John Fahey was born 83 years ago today.
A fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument, Fahey’s style has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style.
Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate classical, Portuguese, Brazilian and Indian music into his work.
Fahey wrote a largely apocryphal autobiography. He spent many of his later years in poverty and poor health, but enjoyed a minor career resurgence with a turn towards the more explicitly avant-garde, and created a series of abstract paintings during the last years of his life.
He died in 2001 at age 61 from complications from heart surgery.