Fahey Or Not Fahey?
John Fahey & Friends
Tribute
(Slackertone)
In the five years since John Fahey died, posthumous reissues and albums have more or less consistently cast him as an avant-folk guitarist of impeccable skill. Here, his peers expand the palette considerably.
Fahey might be limited in the public’s mindseye as simply an acoustic guitarist, but whoa, what an understatement. His repertoire combined American folk with touches of everything from jazz to new age to blues to Indian modes to Anglo classical, and if he set his own rules, he rarely followed them. George Winston transcribes him for piano and harmonica on separate versions of “Steamboat Gwine ‘Round De Bend” and Mark Lemhouse turns Fahey’s Charley Patton fixation inside-out on “How White’s Restaurant Destroyed My Life.” But what will remain the undying lesson in Fahey’s contributions — fully understood by almost everyone taking part — was the integration of ideas so they sounded of the same mind. That Fahey didn’t have two, well, the coroner’s inquest doesn’t say.
— Steve Forstneger
Click here for a sample of “Steamboat Gwine Round The Bend.”
