I just discovered the late musician John Fahey, and oh my. The song "Fear and Loathing at 4th and Butternut" from his album Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memories (ha!) came on the radio, and it was no longer background music. I couldn't not listen. It was completely arresting.
Interestingly, the song may not feature John Fahey at all, but rather Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson on harmonica. There is speculation that Fahey didn't credit Wilson (of Canned Heat) because of a similar omission by Wilson in which Fahey wasn't credited for his work on the collaborative "Parthenogenesis" track from Canned Heat's Living the Blues album. Ah, the intrigues and scandals of the music world!
John Fahey was an influential acoustic folk musician and fingerstyle guitarist whose eclectic style has been called "American Primitive." I call it amazing.
He is also the author of a book titled How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life.
Official Site for John Fahey.
Official Site for Alan Wilson.
3 comments:
This is great info to know.
Thank you for that, I have placed the 2 tracks one after another on my Spotify Playlist
at position 197 & 198 on the following playlist (Open in your browser):
"Harp (Blues Harmonica) ♂ ♀ Galaxy"
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xCxysl09sgplgLlpycrB6
You can tell it is the same harmonica (same key) and similar tune if you play the 2 tracks in 2 parallel/simultaneous YouTube sessions on your device:
Alan Wilson playing harp on John Fahey's "Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memories"
John Fahey - Fear & Loathing at 4th & Butternut (1:02-1:35)
https://youtu.be/MRc2MTrpT1g
Canned Heat - Parthenogenesis Harp beginning at 13:40: (15:30-16:00)
https://youtu.be/blo8tAh2AXE
Thanks for this.
Any thoughts or comments on the related https://www.facebook.com/BluesHarpGalaxy
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