I'm 28 and just picked up the guitar. I've listened to this song for about 10 years now. I started learning this song first. No lessons, nothing strumming. Just dove into fingerpicking. After 3 long months of the same song, I'm getting pretty good. Not close to perfect but enough to make me cry in gratitude.
This song right here is probably one of the most "fun" songs to learn how to play. Those bends, the fingerpicking pattern, everything about it. Great choice n keep up on it!
I knew John in the last few years of his life and he was one of the kindest men I knew...he would give you the shirt off his back. If you wanted him to show you a thing or two on guitar he was more than happy to oblige.
Repent and trust in Jesus. He's the only way to Heaven. We've all sinned and deserve Hell. Sins like lying, lusting, etc. Repent and trust only in Jesus, and you will be saved! You can be saved because he took the punishment for our sins on himself when he died on the cross, just like someone can pay your speeding fine in court, and you get off free. Romans 3:23 John 3:16😊❤
+ChampionPsalms I've been listening to him on and off for years but this is the first video I've ever seen! Same feeling, just amazing playing and soul.
The song is a variation of a tune called Vestapol. It's in open D. Fahey did not write it. He never claimed to, either, to his credit. Libba Cotten recorded a version in about 1960. She said it was a very old song that she heard as a child in the 1920s. It has been in public domain for at least 50 years. Nearly every acoustic fingerpicker had a version of this in their repertoire, including Rev. Robert Wilkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Bukka White and Stefan Grossman. Keith Richards definitely did not write it. He gave credit to McDowell. But Fred did not write it either. A lot of bluesmen referred to open D as Vestapol tuning. Or Vastapol, depending on where you are in the country. It is a beautiful tune I have been playing since about 1970. The trick to learning the tune is to get that solid boom chick alternating bass going. Took me some woodshedding. Then you play the melody on top. I admire John Fahey. But he was not a writer of old blues so much as one who gave new life to old blues tunes and riffs. Robert Wilkins had some nice words for it about Poor boy long ways from home.
this is very much john faheys song. to be honest really the only thing that connects it to the other variations is the name. obviously i know john intended to do that, maybe to pay homage to the old blues players. But there really isn't anything directly that john copied in this song in my opinion anyway.
Another riff on this same melody can be heard in Frank Hutchison's 'KC Blues,' played while he's "getting right on some red liquor.." They're not identical, but there's no denying that John Fahey, Hutchison (and countless others) are putting their own stamp on a shared gem. This is true of most early blues music.
Brian Thornton well done mate I've known this tune as Po boy for fifty years .how did it get named as vestapol.its been recorded as vestopol a couple of times since the sixties.
TRIVIA FACT : Back in the day John and Alan (the Blind Owl ) Wilson where close friends and room mates for awhile, but John always liked Alan to tune his guitar for him because he had perfect pitch. I think that is why at times you could see John look upward when tuning up on stage after the Blind Owl had died looking for some help from him from above....just sayin, R.I.P. you 2 Geniuses.
You can literally see a steamboat cutting through the Mississippi just by listening. I love how John can paint such vivid pictures with his guitar/paintbrush.
They call it primitive guitar but it’s far from primitive the way John played. I could listen and watch him play all day and all night brilliant stuff, RIP John!!!
I had the privilege of seeing John Fahey in about 1970,small club in Vancouver,sat about six feet from the man while he played on a floor level stage. Mesmerizing doesn't quite describe his performance. Went and saw him again the next night. Wish I'd gone to every show he did.
@@RealDiaz at the same time it's one of the only ways to reach younger generations. Why should fahey be exclusive to older people and those who search for it?
"I'll give you a little tip about the blues, folks: it's not enough to know which notes to play. You need to know why they need to be played" - G. Carlin
It aint about close. It's about making the entire endeavor into something you own because you were ambitious enough to do it. Also, there is no "finally". Whenever you exert the energy (music is psychic energy and my priest says music is the closest thing to magic that we, mortals can touch), it goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. So you're now an active part of the whole cosmic eternity thing. Welcome home, dear comrade. Welcome home. I'll see you when I can find my way to the same door you crossed.
If your ears aren't properly connected to your brain and your brain isn't properly connected to your soul , then you might not like the genius that lives on in Fahey's music . R.I.P , John
Woke up to my dad playing this song almost everyday he’s been gone since 07 Matt Bryer was an amazing blues musician just like mr fahey I still get goose bumps listening
This is probably my favorite Fahey tune. I taught myself how to play it last year using a Fahey songbook published in 1978. It is the kind of song that once you know it , you start playing it and you don't even have to think about it much. It just keeps going and your mind wanders off somewhere. I love it.
This has been my earworm for literally 30 years since hearing it on John Peel's radio 1 show back then. So glad to track it down. John Fahey himself teaches it at youtube watch?v=SAoSMhQTr4E and I love that slower version even more than this one.
Every time I listen to him and especially to his most transcendental, incandescent tunes... The phrase "A master at the height of his powers" comes to mind. He connects to something infinite in a unique way, unmistakable.
