Rare video with John Fahey - Laura Weber's "Guitar, Guitar" TV Show 1969 

Playlist: 1. 2:12 Red Pony 2. 10:19 The Death Of The Clayton Peacock 3. 15:35 In Christ There Is No East Or West 4. 23:54 Mark 1 15 Fahey's guitars in this video: Bacon and Day Senorita and Kona Hawaiian Guitar Tunings: Open Dm for Red Pony (actually, here it is lowered by half a tone like other tunings in this show, except the song for the slide guitar ), Open Gm for The Death Of The Clayton Peacock, standard tuning for In Christ There Is No East Or West and Drop D for Mark 1 15. Also, I have some Fahey stuff on my channel.

I was a student at UCSD at this time and he would often sit on the lawn playing totally in his own world.

I just discovered John Fahey. I went away from listening to one of his songs almost feeling like I had heard a song with actual lyrics. His music really tells a story without words. It’s very colorful and expressive.

Let's just appreciate how wonderful it is that this video exists.

I met John in the 70's at The Ash Grove in Los Angeles and we talked about guitars briefly. He was connected to Henry Vestine and the Canned Heat, but much more than that ,he was a blues scholar and a kick ass guitarist , VERY DEEP. Read his books, He was a very nice person and I treasure those memories, People say he was eccentric. No, he was just very HUMAN.

I discovered him around 1969 as a 16 year old kid. It was the album covers. Without ever hearing him, something told me he was a unique and possibly great artist just from his album covers. I was not disappointed.

Wish more of Laura Weber's "Folk Guitar" series were available today. I still have the booklet and vinyl album.

After years of being teased with bits of clips, I had given up hope of finding the complete piece. There is so much going on here; what a genius. Thank you and bless you for doing this.

I got a huge kick once, late '85 or early '86, pre-Chernobyl, anyway, when an American guy recognised the tune I was trying to play, sitting in the doorway of my split-windscreen VW camper in NZ, as John's "In Christ There Is No East Or West". Down there in the Antipodes, two Fahey lovers.

Marvellous stuff. From the heart to the heart. No need to think about it. Like nature it's there, beautiful and inspiring. Rare in more ways than one.

my all time favourite player. special. timeless, unique. so much emotion in his playing. a talent beyond words

Been listening to John Fahey for over 40 years. Always felt Ol' John was exactly where he was supposed to be: Playing his Guitar! Authentic, Humble, Unique & Artistically Creative. Thanks for the Creative Inspiration.... Thanks Johnny ✝️💜🎸🎭☕🎶

We grew up in Maryland and there were coffee shops hosting what we now call open mic nights, where she often played. John was her guitar hero! She learned some of his pieces and they are familiar to me when I hear them...(to self) "my sister played that too!" She passed away a year ago, but when we talked about playing our guitars, she always brought up John Fahey. She would absolutely love this post. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, what a treasure, thank you for this upload! Our dad played John's records and in 1969 John's music was the soundtrack as I was literally a barefoot boy running in the woods of W KY. Great memories.

I have been casually listening to fahey for a while now and learned to play sunflower river blues, but man watching these live performances in their entirety has really opened me up to the breadth of john's creativity and uniqueness as an artist. There will never be another like him.

This just popped up in my RU-vid suggestions. Very cool! John plays as if it were in the late 1800s in Appalachia. Mysterious, beautiful, primitive and yet strangely perfect. Amazing! Thanks.

really cool to hear him talk, this man is a genius

Thank you so much for posting this. I absolutely love when he says that he's not too worried about what to call his music. He embodied so much idiosyncrasy with such love and reverence for his influences. . His style is a true musical mosaic. A sonic interpretation of cultural diaspora and influence. I've been listening to his work for years and it's only getting better with age. The more you listen, the deeper your understanding. Sometimes his blending of colors hits you in a very strange way, but, keep trying if you don't quite get it. It is so beautiful. One of those guitarists where you truly feel like the instrument is an extension of his body, mind, and spirit. Where the instrument is truly channeling him Like a six stringed radio antenna for the soul.

A meeting of two icons of 1960s folk. Simply delightful banter between two very different people united by the guitar. Laura and John are a part of my musical past and seeing them together is special.

Fahey is amazing. What an interesting personality, and incredible artist. Good post, thank you

I used to play John’s version of In Christ There Is No East or West years ago. It is so cool to finally see him play it.

Laura Weber, "Folk Guitar." That takes me back. I watched every week. My first guitar lessons. I still have both of her books!

Back in the 80's, I was in a music store and overheard a guitar lesson being conducted with someone learning how to fingerpick a country blues tune. I immediately knew that I wanted to learn how to play like this. I waited around until the lesson concluded so that I could ask the instructor if I might take lessons from him, which I did for less than a year before he moved away. He ended up turning me on to all kinds of awesome music I wasn't previously aware of, including the music of John Fahey. It's great to see this footage all these years later. Thank you for sharing!

