John Fahey (musician)

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John Fahey

John Aloysius Fahey [ feɪ̯ʰi ] (* 28. February 1939 in Takoma Park , Maryland ; † 22. February 2001 in Salem , Oregon ) was an American fingerstyle - guitarist and - composer , musicologist and record label founder.

Life

Fahey first grew up with classical and country music , but began - after he happened upon the black singer and guitarist Frank Hovington on a fishing trip in 1952 and was impressed by his fingerstyle guitar playing - with the blues and with modern To deal with classic. In the 1950s, the first recordings were made under the pseudonym "Blind Thomas" on the US label fonotone and released as a 78 record . In 1959 he released his first recordings on his own label, " Takoma Records ", under the pseudonym "Blind Joe Death". The record was so convincing that even some blues connoisseurs believed they were dealing with a previously forgotten blues musician. Fahey continued to cultivate the pseudonym with recordings through the 1960s. In 1963 Fahey published another artist for the first time, namely recordings of the blues musician Bukka White, who had only recently been found by him . Artists like Leo Kottke and Robbie Basho were to follow later .

In 1963 Fahey graduated from the American University in Washington with a degree in philosophy and religion . He then moved to Berkeley and enrolled at the University of California to deepen his philosophy degree, but soon dropped out and moved to Los Angeles in 1964 to attend the Chair of Folklore at the University of California there . He successfully completed this course with a thesis on Charley Patton , which made him a master's and was published in England in 1971. This monograph is a decisive analysis of Patton's work to this day, enriched with numerous information about his life, his discography and song lyrics.

Fahey was involved in the recording of Canned Heat's album Living the Blues . His own recordings have moved significantly away from the blues since the mid-sixties. Fahey drew influences from non-Western forms of music, experimented with collages and worked with the avant-garde band The Red Crayola .

Regardless of this previously successful biography, Fahey fell into a creative crisis from the mid-1970s. He started drinking, lost large parts of his property as a result of his first divorce, and had to sell Takoma Records in the mid-1970s. He later became seriously ill and in the late 1980s and early 1990s he lived from hand to mouth, living in cars or cheap motels.

Surprisingly, his work was rediscovered in the mid-1990s by musicians such as Sonic Youth , Jim O'Rourke and others, which gave his career a new impetus. At the same time, his father's legacy enabled him to re-establish a label, Revenant Records , in 1995 , which in the following years published outstanding editions primarily on early American music, but also works by rockabilly and avant-garde musicians. Fahey gained more and more confidence in his creativity, he took up his musical work again and produced new albums again. His late work differed drastically from his previous work; produced electronically, it was more influenced by genres such as noise and industrial .

In 2003, the complete edition of Charley Patton's work, published on his label, was awarded 3 Grammys . In the same year, the American music magazine Rolling Stone listed him at number 35 on the list of the greatest guitarists of all time . In a more recent list, it ranks 78th.

Fahey no longer lived to see this success; he died in February 2001 after a difficult heart operation that included six bypasses.

Discography

  • 1959 Blind Joe Death ( Takoma ) (1st edition)
  • 1963 Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes (Takoma) (1st edition)
  • 1964 Blind Joe Death (Takoma) (partly new recording)
  • 1964 The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites (Takoma)
  • 1965 The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death (Riverboat)
  • 1966 The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party and Other Excursions (Takoma)
  • 1967 Blind Joe Death (Takoma) (completely new recording)
  • 1967 Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes (Takoma) (new recording)
  • 1967 Days Have Gone By (Takoma)
  • 1967 Requia and Other Compositions for Guitar Solo ( Vanguard )
  • 1968 The "Yellow Princess" (Vanguard)
  • 1968 The Voice of the Turtle (Takoma)
  • 1968 The New Possibility (John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album) (Takoma)
  • 1971 America (Takoma)
  • 1972 Of Rivers and Religion ( Reprise )
  • 1973 After the Ball (reprise)
  • 1973 Fare Forward Voyagers (Soldier's Choice) (Takoma)
  • 1974 Leo Kottke, Peter Lang & John Fahey (Takoma)
  • 1975 Old Fashioned Love (Takoma)
  • 1975 Christmas with John Fahey Vol. II (Takoma)
  • 1977 The Best of John Fahey 1958–1977 (Takoma) (compilation)
  • 1979 John Fahey Visits Washington, DC (Takoma)
  • 1980 Yes! Jesus Loves Me (Takoma)
  • 1981 Live in Tasmania (Takoma)
  • 1982 Christmas Guitar Volume One (Varrick) (re-recording of The New Possibility)
  • 1983 Railroad I (Takoma)
  • 1983 Popular Songs of Christmas and New Year’s (Varrick)
  • 1984 Let Go (Varrick)
  • 1985 Rain Forests, Oceans, and Other Themes (Varrick)
  • 1987 I Remember Blind Joe Death (Varrick)
  • 1989 God, Time and Causality ( Shanachie )
  • 1992 Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memories (Varrick)
  • 1994 Return of the Repressed: The John Fahey Anthology (Rhino) (CD compilation)
  • 1994 The John Fahey Christmas Album (Burnside)
  • 1996 Double 78 (Perfect)
  • 1997 The Mill Pond (Little Brother) (double EP)
  • 1997 City of Refuge (Tim / Kerr)
  • 1997 Womblife (Table of the Elements)
  • 1997 The Epiphany of Glenn Jones (Thirsty Ear)
  • 1998 Georgia Stomps, Atlanta Struts, and Other Contemporary Dance Favorites (Table of the Elements) (Live)
  • 1999 The Best of the Vanguard Years (Vanguard) (Compilation)
  • 2000 Hitomi (LivHouse)
  • 2003 Red Cross ( Revenant )
  • 2003 Hard Time Empty Bottle Blues (Table of the Elements) (One-sided 12 ″ LP on clear vinyl)
  • 2004 The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick (Water / Revenant) (live recordings from 1968/69)
  • 2005 On Air (Tradition & Modern) (Recordings from Radio Bremen 1978)
  • 2006 Sea Changes & Coelacanths: A Young Person's Guide to John Fahey (Table of the Elements) (compilation)
  • 2011 Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You - The Fonotone Years [1958–1965] (Dust-to-Digital) (5-CD compilation album with book)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Fahey Files , compiled by the International Fahey Committee . Retrieved January 6, 2008
  2. ↑ a b c d John Fahey's biography at All Music Guide (en.) Retrieved January 6, 2008
  3. ↑ 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time , Rolling Stone , August 2007. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
  4. ↑ 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Rolling Stone , December 18, 2015, accessed August 8, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Fahey, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fahey, John Aloysius (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American guitarist
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Takoma Park , Maryland
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 2001
Place of death Salem , Oregon