Everywhere the forces of darkness and evil were rampant. Before their onslaught, everywhere the goodguys were falling back in what were then described as strategic retreats. Skepticism as to the existence of the master plan was rife. I still retain a yellowing clipping on the inferior wartime paper from the popular folk magazine Guaranteed Bullfrog, soon itself to be swept from the scene in a horrible night of fire and death.
BETRAYAL IN ARLlNGTON
Fall of City Imanent
KEY BRIDGE August 24 1964 - special to the Bullfrog: This reporter learned today from the refugees who have been crossing the Potomac in a steady flood since the dawn in russet mantle clad first walked the Virginia hills with almost all of the stocks of being. Piecing together the conflicting fragments hurriedly poured forth by the terrified and shattered remnants of the forces of good, the following account was obtained:
As the setting sun cast shadows across the crossroads where poor Bob yet stands, a truce was agreed upon between the good guys and THEM. The good guys garrison had gone celebrating to the hospital with its badly wounded troops hoping that this respite would see conditions favorable for peaceful coexistence beginning to form. When the troops were at their weakest, slumbering, forgetful of the price of liberty, the forces of evil descended, quickly poisoning or drugging the guards and putting them to the sword. They worked thru the night loading boxes of being into a small German vehicle, and were gone before the light revealed their acts.
Information received from a high source reveals that THEM do not intend to abide by the results of the internationally supervised elections of the Fall. They have established a new capitol, perhaps in their hideout in New York where several shipments of being have been diverted by their agents. A dark Mantle is reported to be guarding the stolen being with arms of solid suburban money.
Morale is at a low point among the few surviving troops, many of whom believe that before that before the monsoon season when counter offensive operations can begin, that the powers of THEM will utterly destroy the city and the good guys.
Late in the summer of 1965 he played an unprecedented two weeks at the Odyssey followed by a gig at the Turks Head. At last John had become as Ed Freeman had predicted in the dark days of March, "a legend". The leading critics of the nation were present at these triumphs. Judging from their reviews in contemporary issues of Broadside of Boston, he took them by storm, also.
Fahey himself was ill of germ warfare, Barth had suffered a broken foot and I was in shock as a result of direct physical assault. Only the prompt and effective medical team at the Washington Hospital Centre had saved our lives. As we parted on that evening none of us expected to see the others alive again.
Quite naturally during the following months as the good guys painfully marshalled their forces, all of our attention was taken up with the effort of just surviving in our secret underground head-quarters and we never guessed what had taken place at Adelphi on that evening. Reports of Fahey's death came from Texas and we fully believed that never again would masterpieces flow from that fertile brain.
In the Spring of 1965 I stopped in Monolith, California, to inspect the work on the statue that a grateful community was erecting to Fahey's memory. One hot dusty evening while I was strolling towards the Portland Cement Plant, a dark man hurried from the surrounding night and pressed a note into my hand. I reached for my flashlight but the batteries failed. Cursing, I quickly reached into my pocket for the two Everready batteries I had bought for just such an occasion and fired a few random shots into the darkness. By the time I got my light working the only moving object was the dust from a subsiding grain elevator which I had accidentally mortally wounded. My attention turned to the note:
Fahey is risen ef you wan oracular tapes go Berkely wait for contactbut believing it to be the work of a drunk peasant who had brooded too much over the legend that Fahey was King Arthur and would rise in the east and lead the forces of good to victory, I ignored the note.
A month later, however, I was contacted in Berkeley by an eccentric political leader who had somehow gotten the tapes from the Adelphi session. Hearing them I realized that the prophecy of the Transcendental Waterfall would be fulfilled. I purchased the tapes for a handful of tracts and beads and began to await the day when the political situation in the folk world would permit their release.
At the March celebrations of the battle of Boston the Appalachian Division of Music Research informed me that the owner of Fonotone records had been contacted in the liberated area. Writing to him for information I received a discography of Fahey's recordings for his company. This discography together with the information gotten from sources which I still not at liberty to reveal will be found in the Appendix to these notes. I believe that the new information will go far to dispel many foolish rumors which have arisen concerning the recording career of John Fahey.
The greatest surprise of all was gotten at the July Total Victory Celebrations held in the capital city after the ignominious capitulation of THEM in late April *. There I learned that Fahey still lived. At once our friends in Boston were informed and Fahey was able to resume his career as a musician now that the forces of evil were finally defeated.
