The Three Day Band - The Three Day Band/John Fahey Reads

"John Fahey [was] a pioneering acoustic guitarist in the 1960s who became an underground-rock icon in the 1990s ... Fahey was a supple finger picker who fused his passion for vintage folk and blues with the advanced harmonies of modern composers such as Bela Bartók and Charles lves. A genuine blues scholar, Fahey wrote his UCLA master's thesis on the legendary Charley Patton and rediscovered Bukka White. But Fahey's albums, many of which he issued on his own Takoma label, explored the mystique as well as the manner of roots music, evoking a mythic America." -- David Fricke, Rolling Stone

John Fahey and Ayal Senior laid down the tracks for The Three Day Band in a Woodburn hotel room at some point in 1999. These tracks show an undocumented, improvisational side of Fahey. It's certainly not earlyperiod Fahey, but not TOTE era either. At night, after the recording sessions commenced, Senior would record Fahey reading selected excerpts from his writing. Fifteen tracks of Fahey reading are included here.

From Ayal Senior's liner notes:
"I think I first met John Fahey at a Vince Martin gig in Manhattan at some point in 1998. He was sitting in the back of CBGB's `other' space, listening to the gig and painting with fat bright markers in a notebook he carried around with him. It was impossible not to notice this guy. Big, bald, white beard, black sunglasses, wearing shorts and wool socks with black basketball shoes in a triple sized red t-shirt. I didn't even know who John Fahey was, but John Allen, who brought Fahey out to the East Coast and who I have always greatly admired, learned me to the game. John Fahey and Vince Martin in the same room. Incredible. I wonder if they spoke ... I asked John for one of the pieces he was working on and he casually ripped a sheet out of his notebook and gave it to me.

"At night, Fahey would lie in bed and I'd record him reading various excerpts from his writings. He reminded me a lot of Kurt Vonnegut in his cynicism and gallows humor. I think they would have gotten along great. I love the unfinished Fahey short story about Elie Wiesel meeting Doc Boggs on a park bench. Boxes were strewn all over his room filled with spiral notebooks. Fool's gold." Album Description

Not for the new fan or the unaware

This CD is not for the new fan of John Fahey, or those unaware of his music. There are at least several compendiums of his earlier work for that. However, if you are a long-time fan and are familiar with the complete arc of his career, you may very well find his spoken word musings/ramblings/random thoughts hilariously provocative. He had a voice like no other, just like his music. You may skip the opening "band" tracks which really don't qualify as even industrial noise (try "Womblife", his very best, for this). Though the moment when a motel neighbor knocks on the door asking to please turn it down does have some humour.

Try instead the readings: open, fresh, original works, as well as John's thoughts on the artist's life and what it truly means to dedicate one's self to the creative impulse.
June 25, 2008

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