy I thought of when I saw this thread.

hey look · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:12 pm

yeah i need to get into fahey, he's been on my list for awhile.

jsh · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:19 pm

dirty rotten Ratcliffe Wrote:

That seems like a pretty awesome tribute. And how appropriate is it that M. Ward is producing it? He's the first guy I thought of when I saw this thread.

I'm skeptical about it. Much of the lineup is comprised of the usual suspects. Like Sufjan, Calexico, Devendra, etc. are on every comp and tribute album of late. I'm just skeptical.

I, like Crow, thought about Chasny first, and obviously.

hey look · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:22 pm

but guys, pelt.

jack rose is my recent idol.

jsh · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:31 pm

contradiction Wrote:

jack rose is my recent idol.

Ya. He should be on there. And so should Harris Newman (playing Tuesday, November 1 @ Tonic in NY, NY).

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:45 pm

Yeah, I'd at least be interested in hearing the Pelt, Calexico, Lee Ranaldo, and M. Ward tracks.

hey look · **Posted:** Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:46 pm

Boonor Obnerst Wrote:

contradiction Wrote:

jack rose is my recent idol.

Ya. He should be on there. And so should Harris Newman (playing Tuesday, November 1 @ Tonic in NY, NY).

harris newman is great

jsh · **Posted:** Thu Nov 24, 2005 2:42 pm

I'm now reading "How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life" by John Fahey, a serious of suspiciously 'fictional' short stories. I'm coming to adore it. The last piece I read was literally the most perfect encapsulation of the precariousness of love. And then there's this story about honey. Oy, so nice. Anyway, available through Drag City.

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2005 5:47 am

Lee Ranaldo is how I got into Fahey. On LR's website, he posted a bit about Fahey when he died, and I checked him out from there. Being a huge SY fan, and respecting his choices, I was pleasantly pleased with the discovery.

k · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2005 6:29 am

Fahey is my all time favorite artist hands down and had I been around for Listmania he would have had at least four releases in the top 50. Right now there is an entire slew of Takoma revivalists that are doing a stand up job of carrying on a lot of Fahey's style. Both Chasny (who happens to my current favorite artist still making music) and Jack Rose (who clocks in at number three right behind Matt Valentine) are fine examples.

Some other current favorites include of course Fahey's old running buddy Glenn Jones, Sir Richard Bishop (both with and without the Sun City Girls), arguably the greatest wooden guitar player in the world Steffan Basho Junghans, Mauro Antonio Pawlowski (whose Secret Guitar record slays anything Devendra has ever done, and I am a huge Devendra fan), Nick Castro and Simon Finn (though both a bit more poppy), Atman (the most organic music I have ever heard), and PG Six and Whysp (some Gaelic leanings with Whysp some limited drone leanings with PG Six).

As for the tribute I guess I feel it's a nice thought and shows somewhat a range of sounds Fahey influenced. I can't say I'm all that interested in most of it though. I do think Howe Gelb will do a good job with "My Grandfather's Clock" and I can't think of a better song for Jack Rose (Pelt is pretty much just him as far as I'm concerned) to get his hands on. I am highly skeptical on Sufjan and Grandaddy though.

By the way, I know I don't post much but if anyone would like a YSI of any of the artists I mentioned or if you trust me to just through a gang of different newish folk that you might not have heard on a mix and send it to you just let me know. I would be delighted to possibly introduce some Obners to some of my favorite artists.

jsh · **Posted:** Fri Nov 25, 2005 11:41 am

kochalka Wrote:

... a bunch of shit I agree with ...

We should definitely make an exchange. I might be able to fill a hole or two, and there are certainly things you've mentioned that I'd like to hear.

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:25 am

Looks intriguing:

John Fahey - The Fonotone Years

Quote:

The set will consist of five CDs, a 78 RPM record, a 12 X 12 book (somewhere between 60 and 80 pages long), several inserts, all housed in a wood slipcase. There will be contributions from Malcolm Kirton, Claudio Guerierri, Eddie Dean, Byron Coley and others; there is a previously unpublished Fahey interview, by Douglas Blazek, from 1968; there are reminiscences from Michael Stewart, with whom John recorded, and R. Anthony Lee, one of John’s close childhood friends; there will be photos galore, reproductions of every Fahey Fonotone record label, color inserts, and lots of memorabilia.

Of the music -- well over six hours of it (some 118 or so tracks, spanning the years 1958 to 1965) -- at least half is previously unissued.

Of the issued material, only the hardest of hardcore Fahey fans, the ones who to took the trouble to write Joe Bussard in the ‘60s and ‘70s to order the 78s or 45s from him by mail, will have heard any of it.

And even the stuff that made it into the hands of a few fans has never been heard at the proper speed, since Joe’s 78-RPM cutter cut fast (records played back at 78 RPM were slower than recorded) and his 45-RPM player cut slow (played back fast).

The music, also, has never been heard in such good fidelity, all of it being transferred from Joe’s master tapes or from clean copies of the actual discs themselves, in the few instances (four tracks) when Joe’s master tapes could not be located.

We spent nearly a week with Jane C. Hayes, John Fahey’s mom, in Louisiana, who gave us something like 150 photos, almost none of which have ever been published. Many will appear here for the first time.

jsh · **Posted:** Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:29 pm

sweet! unissued music is very welcome. i believe there's a film in the works as well.

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Mon Mar 14, 2011 1:08 pm

I assume at least a couple of these tracks is on the Fonotone box set from a few years back? There were only a handful, and they're all very good so it's great to know that there's a lot more of that stuff. Fahey even sings on one of those tracks (as Blind Thomas, I think or as part of another group).

Who loves John Fahey like me?

Who is online