NOTES ON THE SONGS
WORRIED BLUES is a familiar song in the white mountain tradition. This version owes much to the playing of Frank Hutchison, one of the best of the early white guitarists to record.
VARIATIONS ON THE COOCOO seems to be a variant of the Coocoo by Clarence Ashley. Fahey once said of this piece "everybody thinks that's far out".
POOR BOY is a variant of the same song by Bukka White as recorded for the Library of Congress in the late 1930's. It is only a miracle which permitted this song to come to ears of any, since it has been consistent policy of the Library to allow its material to rot rather than allow the public to hear any of it. God alone knows how many masterpieces have decayed beyond salvation in their vaults. This nation needs more thieves and less librarians.
THE DANCE OF DEATH is a European peasant song sung before lighting the bonfires on many a pestilent occasion. quite naturally no recordings survive of the original 12th century performances but they live on in the folk traditions of Takoma park and in the Etruscan River Valley Basin Delta Region. Joe Death heard the old massa gently strum this piece on an old baby's coffin while watching the mansion burn in 1865. Moved, the youth subtly shifted the rhythm to a more Afrocentric style and using the folk process, which he had learned from his father, he changed the dirge into a dance. Many in Takoma park recall the old darky shuffling his feet and humming the only surviving song from the white slave tradition. The white slaves in America after their liberation by the victorious Bessarabian armies migrated to New York and Berkeley, and their descendants, yet living in their quaint shanties, are known as White Negroes or "hippies". The failure of American society to integrate these people into national life can only have serious consequences in the future, and this piece is included in the hopes of increasing intercultural understanding and friendship of all people.
THE LAST STEAM ENGINE TRAIN combines elements of white mountain music, Stephen Foster and Nashville rock and roll. It is assured great hostility.
REVELATION ON THE BANKS OF THE PAWTUXENT was had by John as he, like so many of his generation were wont to do, wandered along the banks of the green Pawtuxent marvelling as it caressed the open brown flanks of the earth. No one who is familiar with the English "Water Poets" could fail to notice the influence that rivers have had in John's work.
ON THE BANKS OF THE OWCHITA was inspired by the theme music of the Apu Trilogy. At its first performance, given at a private party of select people in a suburb of the nation's capitol, the hostess was so overcome that she gave John and his friends 3/4 of a chocolate cake, 2 plates of spagetti, a fifth of bourbon, and 8 penicillin pills.
GIVE ME CORN BREAD WHEN I'M HUNGRY is a childrens skip rope song from Afghanistan. many Afgans moved to California following the merciless suppression of their nation by the evil red forces of Great Britain in the 19th century. Shortly after their arrival, they taught the miners in Plumas county how to ski and thus introduced the sport to this nation. John learned the song from a group of children whose parents were attending the National Afgan Liberation Day festivities. Believing the San Francisco Bay Bridge to be an entrapped goddess which will return them to their native land, the entire Afgan population solemnly gathers together on May 22 and, standing on the span, they pelt the shore with rotten eggs so that it may wish to release the bridge.
WINE & ROSES is a graceful minor melody learned by Fahey from an old Indian he met while visiting the Mississippi Monner Monument Coffee and Gift Shop in West Heliotrope, Maryland. He was given to understand that the song was an anthem used by the Indians in their heroic struggle on Capitol Hill in the early 1930's against the political entrenchment of the brief alliance of the Episcopal Ministry with Captain Marvel and the Mole Men.
WHAT THE SUN SAID is a musical creation of a mural by Frank Lloyd Wright which stands to this day 15 miles north of Tempe, Arizona. The mural illustrates the discovery of "dry long so" by the folk of Mississippi. The theme of the piece is given in an article Fahey wrote for Arizona Folkways, the CIA magazine.
APPENDIX I: MUSICAL HISTORY OF JOHN FAHEY: GATHERING TOGETHER
ALL THAT IS PRESENTLY KNOWN FROM DIVERS SOURCES.
Prior to his discovery in 1958 by a Takoma research team Fahey had played as a guitarist for a bluegrass band; often appearing with Bill Hancock and Greg Eldridge, but no recordings are known from this period. Sometime in 1956 he was smote to the ground by a bolt of lightning. Upon awakening he heard Blind Willie Johnson singing and from that time onward he ceased playing hillbilly and concentrated upon blues. His first recordings were made under somewhat mysterious circumstances for the Fonotone company - a pioneer in the folkfield.