Absolutely. There are a thousand fantastic guitarists but only a handful that "reach beyond the veil" so to speak. I always thought of Fahey as the uncanny valley: definitely solidly in the realms of folk, blues, bluegrass, old timey music... But also very left field and alien in his approach to the traditional. At once familiar and foreign, almost unsettling, that's the uncanny valley, isn't it?
absolutely insane texture and groove coming out of that instrument, my god. The energy shift into 4:17 is a religious experience. every human being on earth is making the stank face at that moment.
all about approach and creativity. He isn't doing anything too complex and show-offy on the fret side of things, but his picking style and rhythm paired with his amazing compositions made him great.
This is the first I've seen or heard of this guy but I agree with you. His approach to the simplicity of the song makes it magic. He is quite the guitar player.
This man is a master of the guitar,had the privilege of seeing him in concert in a small club in Vancouver about 1971, sat about eight feet from the guy and watched one of the finest performances I have ever seen, the audience was mesmerized.
when i was 6 or 7 i listened to jf "voice of the turtle" lp over & over. i loved it. I don't remember where or how i got it. it must of been an angel gave it to me
saw him once, played at ucsd, came in drunk or in an altered state. played beautifully. then during the break, the gym was packed, hardluck boys did a gig, fahey went into a suicide rant, people begain to booh. he shrugged his shoulder and played like rumi 'n stanley from lsd. his guitar could take you to places you've never been and afterwards if you come back you could say you been on an adventure.
My cousin Ben Vorpahl was a professor at UCSD circa 1968 and had John in his US history class. Said he always brought a cooler full of Pepsi because he claimed he had an ulcer. His 4D descent was a terrible thing to watch and I think it was Leo Kottke who found him in a Sacramento homeless shelter and helped him through his final years perhaps (not sure of this part of his story). I will always be in awe of both these greats!
When I was in college in the late '60's, in the midst of all the great rock music that was happening at the time, John Fahey quietly broke through to become one our favorites. He was hip and hypnotic, original and unique. His music is still all of those things today. Sure wish he was still around.
@@davidjames9626 You guys got it all wrong. To be under-rated, you have to have been heard. Once you hear Fahey, you rate him right on up there at the top. Without question.
@@johnkemp9835 you miss understood what I wrote ..I said he was under-rated, because the listening public only know a few people at the top of any given genre, because they do not explore.. I agree most definately that this John Fahey is a great guitarist, a unique purist..
I've just finished Steve Lowenthal's biography of Fahey - Dance Of Death. It gives you an excellent life story about this troubled genius. Highly recommended.
I first saw this video 7 years ago. I was 23. I fell in love with it and this music genuinely changed my life. I grew up playing guitar, but I was mainly a metalhead and all I ever owned were electric guitars that I just played in my bedroom. I bought an acoustic after I heard this and the rest is history, I can play this track today just about as well as he plays it here. It took several years of practice and ear training to figure out how to do this style of alternate thumb picking competently. I read the book on his life too, can't remember the author's name but it's out there for you to read if you can find it for sale. I gave my copy to a girl back in 2019 who read it and then also fell in love with John Fahey's music. American Primitive guitar is a shining example of American innovation in the arts, it is literally a piece of our culture. Much of it of course being owed to the blues musicians of the early 20th century. God bless them.
To think the first time I heard his song was already 11 years ago. The whole reason I ended up learning guitar, and it still sounds as fresh now as it did when I was a teenager. I suppose I just have to come back and pay my respects every now and then. Perhaps Fahey wasn't the flashiest guitar player, but he tapped into an emotional language that few other guitarists can really access. That's not even to say he was better than most guitarists, but there was just something different about his music that I lack the language to articulate in any sense that would do justice. He was a truly unique musician, and ironically he would probably hate it if anyone ever told him that. RIP Poor Boy...
Yea.. at that show, you see that he would look way worse if he cut off the long bits because he would lose eccentricity and blend as a normie. He knows what he's doing. my fave!
One of the greatest unsung acoustic guitarists ever...anyone who plays even a little can understand his genius...he learned from many of the old masters...
I'll tell you how, though it might surprise you: each person has a particular music taste! I know, who would have thought? Maybe those 22 people were like "hey, let's give Fahey's music a chance", and then they didn't like it. Also, the fact that he was a really talented guitarist doesn't mean you have to like what he did.
So amazing. This is why my thumb is getting injections for trigger finger - over use from trying to learn and play amazing songs like this for hours and days He was so good.
I'm listening to his Christmas music album now. I heard it in 1978 in Nashville, Indiana, walking through a store. I was curious about his life and ended up here. Nice music!
Part of what makes Johns picking sound so distinctive is the position of his picking hand. If you notice, on a lot of these videos he is picking well below the sound hole, just about as close as you can get to the bridge. This, I've found, gives the notes a brighter feel than when the same note is played directly over the sound hole, as "formal" picking technique might dictate. I think the brightness has to do with the tension at that point of the string.