Wow..Have I missed fahey for so many years..no one like him❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

What a such real interview, love it

At last the entire interview! Thank you so much!

Wow this is amazing ! Thanks for posting

Legend ! thank you so much for putting up the full video !

This is great, I couldn't ever get to see the full interview. Thanks!

stunning. Thanks for putting this up.

*Thank you for such a delightful post.*

Thank you, I used to have the VHS of this... long lost.

Thank you - these outliers just experience differently with exceptional ears

Thanks for posting this. I havent known about Fahey for long but his music is entrancing. Made my morning watching this

I remember seeing this on television! Ms. Weber had a very good show and I learned a lot. I eventualy went on to learn a few Fahey tunes. Thanks for posting!

Brilliant discovery, thanks for uploading

Amazing. Brilliant. I like how he lights up a cigarette - and it becomes part of the show for a bit.

this is amazing, thanks for sharing! i've been watching clips for years, always curious about the full program! lol the host is wild. he corrects her after she mistakes sandy bull for him, and she says 'maybe, i may be wrong' XD

What a beautiful person. I never met him but I love him and I love this.

Great to see this! Thanks for posting. One of my favorite experiences in playing guitar was learning how to play John's The Last Steam Engine Train and In Christ There Is No East Or West. He was truly one of the greats and an inspiration to other guitar players. RIP

What a gift to my music world. Thanks for this.

I love this rendition of The death of the Clayton Peacock. Thanks for posting the complete video

A great original and a beautifully expressive player.

Thanks for this. I had seen Red Pony as a clip from this, but the full interview is a lot more informative and instructive. I have been listening to Fahey on and off since 1971 but now I have some further clues as to how he made those sounds.

Great video. Fahey was one of my heroes when I started playing guitar in the late 60's as I was pretty good at Travis picking (and not much else), but it had that "just a little bit different" sound from the perfect folk/folk-rock sounds of the era. Thanks so much for posting this!

what a treasure, thank you for posting this , Such a great sound . :) QC

I used to have this on VHS! I started playing acoustic guitar instrumentals and when I discovered Fahey, it kinda gave me a template and permission to continue. Even though our styles are quite different, I still consider him a major influence.

Artists like Fahey could never come to notice in the world of social media, PR presence and self-projection. An artist who came to international cult status because of a pressing of 57 copies of a self-produced vinyl LP in the late 1950s? We’ve stopped looking that hard for mysteries and enigmas.

the playing together is so beautiful

I was turned on to John's playing back in the early 70's by a friend I am about to send this link to, who will probably read this comment. I really appreciate this video giving a name to my style of play, which is also self-taught and not like anyone else, including John Fahey: American Primitive. I like that. Maybe it is time for an American Primitive movement.

I've heard this referred as "Ragtime" style, and I can imagine the old after-dinner parties before the age of TV and radio, where the family would sit around in the parlor with guitar, mandolin, mandocello, and fiddle, and this was their source of entertainment for the night. It was a different time back then, and this music is an amazing throwback to that earlier age.

You are awesome, thank you

I wonder what happened to John's Bacon & Day guitar. This is a lovely timepiece. Ms Weber is a charmer and John seems very happy and at ease in this environment. thank you for uploading the whole programme. I'd like to see more of the Guitar Guitar show.

Finally! Thank you!

Thank you for the vidéo

This man was a pioneer.

And a guy this talented lived out of his car for a time

thanks for this

I have his albums all the way back to the 60’s. He’s a favorite. Saw him live in St. Louis c. 1972. Nothing like his style.

I came across John on some Guitar Sampler album around '71. Both tracks on there were a bit unusual, but amazingly beautiful. He was unique.

Tremendous! Thank you!

Imagine, in 2022, a guest on a US public TV show lighting up a cigarette on the set, and the host acting completely nonchalant about it.

That guitar is awesome, I’ve got a Bacon and Day senorita mandolin with Brazilian rosewood back and sides. I always think of John when I play it.

I had a dream drowned in alcohol and dreamt of john, and i watched his life from the beginning of his music to the end of his life, it was weird, it was very melancholic. I still have such a depressing air around me from when that happened to now. About it. Alcohol is fun. Not when your 15.

John was a gifted musician and I think greatly influenced by Merle Travis and his picking style.

Legendary. Thanks!!!

One thing i get out of this is John was a complete original, a bit defensive about being entirely self-taught and also did not read musical notation...but he did have a good grasp of real American folk and blues (he was an avid collector of original work) and he simply delved deeply into himself and took it to another level of excellence. He did not worry too much about how people viewed him and his style; which was a double edged sword which put some folks off, but others liked that he fearlessly went where others feared to tread. That may have accounted for the deep places he was able to go to in many of his songs. It was a conversation he was having with his muse and he resented that some were not willing to see the spider silk he created out of his love for something uniquely his own. There are few like him, afaik.

I still have his 1966 Takoma 4 Great San Bernardino Birthday album I bought when it came out - Fahey's best!

