Biography of John Fahey

One of the greatest and certainly among the most influential acoustic guitarists in folk and popular music, Fahey started his own record label, Takoma, in 1959, to release his debut album, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death. He has since recorded 40 or more albums. A student of rural blues music, Fahey did a Ph.D. thesis on Charley Patton and incorporated the Delta blues into his increasingly eclectic style. Also important as a record-company executive, Fahey recorded what he liked, resurrecting the career of Bukka White and taking on young prot‚g‚ Leo Kottke, who has never really escaped his influence. Nor have the army of new-age guitarists of the '70s and beyond, many of whom sound like Fahey in isolated moments, though none can keep up with his musical ability and imagination. By now there are elements of almost all genres in his music, yet his playing remains his own. ~ William Ruhlmann