He used all kinds of tricks with his right hand, and I live his little left hand tricks like slamming his slide down or just lightly bouncing it. The man was genius
I had the pleasure of seeing John Fahey in about 1970 or'71 at a small night club in Vancouver,had a front row table about ten feet from the guy. JF put on the best demonstration of mastery of his instrument I have ever seen,and I've seen a lot of Masters. It was a show I'll remember to the end of my days. For those who seem disturbed by his hirsute appearance in this video, he was clean cut and clean shaven when I saw him, most of the audience,including me, looked more like Fahey in this video. I wouldn't have cared if the man performed in a gorilla suit, his guitar work was sheer genius.
heard my friend playing this and immediately became a fan. this song makes me feel things I haven’t felt in a while. thank you mr.Fahey and may you Rest In Peace.
I kind of hesitate to jump in, but I believe "Vestapol" was originally "Sebastopol", a standard in American guitar instruction books from the 1880's and '90's, written (he claimed) by Henry Worrall in 1884, and referring obliquely to the Siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War (the 19th century one) . It was indeed written in open D/E tuning, depending on if you tuned your strings up or down. The tune is nothing like this one, but the story I read is that blues players in the 1920's and '30's started referring to the open D tuning as "Vestapol" for that reason. Music historian Tim Twiss recorded Worrall's piece here: ruclips.net/video/7Bn4IDP9CRw/видео.html
That makes sense. This piece is related to the Prodigal Son melody and thus Fahey named it "Poor Boy". Other songs such as "Doing a Desperate Deed" are also reworkings of dare I say, folk songs. John Hardy is that one. John Henry everyone learned in school back when I was a kid.
My wife and I have been married together for forty-four years. From the start, I was trying to play guitar like John Fahey. She's so beautiful and tolerant. In other words, when I was struggling to learn his material, of course she heard what I was trying to do, she would, more or less smile and roll her eyes and encourage me on. She dug Fahey's Christmas albums but those were not the songs I was trying to learn and she didn't have an interest in the richness of the rest of his shit . Ironically, when she finally heard and listened to the same songs I had been trying to figure out for decades played by John Fahey himself... She, encouragingly, she said, "Hey, that's really beautiful. Badass. Why don't you try to learn that one?". Go figure though. My wife loves me beyond imagination, but she loves John Fahey's music better than I could ever attempt play it. Inimitable he is. My non guitar playing wife knows it better than me.
wow, I was just thinking about how both leo kottke and john fahey remind me of early keith jarrett. totally know what you mean, there's so much beauty in both the melody and inner voices.
What I hear is America- the guitar of the country, in the same way Guthrie was the voice of it. Mythical, bygone, authentic. Kerouac and his romanticism etc.
To those who clicked thumbs down -- go ahead, play it the way Fahey does. Play it with the same clean, smooth control and with the ease that he displays. Go ahead. I don't hear anything....I can wait...I'm patient. Take your time...no pressure... There are few guitarists who can play like Fahey, Leo Kottke, Tommy Emmanuel. No showboating...this is a skill beyond mere good guitar playing. RIP John Fahey. I got your back and I don't play guitar. My ears work just fine.
Did you notice? . Fahey is playing a Martin D18. Rosewood top, You can't find that nowadays. I was wrong. It's a D28. Same rosewood top, same beauty of tone.
such powerfully gutwrenching sentiment in every note, each phrase. Too heavy , too emotive, to take up and keep with you for very long (for us mere humans) without quiet set-aside times to refresh and renew b4 it can be taken on again. Fahey, a different creature, seems more born of the saps dripping from ancient trees, than anything simply human. It is for the ancients that clearly these songs intended. And probably it was among them that many were fashioned.
this song sounds very much like a track off of the rolling stones album by the name 'beggars banquet". that tune is called "prodigal son" the beggars banquet album was released in 1968 and i am not sure about when fahey came out with this but it was sometime between 1959 and 1977 so faheys rendition here was probably what inspired the stones. also the titles of both songs allude to the parable in the bible of the prodigal son. borrow, borrow and borrow.
+Anthony Gomes It's an old traditional blues song first recorded in 1927. Prodigal Son is a blues written by Robert Wilkins (and the Stones credited him as the writer) but no doubt there's an influence of the one on the other. Good catch though!
I'm afraid that in any stage performance, people will take note of your appearance. Just how it is. If it's entirely about the music, just seat the musician behind the curtain. Besides, I'm sure Fahey would have had a sense of humour about it. Didn't seem to take himself too seriously. He has that famous quote - "How can I be folk? I'm from the suburbs..."
that is true but this is not so much a musical performance as it is a display of guitar playing a clinic if you will not a fashion show or play or a who show yeah he could play behind a curtain but sound wouldn't be the same. he didn't like the folk exploitation scene not sure what he liked other then turtles and steam trains but that quote is a genuine response from fahey it maybe funny to you he was not folk or anything he was an amazing primitive guitar composer and im sure he hated people who after he played a beautiful piece of music that took him years 2 master would go "classic combover"
Well, it is a funny quote even if he was just dryly refuting the often inaccurate catagorisation that goes on in the music industry. The comment section is full of rightful praise for Fahey and this piece, and I've listened to it many times, and even played it myself (not as good as the man himself of course). I'd like to think that he'd have appreciated all that nice feedback, but I'd like to think it'd have raised a wry smile from him to see a couple of gently irreverent comments in among all that in praise of the combover job.
thanks to the cummunity for adding context and keeping the conversation of John Fahey going.
