Summary.
John Fahey made folk music more fit for the classical auditorium than for a Nashville stage.
John Fahey is the man who introduced the stream of consciousness into
folk music, and turned folk music into classical music, and then made it
cross the boundaries of western and eastern music.
The spiritual father of the "american primitive guitar",
Fahey turned the guitar solo into a metaphysical exercise.
Great San Bernardino Party (1966) and Requia (1967)
introduced his surreal world of tragic and solemn visions;
images penned by the guitar, rather than by the voice.
His "western raga", as defined by his three instrumental masterpieces,
A Raga Called Pat Part 3 & 4, on
Voice Of The Turtle (1968),
The Voice Of The Turtle, on
America (1971), and the title-track from
Fare Forward Voyagers (1973) weave
a slow, hypnotic flow of tinkling sounds, a majestic tide of free-form
melodic fragments. These lengthy meditations work at two levels: first they
evoke wide landscapes and imposing nature, and then they resurrect the ghosts
of all the people who roamed them.
The dreams of the explorers, the anxiety of the adventurers, the hopes of the pioneers are joined together, but Fahey shuns the epic mode and prefers a form of
domestic impressionism, which is tender and warm. His art is about the
collective myths of mankind. His musical pilgrimage represents the
odyssey of all the "Ulysseses" who traveled (walked, rode, sailed) towards the unknown.
Full bio.
(Translated from my original Italian text by
Troy Sherman)
A hermit of folk music, a guru of primitivism, a minstrel of the Western
raga, John Fahey erected a populist, ethnological new art of sound, which was the
sonic equivalent of the stream of consciousness of William James and of Surrealism's automatic writing.
Fahey is the spiritual father of the American Primitive Guitar, the folk style that emphasizes the solo metaphysical acoustic guitar
(especially when strictly solo and strictly instrumental). Fahey had two models
to follow: the Goofing-Off Suite composed by Pete Seeger (1955) and Sandy Bulls Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo (1963).
Most of his music, though, was the result of musical and spiritual introspection
that had little in common with those models (at first, this was purely
technical, but later it became transcendental).
John Fahey, a native of Maryland (born in Takoma Park),
matured musically in California in the late 50s. His training took place in
the world of blues, and he would eventually acquire an encyclopedic knowledge
of American music. During college he shared a room with Al Wilson (of Canned Heat), and in his company Fahey discovered the classics of the blues genre. He graduated with a thesis on Charley Patton.
In 1958, he created and published his first album, Blind Joe Death (Takoma, 1959), which
was dedicated to a non-existent bluesman. The album was originally printed on
only 95 copies, but in the long run, on a national scale, it would become a
relative phenomenon of primitivism. Among the many traditional songs within,
there were two of his original compositions which stood out: The Transcendental Waterfall and On Doing an Evil Deed Blues, which both
had little in common with the folk revival of those years.
Death Chants (Takoma, 1963) contains ten songs, including some surreal cartoons (Stomping Tonight on the Pennsylvania/Alabama Border, The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill, and Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Phillip XIVI).
Although it would be several more years before Fahey decided
to take a serious career in music, he released Dance of Death (Takoma, 1964) in 1964. To have a free hand in the
transfiguration of folk music, before the publishing of this record Fahey
officially founded his own record label, called Takoma (in tribute to his land
of origin). This album contains two long improvisations, Dance of Death and What the Sun Said, which anticipated the masterpieces of Faheys mature years.
In these transition years, Fahey engaged in apprenticeships
and found his true nature as a disciple of the guitar. From his mentors, he
learned techniques that would eventually lead to the zenith of his musical
output, including a curious return to unorthodox styles that were inspired by
both the symphonic poems of romance and the soundtracks to silent films.
The first results of Faheys mature years are found in Great San Bernardino Party (Takoma, 1966), especially the long The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party, and Requia (Vanguard, 1967), which contains the four part Requiem for Molly, which overdubs noises such as war sounds and Nazi war chants.
Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death (Riverboat, 1965) miniaturizes
that profane conception of sacred music on honky-tonk rhythm (Orinda-Moraga)
and on blues rhythm (Death of Clayton Peacock),
while introducing elements of Eastern religions (I Am the Resurrection),
to define a new kind of ecstatic litany (On the Sunny Side).