Shortly before she met her tragic end by impalement when a chair rung she was tuning slipped from place under terrific pressure, Mrs Petranick informed us that John had the knowledge to operate recording equipment and that he was a hypnotist. Evidently, he would go to Fonotone with Blind Joe Death and Blind Thomas. The next morning the a & R man would awaken with a slight headache and a stack of unidentified masters. Needless to say this has left some ambiguity in the records of the company. We have here listed all recordings made by any of these artists, regardless of the name used on the label. While doubtless some of them are by Death or Thomas or even Firk, all of them are of considerable merit and we felt it best to take the risk of including a few too many, rather than risk leaving any out.
All Fonotone recordings are made at 78 rpm (that's the big brittle record with the small hole) and all were recorded in Fredrick Maryland unless otherwise stated. No master numbers are given. They are presumably identical with the issue numbers in 50% of the cases. All listed Fonotone records, with the exception of those marked "op" (out of print) are available from: FONOTONE RECORDS, Joe Bussard, 503 Fleming Ave, Fredrick, Md. 21701. The price is $1.10 per record plus $0.30 for packing and mailing. The catalog of this company contains many items of interest to the lover of American folk music.
1. early 1958 ? JOHN FAHEY Fot 1157 Takoma Park Pool Hall Blues/ Transcendental Waterfall (op) Fot 1182 Buck Dancer's Choice/ Barbara Namkin Blues Fot 1184 St. Louis Blues/ On Doing An Evil Deed Blues Fot 1185 In Christ There is no East or West/ Stak O'Lee Blues If You Haven't Any Hay / C.C. Rider add PAT SULLIVAN - vocal
2. late 1958 BLIND THOMAS Fot 1199 Mississippi Boweavil Blues/Green River Blues (op)
3. later 1958 BLIND THOMAS Fot 511 Over the Hill Blues/Labas Rag (op) Fot 607 Pat Sullivan Blues/(this may be a one sided record) (op)Fahey has no knowledge of Labas Rag and believes the title to be mistaken. He also
4. early 1959 Spotswood's ancestral home, Westmoreland Hills, Md. JOHN FAHEY, ELMER & HAROLD WILLIAMS, KELLY John - g=1, Elmer - g=2, voc. & g=3, Harold - voc. & g =4 On Doing An Evil Deed Blues - 1 Railroad Bill - 3,1 Buckstonk Blues - 1 Easy Ridin Buggy - 3,1 Brenda's Blues - 1 One by One - 3,1 John Henry - 2,1 If You Feel Like Your In Love Blues in E - 2,1 Don't Just Stand There 3,1 Blues in C - 2,1 Tell Me Who's Been Fooling You - 4 Add vocals by Elmer, Harold and Kelly at various timesRock Is My Pillow
So far as I can determine, these are the only known recordings by the Williams Brothers and Kelly. Their home was once located on New Hampshire Ave just beyond the DC line, presently the site of either a Safeway or a highway. By wise and judicious placement of modern highways, the local governments of suburban Maryland have increased property values by simultaneously creating easy access for modern transportation and by ridding the countryside of unsightly negro and poor white shacks. As a result of this policy there seem to be no negroes or farmers left in the lower half of Montgomery county. The suicide rate is rising.
5. April 1959 JOHN FAHEY/BLIND JOE DEATH Recorded by Pat Sullivan at St. Michael's and All Angels Church in Adelphi, Maryland Takoma C 1002 First Edition (distinguishable by the lack of issue numbers on either the label or the jacket) On Doing An Evil Deed Blues St. Louis Blues Poor Boy Long Ways From Home Uncloudy Day John Henry In Christ There is no East or West The Transcendental Waterfall Desperate Man Blues Sun Gonna Shine in my Back Door Someday Blues Sligo River Blues West Coast BluesFrom listening to these selections it is apparent that by April 1959 Fahey had absorbed direct influence from the works of Elizabeth Cotton, Two Poor Boys, Sam McGee, Barbecue Bob, Charlie Patton, Sylvester Weaver and Walter Beasley, Mississippi John Hurt or Frank Hutchison, and the Carter Family; not to mention the Episcopal Hymnal. His amazing capacity for assimilation and synthesis thus became evident early in his recording career. it is all the more amazing for the obscurity of the work of those artists before the inception of the Origin Jazz Library. it is clear that John owes a debt to the Harry Smith Anthology, that miracle which justifies, by itself, the existence of Folkways.