@@dreamsister6339 be nice
@@Ducklimp always some jerk!
Fahey may be gone, but his music will live forever, which is the ultimate musical accomplishment there is, IMHO.
I’m 61 and just found him tonight!
Not a problem! Love Him. lol
I'm 28 and just picked up the guitar. I've listened to this song for about 10 years now. I started learning this song first. No lessons, nothing strumming. Just dove into fingerpicking. After 3 long months of the same song, I'm getting pretty good. Not close to perfect but enough to make me cry in gratitude.
How many times did you put your ear towards the hole learning this?
Keep on keepin' on! 🤠👍
With that can of natural ability...why'd you wait so long? Imagine how well you'll be playing 10 years from now.
Cry in gratitude is better than perfect mate
This song right here is probably one of the most "fun" songs to learn how to play. Those bends, the fingerpicking pattern, everything about it. Great choice n keep up on it!
I knew John in the last few years of his life and he was one of the kindest men I knew...he would give you the shirt off his back. If you wanted him to show you a thing or two on guitar he was more than happy to oblige.
Repent and trust in Jesus. He's the only way to Heaven. We've all sinned and deserve Hell. Sins like lying, lusting, etc. Repent and trust only in Jesus, and you will be saved! You can be saved because he took the punishment for our sins on himself when he died on the cross, just like someone can pay your speeding fine in court, and you get off free.
Romans 3:23
John 3:16😊❤
I love that ! I barely heard about him tonight for the first time. I'm enjoying getting to know his stuff!! 💕🙋🏻♀️
I never get tired of listening and watching John Fahey play this song. He deserved a lot more credit for his guitar playing than he ever got.
He will be famous in 100 years
Jimmy Page sure loved him. I found out about him reading books about LZ
Him, Davey Graham and John Renbourn are my favourite guitarist of that era
I mean he has an entire genre of Guitar music ( American Primitive) which he is attributed as founder, so atleast he will always have that
It sounds like three guitars at once. What a master.
nah it sounds like one guitar played really well lol
@@SenorCinemacretin comment
first time ever listening to Fahey.... completely floored.
+ChampionPsalms I've been listening to him on and off for years but this is the first video I've ever seen! Same feeling, just amazing playing and soul.
ChampionPsalms me too got here from a leo kottke song.
It is special isn't it
Find the album Live in Tasmania, it’ll change your life
As you should be.
The song is a variation of a tune called Vestapol. It's in open D. Fahey did not write it. He never claimed to, either, to his credit. Libba Cotten recorded a version in about 1960. She said it was a very old song that she heard as a child in the 1920s. It has been in public domain for at least 50 years. Nearly every acoustic fingerpicker had a version of this in their repertoire, including Rev. Robert Wilkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Bukka White and Stefan Grossman. Keith Richards definitely did not write it. He gave credit to McDowell. But Fred did not write it either. A lot of bluesmen referred to open D as Vestapol tuning. Or Vastapol, depending on where you are in the country. It is a beautiful tune I have been playing since about 1970. The trick to learning the tune is to get that solid boom chick alternating bass going. Took me some woodshedding. Then you play the melody on top. I admire John Fahey. But he was not a writer of old blues so much as one who gave new life to old blues tunes and riffs. Robert Wilkins had some nice words for it about Poor boy long ways from home.
Thanks for the explanation ;) I thought it was open C at the beginning. Both are great :D
this is very much john faheys song.
to be honest really the only thing that connects it to the other variations is the name.
obviously i know john intended to do that, maybe to pay homage to the old blues players.
But there really isn't anything directly that john copied in this song in my opinion anyway.
Another riff on this same melody can be heard in Frank Hutchison's 'KC Blues,' played while he's "getting right on some red liquor.."
They're not identical, but there's no denying that John Fahey, Hutchison (and countless others) are putting their own stamp on a shared gem. This is true of most early blues music.
Brian Thornton well done mate I've known this tune as Po boy for fifty years .how did it get named as vestapol.its been recorded as vestopol a couple of times since the sixties.
Thank you Brian !
TRIVIA FACT : Back in the day John and Alan (the Blind Owl ) Wilson where close friends and room mates for awhile, but John always liked Alan to tune his guitar for him because he had perfect pitch. I think that is why at times you could see John look upward when tuning up on stage after the Blind Owl had died looking for some help from him from above....just sayin, R.I.P. you 2 Geniuses.
You can literally see a steamboat cutting through the Mississippi just by listening. I love how John can paint such vivid pictures with his guitar/paintbrush.
They call it primitive guitar but it’s far from primitive the way John played. I could listen and watch him play all day and all night brilliant stuff, RIP John!!!
