John Fahey – The New Possibility: John Fahey’s Guitar Solo Christmas Album
As a wizard of technique, John Fahey transcended what was originally thought impossible to accomplish on an acoustic guitar. His recordings could summon up the deepest of Mississippi blues, jump across the globe to investigate the meditative possibilities of Indian ragas or unnerve his audience with pure avant-garde dissonance. Incredibly, it was his Christmas albums that captured the lion’s share of the attention from his immense catalog. With straightforward appeal, Fahey plucks out resounding versions of holiday classics, rich in acoustics and sounding perfectly conceived for snow-covered cottages warmed with wood-burning stoves. Giving each tune just over two minutes of time, he sparks the melodies to life with inspired soloing that highlights rather than steals the spotlight. As a bonus, this re-issue is coupled with a second album “Christmas With John Fahey Vol II,” which adds the accompaniment of guitarist Richard Ruskin for splendid, lengthier arrangements. A true classic.
3 comments:
For the record:
I composed the duet arrangements on "Christmas With John Fahey - Vol." II . Over my objections, Takoma Records and Fahey deemed them "works for hire" which is why John was able to claim them as his own.
Rick Ruskin
Good post.
Thanks for that Rick, From now on in my mind you will always receive credit for the duet arrangements on "Christmas with Fahey- Vol." II.
No blog post shall ever go unnoted again!
Keep up your work in spreading the truth.
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