6. Nov. 15, 1959 BLIND THOMAS Fot 505 Blind Blues/Poor Boy Blues Fot 506 Long Time Town Blues/Gulf Port inland Blues Fot 507 Blind Thomas Blues/part 2
7. April 15, 1960 BLIND THOMAS Fot 610 Wanda Russel Blues/Going Away to Leave You Blues Fot 611 John Henry/Paint Brush Blues Fot 612 Lay My Burden Down/Hill High Blues
8. Nov. 15, 1960 BLIND THOMAS Fot 631 You Gonna Need Someone On Your Bond/Jesus Gonna Make up My Dying Bed Fot 632 Banty Rooster Blues/Tom Rushin Blues Fot 633 Yallaboosha River Blues/You Gonna Miss Me Fot 634 Wissen Schaetlich River/part 2 Fot 635 Blind Thomas Blues part 3/part 4 Fot 636 Zekian Swamp Blues/Nobodies Business
9. March 24, 1961 BLIND THOMAS Fot 6146 Going Crabbing Talking Blues/part 2 (rejected) Fot 6147 You Better Get Right/I Shall Not Be Moved (rejected) Fot 6148 Weissman Blues/Dasein River Blues Fot 6149 Racoriverate River Blues/part 2 (rejected) Fot 6150 Ickweisnikt River Blues/Smokey Ordinary Blues (rejected) For 6151 Old Country Rock/Little Hat Blues (rejected)
10. early 1962 St. Michael's Church, Maryland ? JOHN FAHEY - guitar FRAN VANDIVER - vocal Brightest and Best My Shepherd Will Supply My Need Golden Vanity In the Pines (Fonotone 6227) Pretty Polly (Fonotone 6227) Guide Me On Thou Great Jehovah (a capella) Take This Hammer My Horses Ain't Hungry East Virginia Cora is Gone Willow Garden Going Down the Road Feelin Bad Dark as a Dungeon add FLEA - vocal Sparkling Blue Eyes
11. Feb. 24, 1962 St. Michael's Church, Maryland ? JOHN FAHEY - guitar soli Dance of Death Yazoo Basin Blues Stomping on the Old Pennsylvania / Alabama Border Night Train to Valhalla Takoma C 1003 Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Philip of Spain Revelation on the Banks of the Pawtuxent River Dream of the Origin of the French Broad River
12. March, 1962 St. Michael's Church, Maryland JOHN FAHEY AND THE EPISCOPAL YOUTH SHOWThe instrumentation and personnel of this session are extremely complex. those familiar with discography will follow it however. John Fahey, guitar -1, and vocal - 2, guitar and kazoo 13; Nancy McLean, flute - 3; Robbie Basho, guitar - 14, guitar and vocal - 4; David Gardner, vocal only - 5, tenor recorder only - 6; Grubbert Gardner, washtub bass - 7; Howard Metler, trash can - 8; Flea, kazoo - 9, vocal - 10; Eileen Gardner, vocal - 11, Any Agamenmon, vocal - 12.
Improvisation for Trash Can and Flute - 3,8 the White Dove - 1,2,10 Texas and Pacific Blues - 1, 13, 14, 7, 8 Beedle Um Bum - 1, 2, 13, 9, 10 Cajun Chanson de Mardi Gras - 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12 The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill - 1, 3 (issued on Takoma C 1003)
13. Apri 1962 Fredrick, Maryland CHARLIE PATTON - guitar & vocal JOHN FAHEY - guitar JOLLY JOE BUSSARD - jug Bird Nest Bound Dry Well Blues JOHN FAHEY - guitar & vocal JOLLY JOE BUSSARD - jug Hammer Blues Heart Like Railroad Steel Jersey Bull Blues Peavine Blues -1; -2 Maggie Campbell Blues -1, -2 Take This Hammer Atlanta Blues 1928 Ford Mississippi Po BoyOther voices may also be heard on the tapes of this session. Also present, although considerably drunk were Spider Lady and Harmonica Ed. Bootlegs of this session often have selections by Lottie Kimbrough mixed in and occasionally parts of the Episcopal Youth Show. Other selections by Patton may be heard on Origin #1 and 7; a reissue LP of Jolly Joe has been issued on the now legendary Piedmont label and is probably in print.