A hypnotic and intensely musical guitarist. Few could get as much out of as little.
MrMjp58 of all the comments on this video, yours is spot on.
wow I was looking to say the same set of words!
nailed it man
I had the privilege of seeing John Fahey in about 1970,small club in Vancouver,sat about six feet from the man while he played on a floor level stage. Mesmerizing doesn't quite describe his performance. Went and saw him again the next night. Wish I'd gone to every show he did.
One of history's greatest guitarists. That's why I keep putting him on Facebook, maybe more people will dig him.
Dean Allen he was a brilliant guitarist ! I dig him friend 👍👍
Please keep him off facebook. Dont make him trendy. If he were still alive he would hate facebook.
There's still some of us around that discovered his music in the late 1960s. It stays with you 😍.
@@johnyeates2156 I discovered his music in the late 70s. Definitely some of the first songs I learned to pick. 👍
@@RealDiaz at the same time it's one of the only ways to reach younger generations. Why should fahey be exclusive to older people and those who search for it?
"I'll give you a little tip about the blues, folks: it's not enough to know which notes to play. You need to know why they need to be played" - G. Carlin
Word. Same for every music, heard that line in classical music
This is probably the most impressive folk music I've ever heard. I've never heard anyone ever play such beautiful chord melodies like that.
Really? Then you’ve never heard British guitarist/singer/songwriter Steve Tilston. Guy’s an unsung legend.
@@icecreamforcrowhurst Really liking this guitarist. Thanks.
Even though I've forgotten about this comment.
It took me a long time, but I finally came as close as I'll ever be to playing this song. It fills me with much joy when I play it 😀
It aint about close. It's about making the entire endeavor into something you own because you were ambitious enough to do it. Also, there is no "finally". Whenever you exert the energy (music is psychic energy and my priest says music is the closest thing to magic that we, mortals can touch), it goes on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. So you're now an active part of the whole cosmic eternity thing. Welcome home, dear comrade. Welcome home. I'll see you when I can find my way to the same door you crossed.
If your ears aren't properly connected to your brain and your brain isn't properly connected to your soul , then you might not like the genius that lives on in Fahey's music . R.I.P , John
Bang on. It's all about soul. Both for artist and listener
This is the kind of music that people like William Tyler was listening to
We all stand on the shoulders of giants
His music dances through the Universe !!!!!
Woke up to my dad playing this song almost everyday he’s been gone since 07 Matt Bryer was an amazing blues musician just like mr fahey I still get goose bumps listening
This is probably my favorite Fahey tune. I taught myself how to play it last year using a Fahey songbook published in 1978. It is the kind of song that once you know it , you start playing it and you don't even have to think about it much. It just keeps going and your mind wanders off somewhere. I love it.
its not his tune its an old track called vestapol
is he playing in an open tuning???? do you know the tuning????? wonderful song id like to learn it .
got it.. thks.. its in D tuning and a new path is struck
This has been my earworm for literally 30 years since hearing it on John Peel's radio 1 show back then. So glad to track it down. John Fahey himself teaches it at youtube watch?v=SAoSMhQTr4E and I love that slower version even more than this one.
Every time I listen to him and especially to his most transcendental, incandescent tunes... The phrase "A master at the height of his powers" comes to mind. He connects to something infinite in a unique way, unmistakable.
Absolutely. There are a thousand fantastic guitarists but only a handful that "reach beyond the veil" so to speak.
I always thought of Fahey as the uncanny valley: definitely solidly in the realms of folk, blues, bluegrass, old timey music... But also very left field and alien in his approach to the traditional. At once familiar and foreign, almost unsettling, that's the uncanny valley, isn't it?
I've been listening to Fahey my whole life, and it never gets old. Pure genius.
Great to see so many John Fahey fans. I like to listen to America while camping in the woods. Theres a mystical feel that's perfect an open fire.
It's not the technique but the ineffable soul he brings to it.
Right, i can play this song pretty much perfect but it's just not the same
It’s both.
His songs feel like paintings
absolutely insane texture and groove coming out of that instrument, my god. The energy shift into 4:17 is a religious experience. every human being on earth is making the stank face at that moment.
Nothing like an artist, treat them well, while they are still able to show you their stuff, it ain't easy, the territory is usually rough.
Not easy but worth the try.
He's got the life force going, amazing, this tune runs in my head a lot.
all about approach and creativity. He isn't doing anything too complex and show-offy on the fret side of things, but his picking style and rhythm paired with his amazing compositions made him great.
This is the first I've seen or heard of this guy but I agree with you. His approach to the simplicity of the song makes it magic. He is quite the guitar player.
+BenjamminClark he has superhero level hand strength. Most don't see that. The action on his guitars were crazy high.
+BenjamminClark Although, this seems just kind of stolen from his own Sunflower River Blues, just barely different. Any comment?
+Joseph Reynolds Actually the reverse might be true, as this song is older than dirt.
+ken barr Right. Good info.
Absolutely fantastic! In fact, from a far-away planet where musical genius reigns supreme. Old Hippie, Cape Town, South Africa.