His impressionistic narrative art continued to evolve on
Days Have Gone By (Takoma, 1967)
via the frenzied, dramatic and cinematic Night Train To Valhalla
and the elegant, unstable eloquence of
The Portland Cement Factory at Monolith - California, while
A Raga Called Pat blends railway sounds, field recordings of a pond and raga-like concentration, and the
nine-minute My Shepherd Will Supply My Needs is a slow, whispered
religious prayer.
His palette is broad enough to encompass both the
stately hymn The Revolt Of The Dyke Brigade and the
breezy serenade Impressions Of Susan, and to amuse with
an antiquated miniature like My Grandfather's Clock.
Yellow Princess (Vanguard, 1968) is
carried away by the moods of the hippie era
(the raga Dance of the Inhabitants of the Invisible City of Bladensburg,
the horrific psychedelia Singing Bridge of Memphis, Tennessee,
the madrigal Yellow Princess),
and it shows the same expressive maturity of the aforementioned
record on a more humble level.
On these albums, Fahey unleashed a vast amount of ideas. Each
album is a mosaic of instrumental monologues, never shrill, rhetorical, or
martial, but always crystal clear and delicate. Fahey shuns sensationalism and
the breathtaking acrobatics of the bluegrass virtuosos: his picking is much
more intimate, composed, and resigned.
The ingredients of his style are all still recognizable: the
blues, gospel, country, Irish dancing, church music, psychedelia. To amalgamate
all of these into a single continuum, he utilizes unrecognizable Indian
classical music.
On Voice of the Turtle (Takoma, 1968), Fahey creates a fusion of western guitar playing and
Indian scales (A Raga Called Pat Parts 3
and 4), and then developed his conception of metaphysical primitivism.
Fahey, on this record, would finalize a guitar style that is the folk
equivalent of stream of consciousness.
The Voice of the
Turtle is the first of three soloist and instrumental masterpieces by
Fahey, followed by America (Takoma,
1971 Fantasy, 1999 4 Men With Beards, 2009) and
Fare Forward Voyagers (Takoma, 1973). The tracks on Turtle stretch, relax, chase each other
through the skies in timeless and endless valleys over a period of sunrises and
sunsets, and the listener is hoisted as if on a magic carpet, drifting down a
stream of memories and dreams. Fahey shifts the emphasis of this record towards
mysticism, transcendence, and metaphysics. From
America there are the
tracks Mark 1:15 and The Voice of the Turtle, and from Fare Forward Voyagers there is When the Fire and the Rose are One;
these tracks especially create an intense blues atmosphere/ the raga of
man-turtle transfigures existence in a sort of internal journey/ eternal in
the mind.
The slow tinkling of the guitar, left to drift alone,
cradling the dreams of pioneers, the anxieties of solitary adventurers, the
hopes of the caravan, crosses landscapes of boundless prairies and unexplored
mountains, majestic rivers and terrible oceans. What Fahey achieves is a stream
of collective consciousness, and in that stream the consciousness of humanity
is recognized in the whole of odysseys and travelers are bid a fare forward
voyage, while the whole times the great Ulysses sails, rides, or walks towards
the unknown.
And in this is the message of the western raga which Fahey
created: the hypnotic and cultish breaking away from calm and anemic cadences,
away from any temptation of descriptivism or imitation of tradition. The music
that results, cryptic and obscure, is nevertheless full of a rich and warm
humanism.
Voyagers is by far
Faheys most lyrical composition, both complex and majestic. Where Voice is still tied to a fairytale
world, both in the cadence and the story told,
Voyagers rises in a spectacular whirlwind of celestial visions, a
modest and ascetic mandala.
At that point, in correspondence with the general slowdown
of alternative instances of the 60s that was replaced by a period of
relaxation and gentrification, Fahey becomes satisfied with scholarly
nonchalane and often proceeds to browse the pages of the American past: Of Rivers and Religion (Reprise, 1972),
is arranged in a far more professional manner (dobro, mandolin, trumpet,
clarinet, piano, double bass) and echoes Dixieland music. However, it is far
less personal and unique than the other albums of this period.
Contemporaneously, After the Ball (Reprise,
1973) and some Christmas album were released.