14. May 1962 St. Michael's Church, Maryland ? JOHN FAHEY & HIS FRIENDS Flea, organ - 1; John Fahey, guitar - 2; Flea, vocal - 3; John Fahey, guitar & vocal - 4; Flea, french horn - 5; Nancy McLean, flute & vocal - 6; Thomas Curtis, vocal - 7.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken - 1, 2 Will the Circle Be Unbroken - 3, 4 Goodbye Booze - 3, 4 Oh Lord Remember Me - 4, 5, 6 Untitled Sermon with Singing - 3, 4 The Devil Makes Men Split the Atom - sermon with singing - 3, 4 A drama - The Episcopal Youth Group imitates the Episcopal Discussion group - 3, 4, 7
same day Martin's Esso Service Station, Takoma park, Md. FAHEY, FLEA, BOB BICKNELL & OTHERS - vocals, a drama The Service Station at New Hampshire and University Blvd.
15. June 15, 1962 MISSISSIPPI SWAMPERS (Fahey & Firk) Fot 6219 Black Swamper's Blues / part 2 Fot 6220 Green Blues / Stone Poney Fot 6221 Some Summer Day #2 / Dark & Lonely Nights Blues The first version of Some Summer Day is by Charlie Patton, specialists may find a comparison amusing. Firk has recorded for Fonotone on several occasions.
16. July 4, 1962 Lewisdale, Md. JOHN FAHEY - guitar NANCY MCLEAN - flute Takoma unissued Kuolema (4 takes) Leaving Home Memories of Janvenpaa (17 takes) Frisco Leaving Jarvenpaa (12 takes) My Station Will Be Changed After a While (43 takes, abortive) Key Largo (one take, with firecrackers) Lottie Kimbrough
17. about a week later St. Michael's Church, Md. same personnel Charleston #0 Charleston #1 Sail Away Ladies Let Us Grove (sic)
18. Summer 1962 Fredrick, Maryland JOHN FAHEY & BACKWARDS SAM FIRK About 12 songs were recorded, the titles of which are unknown at present. I believe this to have been a session for Fonotone.
19. Summer 1963 Alcatraz Apartments, Berkeley, California JOHN FAHEY - guitar Guitar Excursion into the Unknown
20. Fall 1963 Berkeley, California JOHN FAHEY Takoma C 1003 Sunflower River Blues When the Springtime Comes Again Stomping Tonight On the Pennsylvania/Alabama Border Some Summer Day On the Beach At Waikiki John Henry Variations Spanish Dance Take A Look At That Baby America Episcopal Hymn
The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill, which features McLean on the flute was recorded at an earlier date. This session, the first major West Coast session of Fahey, lasted two days, during which time Fahey consumed three fifths of whiskey and filled fifteen rolls of tape. The unissued tapes were destroyed by electromagnetic radiation.
21. April 13, 1964 Arhoolie Studios - Berkeley, California FAHEY & BARTH Takoma unissued Maggie Campbell Blues (guitar duet) Moon Going Down (guitar duet) New Orleans Shuffle (guitar duet) West Coast Blues Thing in G (The Television Song) Uncloudy Day Takoma C 1002, second edition (with issue numbers and printed jacket) Transcendental waterfall On Doing An Evil deed Blues In Christ There is no east or WestThe other selections on the second edition were taken from one of the few copies of the first edition to survive. West Coast Blues was not included because the record had a bullet hole through that track. When truth is known, there are many surprises.
22. Summer 1964 Adelphi Studios - Silver Springs - Maryland FAHEY & BARTH - 1 Takoma C 1004 - all selections were taken from this session Wine and Roses * Worried Blues What the Sun Said On the Banks of the Owchita River - 1 Variations on the Coocoo Poor Boy The Dance of Death The Last Steam Engine train Give Me Corn Bread When I'm Hungry How Long Revelation on the Banks of the PawtuxentTakoma unissued - other titles recorded at this session include:
Sevastopol Chimes Blues Silent Night The Television Song The Sidewalks of New York The Revolt of the Dyke Brigade The Portland Cement plant at Monolith California Southern Medley Brenda's Blues When You Wore A Tulip Daisy Steel Guitar Rag C Tuning Camptown Races House Carpenter O Come O Come Emanuel Improvisation in E minor It Had To Be You Buddy Bolden Blues New Orleans Shuffle Saint Louis Tickle Last Thing #1 * Wine and Roses is mistitled, it is actually The Red Pony
23. Early June 1965 Topanga, California JOHN FAHEY, guitar MAYNE SMITH, banjo MARK LEVINE, 2nd guitar - 3 Train - 2, 3 Long Journey Home - 2, 3 Willie Moore Texas and Pacific Blues - 2, 3 & kazoo Television Rag All Sing A Song of the Saints of God The Portland Cement Plant at Monolith California Untitled Piece in E Modal How Long House Carpenter Bicycle Built for Two Come Back Baby - 2, Poor Boy Brenda's Blues The Death of the Clayton Peacock How Green Was My Valley St. Patrick's Hymn 101 is a Hard Road To Travel Beautiful Linda Getchell - 2This was originally a session for Delta which however did not issue any records.
