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I Think Like Midnight — I Think Like Midnight
The essential 2018 biography of American Primitive guitar legend John Fahey (1939-2001), Dance of Death :The Life of John Fahey, American Guitarist by Steve Lowenthal frames the final years of Fahey’s life as a resurgence of popularity that coincided with the rise of alternative and underground acts due to a major label feeding frenzy. Caught on their heels by the unexpected popularity of Nirvana, fringe bands like Sonic Youth, The Butthole Surfers, The Melvins, Mudhoney, The Meat Puppets and others were ge
In 1994, Fahey, crushed from the effects of the Epstein-Barr virus , long-term heavy drinking as well as a divorce from his third wife of 15 years, was living in fleabag hotels or missions in Salem, Oregon literally surrounded by the detritus of his life. Descriptions from those who knew him during this time mention equal piles of thrift store records which he sold for money and pizza boxes. His trusty guitar spent time in and out of hock.
The two events that reignited Fahey’s stature as an important and influential artist were a double-CD career survey put out by Rhino Records titled Return of the Repressed curated by none other than his old friend Barry Hansen (better known as Dr. Demento ) and a feature article in Spin Magazine by Byron Coley titled “ The Persecutions and Resurrections of Blind Joe Death .” The Spin feature paints a stereotypically eccentric and boldly opinionated Fahey who spends most of the article riding around in a car
Cover Me -
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Interstate | Pell Mell on the Web
I Think Like Midnight — I Think Like Midnight