Fingerstyle Acoustic giant JOHN FAHEY passed away recently [Feb 22, 2001] in Salem, OR. Without the musical and entrepreneurial exploits of this true American original this site and our catalog would not exist and the idea that people would listen to instrumental steel string guitar music , and most of it composed by the players, would still be a fantasy. It is our hope to eventually realize a project which would include many of the artists who are part of our catalog to create a CD tribute to this icon.

Mr Fahey has recorded many times over the last 4 decades... I would suggest that the wonderful CD "God , Time and Causality" is a great place to start collecting... Rhino issued a two CD retrospective... and Vanguard Records has released a collection as well. Many of his recordings for his own Takoma Records are now being issued on CD by Fantasy Records and there is plenty to enjoy within that group as well. He was misunderstood by most, but his music and legacy lives on in many of us.

article by Brett/AMR
http://www.AcousticMusicResource.com

John Fahey was an eccentric, acoustic innovator. His eclectic musical works transcended folk to cover Jazz & Blues, too. He has created several dozen albums that included influences from Blues, Indian ragas, Native American music, experimental dissonance, and pop. His friend Dr. Demento said he "was the first to demonstrate that the finger-picking techniques of traditional country and blues steel-string guitar could be used to express a world of nontraditional musical ideas — harmonies and melodies you'd associate with Bartok, Charles Ives, or maybe the music of India."