The best of these nostalgic reinterpretations of music from
the early part of the century is perhaps Old
Fashioned Love (Takoma, 1975), on which Fahey is accompanied by a band with
a tuba, trumpet, trombone, jug, banjo, and piano, and where, wandering between
blues and ragtime, he eventually reaches another one of his ecstatic mantras
with Dry Bones in the Valley
.
The pathological curiosity with the archaic 78s would
remain a constant throughout Faheys career, a fever that would assail at
regular intervals.
The creative fatigue, however, was offset by a beautiful
theme of fantasy, sweetness, good nature, and optimism that was missing in
Faheys masterpieces. His exuberant travel impressions on
Visits Washington DC (Takoma, 1979) contain the breathtaking Grand Finale, and the next record, Railroad 1 (Takoma, 1983), contained
imitations of trains. Old Girlfriends
and Other Horrible Memories (Varrick, 1990) contains themes of courtly rock
music romances. Let Go (Varrick,
1984) and Rain Forests (Varrick,
1985) both contain folk variations on famous rock and classical compositions,
and both albums come off as a bit trivial.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Yes Jesus Loves Me (Takoma, 1980), a collection of sacred music,
and I Remember Blind Joe Death (Rounder, 1987)
are other albums of this period.
God Time And Causality (Shanachie, 1990) is possibly the apex of his
guitar technique, although it mainly reworks material of the 1960s.
The Return Of The Repressed (Rhino, 1994) is an anthology.
A serious disease began affecting his career in 1986 and eventually caused him
to reture. Fahey returned to the scenes with a double 78-RPM record,
Morning/ Evening Not Night (Perfect, 1996).
City of Refuge (Tim Kerr, 1997) marked John Fahey's return, but it
was a mixed blessing. Fahey had abandoned his progressive-folk style and
converted to modern technology. City of Refuge is an epic-length
exploration of textural possibilities, and
On the Death and Disembowelment of the New Age is, de facto, a concert
of tape manipulation (20 minutes).
Fahey the musician prevails over Fahey the poet.
Womblife (Table Of The Elements, 1997),
an exercise in psychedelic ambience, contains five lengthy pieces:
Sharks (9:20), Planaria (9:54), Eels (6:13),
Coelacanths (7:28), Juana (12:34).
At least
the gamelan nightmare Planaria ranks among his masterpieces.
this period.
The EP The Mill Pond (Little Brother, 1997) is far more adventurous
that either 1997 album: Ghosts, Garbage and
Mill Pond are electronic and dissonant music at its best.
The Epiphany Of Glenn Jones (Thirsty Ear, 1997) is a collaboration with
Cul De Sac.
A few pieces are impressive
(Gamelan Collage, New Red Pony, Our Puppet Selves,
Magic Mountain, Tuff) but the music does not sound as personal
and emotional as it used to. It sounds like a university lecture.
The Mill Pond (Important, 2008) collects a double single from 1997, two
of his most experimental and somber works:
The Mill Pond Drowns Hope and You Can't Cool Off In The Mill Pond, You Can Only Die
Georgia Stomps Atlanta Struts (Table of the Elements, 1998) is his
first-ever all-electric recording, but the repertory is mostly covers.
Hitomi (Livhouse, 2000) is hardly revolutionary in his career, despite
the bright watercolors of Delta Flight 53.
Red Cross (Revenant, 2003), the last album he recorded before his death,
is a very minor work.
Hard Time Empty Bottle Blues (1-4) (Table Of The Elements, 2004) is a
four-track EP that documents a live 1996 performance.
The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick (2005) documents live performances from
the 1960s.
Sea Changes and Coelacanths - A Young Person's Guide To John Fahey (Table Of The Elements, 2006) is a double-CD that collects
Womblife (1997), Georgia Stomps, Atlanta Struts, & Other Contemporary Dance Favorites (1998) and Hard Time Empty Bottle Blues (2003).
Twilight On Prince Georges Avenue (Rounder, 2009) is a compilation of the period 1984-1992.
The five-disc box-set Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You (The Fonotone Years 1958-1965) collects the earliest John Fahey recordings.
The box-set
The Transcendental Waterfall: Guitar Excursions 1962-1967 (4 Men With Beards, 2013)
compiles Blind Joe Death, Death Chants, Dance of Death, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death and Days Have Gone By.
John Fahey died in february 2001 at 62.