This man is a master of the guitar,had the privilege of seeing him in concert in a small club in Vancouver about 1971, sat about eight feet from the guy and watched one of the finest performances I have ever seen, the audience was mesmerized.
when i was 6 or 7 i listened to jf "voice of the turtle" lp over & over. i loved it. I don't remember where or how i got it. it must of been an angel gave it to me
lucky boy :D
John had one of the most unusual sense of humor. I could only describe it as "sweet & sour spare ribs"
saw him once, played at ucsd, came in drunk or in an altered state. played beautifully. then during the break, the gym was packed, hardluck boys did a gig, fahey went into a suicide rant, people begain to booh. he shrugged his shoulder and played like rumi 'n stanley from lsd.
his guitar could take you to places you've never been and afterwards if you come back you could say you been on an adventure.
My cousin Ben Vorpahl was a professor at UCSD circa 1968 and had John in his US history class. Said he always brought a cooler full of Pepsi because he claimed he had an ulcer. His 4D descent was a terrible thing to watch and I think it was Leo Kottke who found him in a Sacramento homeless shelter and helped him through his final years perhaps (not sure of this part of his story). I will always be in awe of both these greats!
When I was in college in the late '60's, in the midst of all the great rock music that was happening at the time, John Fahey quietly broke through to become one our favorites. He was hip and hypnotic, original and unique. His music is still all of those things today. Sure wish he was still around.
one the most underrated guitarist ever.
this song is just perfect
Thanks
Underrated ? most definitely , that's because most don't see much ( with their ears )
@@davidjames9626 You guys got it all wrong. To be under-rated, you have to have been heard. Once you hear Fahey, you rate him right on up there at the top. Without question.
@@johnkemp9835 you miss understood what I wrote ..I said he was under-rated, because the listening public only know a few people at the top of any given genre, because they do not explore.. I agree most definately that this John Fahey is a great guitarist, a unique purist..
@@davidjames9626 My apologies...
Gives me the goosebumps. Fahey’s spirit still floating around this world.
The Fahey Train is a steady rolling machine
One of the best spots in a dark world
I've just finished Steve Lowenthal's biography of Fahey - Dance Of Death. It gives you an excellent life story about this troubled genius. Highly recommended.
Is there any mention of Jim O'Rourke in that book? He loved John, was friends I think and I went to his memorial show on John in 2000 I think inNY.
I first saw this video 7 years ago. I was 23. I fell in love with it and this music genuinely changed my life. I grew up playing guitar, but I was mainly a metalhead and all I ever owned were electric guitars that I just played in my bedroom. I bought an acoustic after I heard this and the rest is history, I can play this track today just about as well as he plays it here. It took several years of practice and ear training to figure out how to do this style of alternate thumb picking competently. I read the book on his life too, can't remember the author's name but it's out there for you to read if you can find it for sale. I gave my copy to a girl back in 2019 who read it and then also fell in love with John Fahey's music. American Primitive guitar is a shining example of American innovation in the arts, it is literally a piece of our culture. Much of it of course being owed to the blues musicians of the early 20th century. God bless them.
To think the first time I heard his song was already 11 years ago. The whole reason I ended up learning guitar, and it still sounds as fresh now as it did when I was a teenager. I suppose I just have to come back and pay my respects every now and then. Perhaps Fahey wasn't the flashiest guitar player, but he tapped into an emotional language that few other guitarists can really access. That's not even to say he was better than most guitarists, but there was just something different about his music that I lack the language to articulate in any sense that would do justice. He was a truly unique musician, and ironically he would probably hate it if anyone ever told him that. RIP Poor Boy...
So sublime, you can hear his own call and response)
Every time I hear him I think: "So much beautiful sound from ONE instrument." He was a genius.
It really does add beauty and texture to the world, the fact that this stuff is available. You just have to tune out the craziness and listen.
that hair alone is genius
+eschuber8 lol if you say so looks like he was just tryin to work with what he had still
+eschuber8 as another person has posted: a brave comb-over.
I think i added "combover" in this whole concert....and i got a TON of responses about that part.......yeah it looks kinda weird
did you see his comb at the new varsity?
Yea.. at that show, you see that he would look way worse if he cut off the long bits because he would lose eccentricity and blend as a normie. He knows what he's doing. my fave!
One of the greatest unsung acoustic guitarists ever...anyone who plays even a little can understand his genius...he learned from many of the old masters...
I never get tired of listening to John Fahey, perfect.
My brother turned me on to John back in the early seventies haven't thanked him enough yet
How could 22 people not like this..This is talent at its best.
I'll tell you how, though it might surprise you: each person has a particular music taste! I know, who would have thought?
Maybe those 22 people were like "hey, let's give Fahey's music a chance", and then they didn't like it. Also, the fact that he was a really talented guitarist doesn't mean you have to like what he did.
Perhaps they were deaf hairdressers.
Most people are followers, and like only what is popular. John Fahey isn't popular. Go listen to your crappy music Juan.@@JuanCarlosPrada
Boy does that bring back some memories. I fell in love with this 50 years ago, amazing.
