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Alt Fahey, for real. John Fahey began his life in music by making solo acoustic guitar recordings of his eccentric versions of early Delta blues. In doing so, he accidently invented "alternative music." As well as "alternative music record labels." Along with the genres of "alternative and alt music." Very few people know this. Fahey was, and is, a mostly unrecognized music genius.
It started as a joke.
How bluegrass music ruined Fahey's life. Fahey didn't merely enjoy it. This song went straight into his cell structure. Within a couple of minutes, it forever changed his life. As he listened to this song, he remembered tears silently welling up in his eyes. From these few moments forward, Fahey would become an unknown force in 20th century American music. Fahey became "a musician's musician." His explorations of music influenced such a wide range of American music, it's probably impossible to chronicle how many well-known musicians were listening to his many albums.
The 50's and early 60's.
The mid-1960's change nearly everything. But John Fahey was also the epitome of a social misfit. He had very little understanding of practical business. And genuinely didn't care. As a result, Fahey ended up living in his car. Which he apparently accepted as part of the cost of being John Fahey. He actually used a photo of himself living in his car for the cover of his Womblife album.
Saved by alterative music and his Christmas albums.. In the midst of all this chaos, Fahey had earlier recorded a series of elegant, highly listenable solo acoustic guitar albums of Christmans music. These albums quickly became his best selling recordings. And they still are. Fahey's Christmas music is deeply elegant rather than ornamental. It's often included in holiday season playlists. You can hear it every year, interspersed with favorite Christmas holiday music, in shopping malls and building lobbies. Internationally, from small towns to large cities.
What you see is what you don't get. Fahey was forgotten by the public, and most of the music industry. But not by knowledgeable musicians and music critics. In 2003, Fahey was ranked 35th in Rolling Stone Magazine's "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list. In 2022, Fahey had dropped the 78th. But considering how esoteric his music was, that's still rather amazing. The number of Google search engine returns for Fahey are equally impressive. On June 15th, 2022, a search for "John Fahey" yielded: About 7,990,000 results (0.64 seconds).
Why I never learned to play a Fahey song, on purpose. I'm still a big fan of "Fahey-style" acoustic guitar. But I wanted to find my own music path. There's more about this experience in my
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