JF, notes : “We begin chronologically with a commercially issued Fonotone ‘Race’ recording of Mr Fahey and his mentor, Blind Joe Death, performing the very lyrical instrumental ‘Bottleneck Blues’ which was commercially issued in 1928…he accompanies Blind Joe Death, who played Hawaiian guitar at this session… Mr Buzzard was able to find the master copy of one side which is here presented as the first selection of this record. The listener will note that Mr Fahey had not yet developed a distinctive style and his function on this record is purely 'back-up’ guitar – well done, but not distinctive.

There is a clue to this interesting track in the following usually dull copyright notice on the inner back cover of the gatefold: “All selections copyright 1968 by Hodolog Music (BMI) except Band 1, Side 1”. So what is particularly uncopyrightable about band 1 side 1? Of course – it’s not actually John Fahey at all. It’s Sylvester Weaver and Walter Beasley. Godrich & Dixon gives the session date as Sunday, 27th November 1927. Weaver recorded seven songs of which three were guitar duets with Beasley, of which one, the wonderfully titled “Me and my Tapeworm” was for some reason unissued, leaving two: “St Louis Blues” and “Bottleneck Blues” which were issued on Okeh (OK 8530).
This discographical breakthrough was achieved by Popple, Bryant and Melnyk in the mid-1980s, mainly by aural comparison. But then, a further discovery was made. Assuming band 1 side 1 of the Orange Label Version (OLV) to be the same as the Black Label Version (BLV), and making a closer comparison between Weaver/Beasley and Fahey/Death, we were shocked to discover when playing the OLV that the Fahey/Death “Bottleneck Blues” is actually different from the Weaver/Beasley version after all.
How to tell the difference: Play the OLV and time the track from when the guitars begin their merry dance, not from the buddhist bongs. Note high bottleneck notes which commence at 23 seconds. Now play Weaver/Beasley. Note absence of said high bottleneck playing at 23 or any subsequent seconds.
Then we turned to the BLV, and found to our mounting confusion that the BLV Fahey/Death was exactly the same as Weaver/Beasley – no high bottleneck playing at 23 seconds! We didn’t know what to think. Clearly Fahey had issued the original 78 on BLV – but what was the mutation on OLV? We resorted to a strained theory that Fahey or another Blues Mafia crony had turned up a previously-unissued take of “Bottleneck Blues” unknown even to Godrich and Dixon.
This remained my personal belief until Chris Downes, IFC stalwart, casually mentioned that according to Joe Bussard it was not unknown For Fahey to play along with an old record to make it into something new. This nugget hit with the force of a thirty ought six. Of course! Now it made sense. The OLV “Bottleneck Blues” is Weaver & Beasley plus Fahey – the BLV (and CD) is Weaver and Beasley only.
The story goes that Fahey tried to copy Weaver and Beasley note for note, then realised it was a pointless exercise and decided to put the original 78 on VOT. The IFC claims that decision as a great postmodern gesture which in 1968 would have won the approval of Marcel Duchamp (“Bottleneck Blues” as an objet trouve) and Andy Warhol (of the why get out of bed school of aesthetics).

JF, notes: “With Death gone, Fahey was attracted to other musicians and other types of music. At a session with the rapidly declining Vo[calion] label, Fahey turned up as accompanist once again, but this time to various white musicians, two of which are represented on this record. Both are fiddlers. Both fiddlers were born in Sulphur Springs, Texas, in the 1890s and moved to Bastrop, Louisiana”.
“Bill Cheatum” is a standard amongst old time fiddlers. See versions by The Red -Headed Fiddlers (“Cheat ’Em”) and as part of “Brilliancy Medley” by Eck Robertson on AAFM.
In the notes to “The Return of the Repressed” Barry Hansen writes “In December 1966 John and I drove his ’56 Chevy to oklahoma, Louisiana and arkansas to record several old-time musicians…as a project for UCLA….The duet was recorded at Thomas’ home in Bastrop with yours truly [Hanson] minding the portable Ampex tape deck. JF: ‘It was cold outside, snowing. For some reason my wife would never believe that was me on guitar.’”

The VOT notes speak of Fahey being introduced to “Western hiart [=high art] music” by Robert Anthony Flee (= Flea, organist on the eerie “Will the Circle be Unbroken”, Vol 4). Flee also introduced Fahey to “a family who were friends of Mr Flee’s, the McLeans of 2303 Drexel St, Lewisdale, maryland. The eldest daughter was at the time an accomplished flautist (she is now an instructor at the Eastman Rochester School of Music in Rochester, New York). At the suggestion of Mr Flee, the two ‘experimented’ with flute and guitar improvisations, and with a few noted skeletal outlines.

The premier performance of Fahey and McLean was held at St Michael’s and All Angels Church in Adelphi, Maryland, circa March 1962 [see elsewhere in this discography, esp notes to “The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill”, Vol 2]. …What was hitherto unknown is that Fahey and McLean did extensive private recordings together at various intervals and that Fahey was (is) in possession of the entirety of them. It was consequently from Mr Fahey that we obtained the two guitar/flute duets on this recording. The selection was ours.”
Note “two guitar/flute duets” – there is of course only one on the various VOTs, but the known VOT outtakes include the other. See later.