24. late July 1965 MIT, Cambridge, Mass JOHN FAHEY - g Riverboat Orinda / Moraga I Am the Resurrection On the Sunny Side of the Ocean Tell Her to Come Back Home Bicycle Built for Two Old Southern Medley Western Medley FAHEY - g & veena N.S.DUSTY 1st & 2nd guitar Sail Away Ladies - 1 FAHEY - g, MYSTERIOUS AL WILSON - veena - 1 Durgan Park The Bitter LemonCertain songs recorded at the Topanga session were also recorded at this session and then destroyed right after the sessions. No one remembers which ones.
25. 3 weeks preceeding Aug. 26, 1965 New York City JOHN FAHEY - guitar WILLIAM BARTH - g, -1 This was intended to be an instruction lp illustrating various traditional styles. Title Artist whose style is being illustrated Smoketown Strut Sylvester Weaver (Steel) Guitar Rag Sylvester Weaver Squabblin' Blues Barefoor Bill from Alabama Police Sargent Blues Robert Timothy Wilkins Church Bell Blues Luke Jordan 99 Year Blues Julius Daniels It Won't Be Long Frank Stokes Nobody's Business Frank Stokes Nobody's Dirty Business Mississippi John Hurt Memphis Women Frank Stokes Stack - o -lee Mississippi John Hurt Old Country Rock William Moore Big Road Blues Tommy Johnson Down the Dirt Road Blues Charlie Patton Maggie Campbell Blues Tommy Johnson A Rag Blues Walter Hawkins Snatch it and Grab it Walter Hawkins various othersA number of pieces were cut for audition purposes of John's own music. He was not paid for these and has not at this date (Jan. 11, 1966) been able to get all of the tapes returned either.
26. September ? 1965 JOHN FAHEY Takoma unissued recorded in performance How Long Variations on Eck Robertson On the Banks of the Owchita Durgan Park The Dance of the Inhabitants I Am the Resurection The Revolt of the Dyke Brigade The Great San Bernadino The Death of the Clayton Peacock Birthday Party When the Springtime Comes Again The Orinda / Moraga Some Summer Day part 2 Southern Medley 101 is a Hard Road To Travel Willie Moore add ED DENSON - harmonica Some Summer Day part 1 Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme I Woke Up One Morning in MayThese pieces were recorded on a 4 track Roberts and probably will not be issued.
27. Nov. 28, 1965 Arhoolie Studios - Berkeley,California JOHN FAHEY Takoma unissued The Great San Bernadino Birthday Party Joe Kirby Blues Jim Lee Blues Willie Moore Variations on Eck Robertson Loch Lohman Untitled Epic add ED DENSON - harmonica One Day in May Maryland My Maryland Le Vieux Soulard The Bear Went Over The Mountain"I believe it to be an ancient teutonic non-fertility rite, performed in the days of King Balder, on the sleu row of ancient Bromicidealvancia. The etymology should be obvious. Various haruspices would stand guard while they were reading the runes on the sacrificial lion heads.
This delta had the very pronounced habit, during certain dry seasons, of sliding. In order to compensate for the encroachments of numerous escarpments, which were at this time always encroaching upon everyone, due to the sliding of the delta. Hymns were composed, which were sung to various gods of the delta and the escarpments. In time, the escarpments ceased to encroach, but the delta continued to slide, which was quite naturally no longer dangerous to the local volk. These hymns continued to be sung altho their aetology was long forgotten. Later they were written down in compensium of sliding delta hymns which were so named.
In 1929, a translation of one of these ancient hymn books was deposited in the University of Mississippi Library at Oxford. A janitor, by the name of Thomas Johnson (here there is a gap in the document. Only one other sentence is legible) . . . Later when a talent scout from Wisconsin Chair Mfg. Co. was in Jackson where Johnson had moved . . . . ."