That Kona guitar that John Fahey called "cheap" isn't cheap anymore. That's a $3000 guitar made in the 1920's by Hermann Weissenborn in Los Angeles. Made out of solid koa.

omg! thank you so much. what a beautiful guy and great musician

Wow! Thanks

Incredible!

I listened to 20 versions of Farther Along and John's was by far the best and he was just fooling around.

Thank you so much for posting this! I saw the show Guitar Guitar around when it aired and have always wanted to review it. To Me, side one of Fahey's Requia album was his best work which was from this period in 1967. Fahey was a musical and compositional genius. Probably inconsistent as a performer in concerts but who cares?!!

this is GOLD

John fa hey is well loved!!!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Lovin' this

Excellent

What a treat!

oh the days when you could light up a smoke everywhere

8:40. Flicks ash into the sound hole of the guitar. I was watching this on public TV out of Kansas City. I was just enamored with Ry Cooder , Fahey and any guitarist that could finger pick. Back then there was no internet, no rock on TV, even FM radio was considered so unimportant that alt formats were allowed, even encouraged. Fahey benefitted from that environment. He wasn’t commercial, but lord he could play! The host here was briefly important in the grand scheme of things. Salad days…

Unmistakable sound.

Very awesome

Saw this when i was kid.

I love the way he just has a smoke midway through!

Just the right way of playing guitar self thought

Killer stuff! RIP John

Amazing that he mentions he took the last piece of Red Pony from Holst - The Planets. Can you imagine even mentioning Holst to one of today's "musicians" ? They would be completely clueless !

Amazing! Though I have a couple of Fahey’s albums, I have never SEEN either of these humans before! Ms. Weber is way fun, and Mr. Fahey is an ascended master of subtlety and nuance! For my fellow instrument geeks, I am fairly certain that this Bacon & Day guitar was made in the early 1930’s by the Oscar Schmidt Company of Jersey City, NJ. Quite elaborate and fancy, it may have been a one off, but more likely it was from a VERY small “batch” of high end instruments that were “jobber built” under sub-contract for the Bacon and Day Co. (which, at that time, unless I’m mistaken, was owned by Rhettberg and Lange). The Oscar Schmidt Company also prominently made “Stella” guitars and host of other brands, both their own and almost endless others! By “batch,” in reference to John’s “B&D,” I’d suggest that a dozen would be a huge over estimate, more likely in the range of 3-6 instruments TOTAL! I base that in part from the fact that in my own lifetime in fretted and stringed instruments (and paying attention!) I have never encountered, even in any way peripherally, another example of Mr. Fahey’s instrument! Note that, while a 14 fret to the body instrument, it still has the earlier slotted headstock design, a particular combination of features which, along with the prototypical “country & western” overall aesthetic (Jimmie Rodgers and all that!), would tend to indicate a date of manufacture of c.1933-35… In support of this thesis, if you can access a picture of the black “Sovereign” guitar on page 21 of Neil Harpe’s most wonderful, “The Stella Guitar Book, The Guitars of the Oscar Schmidt Company” (nh, 2004), it pretty well makes the case, at least to my own satisfaction… Does anyone know the current whereabouts of Fahey’s guitar (it being an example of a “ladder braced” masterpiece, not to mention it’s immense historicity!)… anybody know? - Ah, but I do tend to go on a bit in my “reclining” years, ‘mm? Well, as Dale and Roy would always sing… “Happy Trails to you, ‘til we Meet Again!” - “Recuerdos a todos,” Glenn aka Textoyevsky PS I can scarcely believe that spellcheck GAVE me “historicity!” (any evidence of “prior use?”… ‘d be curious, jus’ sayin’…) It was like a “grudge match”with some initial objections, but the crowd was with me and ultimately I won it on a close decision… “This is how we do it now…” - Namaste, GCB Jones

I liked the first and the last tune a lot.

Mr. Fahey was one of the greats

The interview is awkward. She's never heard a song speed up?! Awesome guitar and he handled her with gloves. Hard to play with gloves on.

I just learned he did and sold a bunch of paintings later in his life.

The program was called Folk Guitar, on KQED in SF. She was the kind of folk musicologist that he used to ridicule. I wonder why he held back. She certainly gave him plenty of material to work with here. I think he had the hots for her.

John had put the Hawaiian guitar down and wanted me to play it. Wow,I learned music on piano. As he noted the guitar is a derivative of the sitar,and he develops a method of incorporating eastern elements . All I knew was that Ravi Shankar wanted to swap his daughter Anoushka for my William Barry leather jacket. Still have the jacket. No Anoushka.

Fahey was a magician.

Pure genius!

Cool to meet him. I just had an obscure album of his, and I figured he might be some kind of distant loner in real life. Glad to be wrong. I really like the flesh-and-blood man. :)

His voice and fluctuation sound so much like Kurt Cobain, it really took me back a second

''divine inspiration and an open subconscious''.