By far the greatest youtube video ever uploaded… Such an awesome performance!
Rick Beato's interview with Adam Franklin of Swervedriver brought me here. Great stuff.
The change that comes just after 2:48 is transcendent, and so beautiful.
John Fahey was the uncle I wish I could have regretted not knowing better.
This song makes me think of Appalachia wandering through those blue hills with my lost ancestors...seriously love this!
I'm a piano player, but I DO see John using 'open tuning.' Amazing cat, John Fahey. Beautiful song.
Highest level ... timeless ... what a joy to hear this. Thanks!
So amazing. This is why my thumb is getting injections for trigger finger - over use from trying to learn and play amazing songs like this for hours and days He was so good.
I love how he manages to be musical even while adjusting his tuning.
I'm listening to his Christmas music album now. I heard it in 1978 in Nashville, Indiana, walking through a store. I was curious about his life and ended up here. Nice music!
Part of what makes Johns picking sound so distinctive is the position of his picking hand. If you notice, on a lot of these videos he is picking well below the sound hole, just about as close as you can get to the bridge. This, I've found, gives the notes a brighter feel than when the same note is played directly over the sound hole, as "formal" picking technique might dictate. I think the brightness has to do with the tension at that point of the string.
He used all kinds of tricks with his right hand, and I live his little left hand tricks like slamming his slide down or just lightly bouncing it. The man was genius
Good eye!
I've been listening to this track for over 10 years. This tune is life.
I could play and listen to this one forever, loop mode
I have been listening to John Fahey for 40 years and he never ceases to amaze me
I had the pleasure of seeing John Fahey in about 1970 or'71 at a small night club in Vancouver,had a front row table about ten feet from the guy. JF put on the best demonstration of mastery of his instrument I have ever seen,and I've seen a lot of Masters. It was a show I'll remember to the end of my days.
For those who seem disturbed by his hirsute appearance in this video, he was clean cut and clean shaven when I saw him, most of the audience,including me, looked more like Fahey in this video. I wouldn't have cared if the man performed in a gorilla suit, his guitar work was sheer genius.
Great News
he really makes the guitar his own voice........he's been pluckin since he was 12
a gorilla suit...I like that idea
@@TheDennzio its been done, but try it on for size. Never know till you try, and I say try everything at least once. Yup EVERYTHING.
John had a sad beautiful soul and it showed every time he played.
First time I have listened to him..fab !!!
Nobody sounds like Fahey. There's just a hypnotic effect that nobody else achieves IMO. Of course that guitar doesn't hurt.
God, this is just fabulous. Thank you John.
What an incredibly beautiful piece of music. I feel like I'm transported to a trail in the Rocky Mountains or something.
i love how he just casually messes with is high strings at the beginning while still playing the song
heard my friend playing this and immediately became a fan. this song makes me feel things I haven’t felt in a while. thank you mr.Fahey and may you Rest In Peace.
Wow, this guy was next level. Genius. So much emotion in his playing.
i respect this a lot, this is the music that isn't fake no studio just pure acoustic guitar…. this is stuff great musicians look to.
I kind of hesitate to jump in, but I believe "Vestapol" was originally "Sebastopol", a standard in American guitar instruction books from the 1880's and '90's, written (he claimed) by Henry Worrall in 1884, and referring obliquely to the Siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War (the 19th century one) . It was indeed written in open D/E tuning, depending on if you tuned your strings up or down. The tune is nothing like this one, but the story I read is that blues players in the 1920's and '30's started referring to the open D tuning as "Vestapol" for that reason. Music historian Tim Twiss recorded Worrall's piece here: ruclips.net/video/7Bn4IDP9CRw/видео.html
That makes sense. This piece is related to the Prodigal Son melody and thus Fahey named it "Poor Boy". Other songs such as "Doing a Desperate Deed" are also reworkings of dare I say, folk songs. John Hardy is that one. John Henry everyone learned in school back when I was a kid.
I just learned he gave credit to and was influenced by Jimmy Rogers. Way to keep the heart of country music alive!
That bending note sounds like a poor boy crying.
I hear a distant train whistle
My wife and I have been married together for forty-four years. From the start, I was trying to play guitar like John Fahey. She's so beautiful and tolerant. In other words, when I was struggling to learn his material, of course she heard what I was trying to do, she would, more or less smile and roll her eyes and encourage me on. She dug Fahey's Christmas albums but those were not the songs I was trying to learn and she didn't have an interest in the richness of the rest of his shit . Ironically, when she finally heard and listened to the same songs I had been trying to figure out for decades played by John Fahey himself... She, encouragingly, she said, "Hey, that's really beautiful. Badass. Why don't you try to learn that one?". Go figure though. My wife loves me beyond imagination, but she loves John Fahey's music better than I could ever attempt play it. Inimitable he is. My non guitar playing wife knows it better than me.
Props to the camera man for actually filming the left hand, what a G!
??? What are you talking about. Fahey is all about the picking hand. Filming the left hand is stupid and you miss all of his technique and nuance.