The editor regrets that the only surviving copy of this document is incomplete. It was found by him on a recent camping trip, in the hands of a group of artists who were using it to start fires, unknowing of its value as a document of social history.
Elijah P. Lovejoy
All music on this record Copyright c 1965 John Fahey Published by Tradition Music (BMI)
This record was recorded by Gene Rosenthal of Adelphi Studios, in Silver Spring, Md. on an
Ampex Studio Tape Transport 400, using Electrovoice 676 and 664 cardiod dynamic microphones.
It was produced by ED Denson, Takoma Records. Cover design by Berkeley Free Press
Mastering by Sierra Sound Studios, pressing by Fidelatone Mfg. Co.
TAKOMA B 1001
BUKKA WHITE: MISSISSIPPI BLUES VOL. I One of the best country bluesmen, long a legend for his recordings for Victor and Columbia in the 1930's. Recorded in Memphis Tenn. after his rediscovery in 1963. This album contains several of Bukka's best original songs (Shake Em On Down, Aberdeen Mississippi Blues) and some of the delta favorites (Baby Please Don't Go). One sky song improvised on the spot, one song accompanied by piano. On the three minute talking track Bukka tells of Charlie Patton. Recommended in Saturday
Review, Broadside of Boston & Sing Out, this is the first, and in our opinion the best, of Bukka's three recordings made since the war. Those of you who enjoy this Takoma LP will probably also want the two LP set on Arhoolie: Origin Jazz Library #'s 5,12, & 13 and RBF's "Country Blues" and "Rural Blues' for other recordings by Bukka.
TAKOMA C 1002
JOHN FAHEY / BLIND JOE DEATH: This is the second edition of the record that made John and Joe legends. Serious students long felt that the more traditional Joe was superior, but as Dylan said so prophetically "Death shall have no dominion" and John has since been recognised as "easily the finest, and most original of the younger "folk" musicians now playing, " (Al Wilson Broadside of Boston) recorded in Maryland in 1959 the selections include: The Transcendental Waterfall, Desperate Man Blues, St. Louis Blues, Uncloudy Day, and In Christ There is No East Nor West. Partially rerecorded in Berkeley in 1964.
TAKOMA C 1003
JOHN FAHEY VOL II: DEATH CHANTS, BREAKDOWNS, AND MILITARY WALTZES,
Recorded in Berkeley in 1963, and in Washington D.C. the album includes 12 pieces of the best work that John did in the early 1960's. It brought him rave reviews from Boston to Los Angeles where Barry Hansen said "Fahey is working at a level of seriousness which none of the other experimenters in folk music even approach, and this album (his second) is strong testimony to his achievement and future possibilities." (Daily Bruin) Titles include: Sunflower River Blues, Stomping Tonight on the Pennsylvania, Alabama Border, Some Summer Day, The Downfall of The Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill, and The Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Philip XIV of Spain.
TAKOMA C 1004
JOHN FAHEY VOL. III: DANCE: OF DEATH AND OTHER PLANTATION FAVORITES
Recorded in Maryland in 1964, among the 11 selections is a guitar duet with William Barth. The work on this record was primarily composed during the period 1963 - 1964 during which time Fahey moved in several interesting directions. The influence of Foster, India, and several newer facets of the native folk traditions are evident. In the notes there is a complete account of John's activities during the year and a discography listing over 100 songs which he has recorded. The titles include: Variations on the Coocoo, Revelations on the Banks of the Pawtuxent, Dance of Death, Worried Blues, On the Banks of the Owchita (duet).
TAKOMA C 1005
ROBBIE BASHO: THE SEAL OF THE BLUE LOTUS: Another distinctive and original guitarist from Washington. This recording, 2 years in the making, and financed by several institutions and philanthropists, will take the listener from the Theater of North American Taoism to the realm of the Black Lotus. Recorded in Seattle, Toronto, New York and Berkeley during the period 1963 - 1965. The selections are: Seal of the Blue Lotus, Mountain Man's Farewell, Bardo Blues, Dravidian Sunday, Sansara in Sweetness After Sandstorm, and Black Lotus - Hymn to Fugen
All Takoma records which cannot be found at your local friendly superior store are available from us at $5, postpaid.
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Notes transcribed by Chris Downes, Sydney, Australia,
August 13, 1998 from original record notes.