February 22, 2012

Guitar Holder Effigy of John Fahey


Wood and wire.  Old strings, new strings.  Solid wood and plywood.  It’s no matter to me, really.  Bare fingers and flatpicks, fretted notes, chords, and the old broken top of a wine bottle.  An acoustic guitar sings to my soul.  There is nothing quite like the sound of one.
              
The beautiful things that John Fahey did with the acoustic guitar speak to me because he did them within the realm of the wire and the wood and he did them solo.  Fahey was one of many that brought the acoustic into it’s own.  It wasn’t just for folkies anymore. 

Blues artists, all but forgotten, were also part of this acoustic awakening.  They played the instrument so skillfully that they sounded like a band.  And thankfully the blues artists that had slipped into obscurity were being sought out at the time and Fahey played a part in that as well.

Fahey is one of the important figures in setting the acoustic guitar on a course true to it’s nature and potential.  He wanted to play it like a one-man-symphony.  Thankfully there was enough interest in his music to keep that course for many decades and to this day it seems as strong as ever.

Today begins yet another Fahey Week here at Delta-Slider.  I hope you enjoy it.  I’ll start it off with this crazy/cool John Fahey guitar holder effigy.  Seems like I’ve seen it before but I’m not sure so I thought I would post it.  



Check this out at the Jim Pallas site

2 comments:

  1. I'm not sure whether that thing would encourage me or discourage me to play...

    ReplyDelete