I've been a John Fahey fan since the 60s. I actually met John, he had come to Montreal to play at a local folk music club. Apparently he had a girlfriend in Montreal. In between sets I would talk to him in the green room. He had been to India and so I also had been to India. Apparently he was or had been a follower of a woman saint, Anandamayi Ma. After the gig, I drove him back to his hotel. The next morning he was flying back to the states. I still love his music, an originator of the guitar style called "Americian Primitive Guitar".
during his 70s gigs his guitars were micd with an sm57 or other dyn mics pointing right to the soundhole, giving a very booming, bassy, aggressive sound. In few interviews during the 90s he complained about sound guys not being able to decently mic acoustic instruments and he said that was also one of the reasons for him going electric. That and the fact that apparently he wasn't able to play acoustic guitars without feeling pain on his left hand fingers the day after the shows. And of course once you go electric is kind of hard to switch back to acoustic and I am actually quite surprised to have found a '96 gig without his electric. Anyway blessings to him and to all Fahey fans still here celebrating his incredible spirit
I moved some of John's guitar in a few live gigs,I booked and drove himtw a Shure SM81. He preferred swonging it up to talk thru. I had my Shure Beta 58 for that. I blow harp through it. I have added 2 Neumann TLM 107s and a Sennheisser shotgun I use for motion pictures. John liked to record in his motel room. Intimate and experimenting in changing his style. He liked maid service. Could live with .e anytime. BN evening run behind his room. Above Willamette River. Hid spray paint cans beneath his bed from the maids. Bob Will it's called this corner music. John deserved the best. Robert Wheeler. He would shun recording studios
This is absolutely incredible. He sounds amazing !!! I believe this is the first piece he ever really composed? What a beauty of a clip thank you for sharing !
He claimed he didn't use fingerpicks in the 90s because "they quit making them right." He also said he put a "notch" in those picks so that the notes rang clearer and louder. I've tried this 'notch' business and I still don't know what he's talking about. All I know is this - watch the fahey 1981 santa monica video on youtube. I dont know anyone who can replicate that tone and that volume. I BOUGHT A MARTIN D35 and practiced forever with fingerpicks trying to sound like that. Trying to copy his rolls. I guess he just perfected that tone and volume after playing for 20 years so I'll continue the struggle 😅. If it had to do with modifying the fingerpicks he took that secret to his grave.
Washburn. In the 70s he could have made any guitar sound amazing. This video was from the evening of his life. He wasn't interested in regular playing/practicing at this point.
@@younghobo you're right, and I knew that - don't know why I said Washburn. He played that Blueridge in the guitar lessons he did for Stefan Grossman that year.
i love the change he made in this version to the dissonant section. sounds much less indulgent and more fun but i still like the other too. any reason why this guitar sounds so shitty though? LMAO
I read once that in his later life he preferred cheap guitars, i suspect it was either a statement (some "its the player not the guitar" philosophy) or out of necessity, having pawned or lost his higher quality instruments. Plus he isnt using his fingerpicks. PLUS this sounds like a recording taken right off the soundboard, maybe it sounded nicer through the PA speakers with the resonance of the room alongside it. Could be lots of things really lol
