Biography

Starting his career in the late 1950s, John Fahey set the standard for instrumental acoustic guitar pieces, both in terms of composition and improvisation. Fahey's unique style, fully realized in the heady days of the late '60s, incorporated traditional folk, blues, and old-time country music into a decidedly modernist sensibility. A highly informed and irascible figure, he wrote two books about his life in music and started his own influential label, Takoma Records. An eccentric character, Fahey spent a lot of time under the radar, but was taken up as a hero by the more experimental end of the alt-rock generation in the '90s, enjoying a revival before his death in 2001.

Top Tracks

• Click on the track to launch in Spotify

• 900 Miles

• A Minor Blues

• A Raga Called Pat, Pt. 1

• America

• Ann Arbor/death By Reputation

• Beverly

• Blind Blues (aka Martin's Esso Blues)

• Blind Thomas Blues, Pt. 1

• Buck Dancer's Choice (1)

• Candy Man

• Charley Bradley's Ten-sixty-six Blues

• Dance Of The Inhabitants Of The Invisible City Of Bladensburg

• Days Have Gone By

• Desperate Man Blues

• Dry Bones In The Valley (i Saw The Light Come Shining 'round And ...)

• Dvorák

• Going Crabbing Talking Blues, Pt. 2

• Guitar Solo Title Unknown (2) (night Train To Valhalla (1))

• Hawaiian Two-step

• Horses

• In Christ There Is No East Or West

• Indian-pacific R.r. Blues

• Irish Letter

• Jaya Shiva Shankara

• Joe Kirby Blues

• John Henry (2)

• Knoxville Blues

• Lion

• Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming

• Lord Have Mercy

• March! For Martin Luther King

• Medley: Interlude/the Portland Cement Factory/requiem For Mississippi

• Medley: Silver Bell/cheyenne

• Old Fashioned Love

• On The Sunny Side Of The Ocean

• Orinda-moraga

• Poor Boy

• Requiem For John Hurt

• Requiem For John Hurt (funeral Song For Mississippi John Hurt)

• Requimen For Molly, Pt. 2

• Revelation On The Banks Of The Pawtuxent

• Revolt Of The Dyke Brigade

• Saint John's Hornpipe

• Silent Night

• Sligo Mud

• Some Summer Day

• Spanish Two Step

• Spanish Two-step

• Steamboat Gwine 'round De Bend

• Steel Guitar Rag

• Stone Pony

• Summertime

• Sunflower River Blues

• Sunset On Prince George's County

• The Approaching Of The Disco Void

• The Death Of The Clayton Peacock

• The Fahey Sampler

• The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party

• The Mill Pond Drowns Hope

• The Portland Cement Factory At Monolith, California

• The Revolt Of The Dyke Brigade

• The Transcendental Waterfall (2)

• The Yellow Princess

• Tuff

• Twilight On Prince George's Avenue

• Untitled With Rain

• Western Medley

• When You Wore A Tulip (and I Wore A Big Red Rose)

• Wissenschaftlich River Blues, Pt. 1

• Worried Blues

• Yazoo Basin Blues

• You Can't Cool Off In The Mill Pond, You Can Only Die

Discography

• Click on the album to launch in Spotify

• On Air

  Tradition & Moderne

  2005

• Some Summer Day

  Intergroove

  2005

• Red Cross

  Revenant

  2003

• Georgia Stomps, Atlanta Struts & Other Dance

  Table Of The Elements

  1998

• The Epiphany of Glenn Jones

  Thirsty Ear Recordings

  1997

• Womblife

  Table Of The Elements

  1997

• City of Refuge

  Tim Kerr / Polygram

  1997

• Old Girlfriends & Other Horrible Memories

  Varrick

  1992

• Singing Bridge of Memphis, Tennessee/March! for Martin Luther King

  Vanguard

  1992

• God, Time & Casuality

  Shanachie Records / Shanachie

  1990

• I Remember Blind Joe Death

  Varrick

  1988

• Railroad

  Shanachie Records / Shanachie

  1983

• Yes! Jesus Loves Me/Gospel Night

  Takoma

  1980

• Visits Washington DC

  Ace

  1979

• Old Fashioned Love

  Prestige Records / Takoma

  1975

• Of Rivers and Religion

  Import

  1972

• America

  Takoma

  1971

• The Voice of the Turtle

  Takoma

  1968

• Requia & Other Compositions for Guitar Solo

  Vanguard

  1967

• Vol. 1: Blind Joe Death

  Takoma

  1967

• Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes [1967]

  1967

• Vol. 4: The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party

  Takoma

  1966

• The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death

  Takoma

  1965

• The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites [CD]

  Takoma

  1965

• Vol. 3: Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites [LP]

  Takoma

  1965

• Blind Joe Death

  Takoma

  1964