My great uncle showed me him years ago and I could never remember his name... chills.. finding him again
wow, I was just thinking about how both leo kottke and john fahey remind me of early keith jarrett. totally know what you mean, there's so much beauty in both the melody and inner voices.
I had the pleasure of seeing him in Milano.in the eighties. Magic evening.
I was in high school in the early/mid 60's and was aware of John Fahey. Geeze, wish I'd been more aware.
I’ve been a fan since the late 60’s. Saw him live in S.F. A couple of times.👍
2:45 holy smokes the action his guitar is so high. makes my wrist hurt just looking at it.
only now I notice this musician. he was great!
What I hear is America- the guitar of the country, in the same way Guthrie was the voice of it. Mythical, bygone, authentic. Kerouac and his romanticism etc.
everytime I hear this song, I now hear your comment as it is so fitting. x
Yes. Listen to Robbie Basho my friend.
To those who clicked thumbs down -- go ahead, play it the way Fahey does. Play it with the same clean, smooth control and with the ease that he displays. Go ahead. I don't hear anything....I can wait...I'm patient. Take your time...no pressure...
There are few guitarists who can play like Fahey, Leo Kottke, Tommy Emmanuel. No showboating...this is a skill beyond mere good guitar playing. RIP John Fahey. I got your back and I don't play guitar. My ears work just fine.
Did you notice?
.
Fahey is playing a Martin D18. Rosewood top, You can't find that nowadays.
I was wrong. It's a D28. Same rosewood top, same beauty of tone.
The bound fingerboard identifies it as a D35.
Both have a Spruce top. Rosewood back and sides.
spruce tops....
No one could hold a candle to John!!!!! A lost american treasure that we should all take some knowledge from!!!!!He was a bad asssssss!!!
Fahey was deeply inspired by Charley Patton (plus every prewar delta bluesman).
He inspired me to learn open tunings and go far into creative music.
such powerfully gutwrenching sentiment in every note, each phrase. Too heavy , too emotive, to take up and keep with you for very long (for us mere humans) without quiet set-aside times to refresh and renew b4 it can be taken on again. Fahey, a different creature, seems more born of the saps dripping from ancient trees, than anything simply human. It is for the ancients that clearly these songs intended. And probably it was among them that many were fashioned.
Joseph King I like the cut of your jib, sir.
Never heard of him until a few days ago.
Just WOW WOW and WOW !!!
this song sounds very much like a track off of the rolling stones album by the name 'beggars banquet". that tune is called "prodigal son" the beggars banquet album was released in 1968 and i am not sure about when fahey came out with this but it was sometime between 1959 and 1977 so faheys rendition here was probably what inspired the stones. also the titles of both songs allude to the parable in the bible of the prodigal son. borrow, borrow and borrow.
+Anthony Gomes 1959
+Anthony Gomes It's an old traditional blues song first recorded in 1927. Prodigal Son is a blues written by Robert Wilkins (and the Stones credited him as the writer) but no doubt there's an influence of the one on the other. Good catch though!
Good observation, the beginning lyrics in "prodigal son" start out with the words "poor boy", I wonder if there's a correlation....
+Thomas Foster Yup, this song is very old and I believe Fahey has more or less done it traditionally.
Theres a hundred variations of this song and Fahey had about ten of his own variations .
So talented. Obviously worked hard. Seems like my favorite artists are passed away.
Classic combover!
I've seen better combovers, but I think Fahey pulls it off given his generally rustic appearance and style.
be it so that is the last thing you should focus/comment on after this video it is about the music not faheys hair
I'm afraid that in any stage performance, people will take note of your appearance. Just how it is. If it's entirely about the music, just seat the musician behind the curtain.
Besides, I'm sure Fahey would have had a sense of humour about it. Didn't seem to take himself too seriously. He has that famous quote - "How can I be folk? I'm from the suburbs..."
that is true but this is not so much a musical performance as it is a display of guitar playing a clinic if you will not a fashion show or play or a who show yeah he could play behind a curtain but sound wouldn't be the same. he didn't like the folk exploitation scene not sure what he liked other then turtles and steam trains but that quote is a genuine response from fahey it maybe funny to you he was not folk or anything he was an amazing primitive guitar composer and im sure he hated people who after he played a beautiful piece of music that took him years 2 master would go "classic combover"
Well, it is a funny quote even if he was just dryly refuting the often inaccurate catagorisation that goes on in the music industry.
The comment section is full of rightful praise for Fahey and this piece, and I've listened to it many times, and even played it myself (not as good as the man himself of course). I'd like to think that he'd have appreciated all that nice feedback, but I'd like to think it'd have raised a wry smile from him to see a couple of gently irreverent comments in among all that in praise of the combover job.
love the way his left hand just floats around while his right keeps such a strong steady rhythm
Filed under musicians who suffered from crippling alcoholism.
John Fahey, Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke....Acoustic GOLD.
Tony Klassen of ARK New Era Guitars does a few Fahey inspired covers on RUclips. His version of Requiem for Mississippi John Hurt is very good