Dedicated in memory John Aloysius Fahey
   (1939 --  2001)

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This is one of my favorite Fahey tunes. From the album "Days Have Gone By", 1967. It's easy to play, but hard to get it just right, as evidenced by some definite issues with timing here (always want to speed up!).

     When I was a kid, I found piles of used Fahey albums for sale at "Plastic Fantastic" in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.  They were a few bucks each!   So I think I have all of them, except for his last few, which are a radically different style which I don't care for.  I think Fahey's best compositions were done when he was in his young teen years (!), living in Tacoma Park, MD.

     I listened to  Fahey every weekend when I was an apprentice (reproduction 18th century American) furniture maker under E. Townsend Moore, in Darling, PA, outside Media, PA.  Fahey's music is in my blood, and he's why I picked up a guitar and wanted to play.  

   Fahey's music exhibits much genius, IMO.  He composes distinct phrases, often as many as 6 or 8 in one tune, with  beautiful transitions between them.  Each segment is almost a self-contained tune (and would be for any mere mortal). There are no wasted notes, and thankfully, no need for guitar slapping, tapping, or other gimmickry.  The introductions are often longer than the actual tune and these preludes introduce a mood which tends to be  a mix of sadness and longing.  

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"After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again."             --C. S. Lewis





Impressions Of Susan

Bartók - Minuetto

Bartók - Parosito  /matchmaking song

cover of a Frank Zappa song. it's not exactly finished, but it's finished enough to hear i suppose.

Inca Roads

Bartók - Újévköszöntő / New Year's Song

I saw The Great One in concert last night, and he played this on his 6 string at a much slower tempo than he has done in the past. I can't play this very fast, so it worked out well. He did some improvisation which I didn't think added terribly to the song. There are several squeakers in this, but I've practicing it all afternoon and I'm kind of tired of it, which is just one of the many reasons I could never be a professional. 

Busted Bicycle (Leo Kottke cover)

Finally got around to learning this Fahey favorite. A fantastic Hal Leonard book has the transcription, plus many other Fahey epics:

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=150257&lid=0&keywords=john%20fahey&subsiteid=1& 

~2017

Brenda's Blues (John Fahey cover)

My Shepherd Shall Supply My Needs (John Fahey cover)

O'Carolan's Concerto

A live performance at Catherine Hickman Theatre, Gulfport, FL in 2001 

Laboring for years in the solitude of house arrest for a crime he did not commit (existential turpitude) he honed his lack of skills to develop minimal levels of adequacy and the result was the construction of the oft-ignored Close Enough Studios. The rest is destiny.

Busted Bicycle (Leo Kottke cover)

Doc Bailey

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