The heart of the maelstrom, the belly of the beast, the eye of the hurricane. The label says #1 and #2 but there are three, and only one of them has anything to do with beans or vines.
JF, notes: “A beautiful blues rendering by Blind Joe’s old friend, of the ensuing difficulties at the closure of the titled line.”
The only song which should have this title is on the OLV and contains the bean vine lyric. It has already noted similarities with Patton's “Pea Vine Blues”.

One guitar and 2 vocalists are heard. The later white vocal is Fahey, as is the guitar. Chris Downes names Joe Bussard Jr as the gruff "black" vocal. The CD reissue of VOT implies that the “Blind Joe Death” named as a participant on the sleeve is Fahey overdubbing himself. Be that as it may; there are more curious paths to tread.

On the BLV, under the same title, there is a guitar duet, not a song at all. The “Bean Vine” song is not present on the BLV. The BLV therefore has the wrong title. So what, then, is the guitar duet?
Malcolm Kirton, IFC founder member, puts his finger on the solution. It’s actually Charley Patton’s “Moon Going Down” played by John Fahey & Bill Barth, recorded on 13 April 1964 and listed in the DDD. (Patton’s duet was with Willie Brown, recorded 1930).
This guitar duet does not exist on the OLV.

Under the title “Bean Vine Blues #2” on the BLV and CD is, once again, something with not a whiff of beans about it, a brisk mandolin/guitar duet. Again a wrong title, shoved in, in my opinion, when some lowly Takoma minion noticed there were too many tracks and not enough titles on the rehashed BLV.<br> For some years I thought this was Fahey. Then Nick Barks, honorary IFC associate, came across the very track being played on a blues show on British radio – and lo, it turned out to be the second object trouve of this strange collection. Not Fahey but The Blue Boys. We quote from the Godrich/Dixon bible:

NAP HAYES AND MATTHEW PRATER

Nap Hayes, g; Lonnie Johnson, vn-1/v-2; Matthew

Prater, md; unknown, v-3.



        Memphis, Tenn.                                

               

             Thursday, 15 February 1928



400237-C Let Me Call You Sweetheart -1, 2, 3       OK

unissued

400238-A       Memphis Stomp -1                    OK

43514

400239-A       Violin Blues -1, 2                  OK

8708

400240-B       I'm Drifting Back To Dreamland -1,2 OK

unissued

400241-B       Somethin' Doin'                     OK

45231

400242-B       Easy Winner                         OK

43514

400243-B       Nothin' Doin'                       OK

45231

400244-A       Prater Blues                        OK

8706

Okeh 8708 as by Johnson Boys; Okeh 45231 as by Nap Hayes And Matthew Prater; Okeh 45314 as by The Blue Boys; matrices 400237 and 400240 as by Johnson, Hayes And Prater.

So “Bean Vine Blues #2” is actually “The Easy Winner” by The Blue Boys. (This song is also not present on the OLV.) Stay tuned for the flipside.

JF, notes: “Fahey insists that the ‘Raga’ parts are …’pretty good music and sound effects’… It should be noted, however, that Fahey was the first occidental guitarist to make use of the raga concept, antedating even the great guitarists Sandy Bull and Robbie Basho. Fahey recorded an imitation of Shankar’s ‘Apu Theme’ on 22/8/64 with Blind Wilhelm Barth… Bull’s ragaesque record was issued before Takoma C-1004, but Fahey conceived of and recorded the idea first. In fact, he stated that he had been playing around with ragas ‘for years’ before 22/8/64, but never thought of recording them.”

The OLV and BLV contain radically different mixes and edits of these tracks. On BLV, part 3 is 3 minutes longer, and part 4 has completely different sound effects.
Note : Part 4 includes the first part of “Fight On Christians Fight On”. Also, there are strong similarities between parts of part 4 and part 2 (on “Days Have Gone By”).

No problem in identifying this Train. According to the sleeve details (for once correct) the players are John Fahey, gtr; L Mayne Smith ,bjo; Mark Levine, 2nd gtr. The track was issued as by John Fahey's Shuffle Band on Fonotone 6709 and entitled “John Henry Blues”. The recording is from the Transfiguration sessions which also produced “Come Back Baby”.

In the place of “John Henry Blues” on the OLV comes a swinging guitar/fiddle piece which turns out to be our third objet trouve. It’s the flipside of The Blue Boys, and is called “Memphis Stomp”. Not Fahey.

Just goes to show what a little vocal training and a sober lifestyle sitting around the kitchen table can produce. I think this is one of JF’s most trenchant vocal renditions. And as for that immortal line ".... play it ED . . ." - well!
From the September 1965 live Jabberwock Coffee House set which was recorded for Takoma but not issued. See DDD. See AAFM too, for Didier Herbert.

We had to wait until the unissued 1990 album “Azalea City” for Part Two. A lovely piece, and the only “straightforward” (as it were) Fahey composition on VOT. A kind of companion piece for “Some Summer Day”.

From “99 Year Blues” by Julius Daniels on AAFM, and from “Spike Driver Blues” by Mississippi John Hurt. Who, though, is singing? It may be Fahey but I kinda doubt it by now. Could be anybody.