John Casey

John Fahey - Rain Forests, Oceans, And Other Themes (1984) {Varrick Records CD019 rel 1995}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 249 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 125 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1984, 1995 Varrick / Rounder Records | CD VR 019
Finger-Picked Guitar / Contemporary Folk / Folk Jazz / Folk-Blues / Progressive Folk

John Fahey's newest work is slightly more subdued than last year's Let Go, but equally as radiant. A nimble-fingered master since his 1959 debut Blind Joe Death Fahey has continually created profound expressions on the acoustic guitar, in a mystical yet intimate setting using his intricate finger-picking style-one that often builds on a rolling, ragtime blues base. Here, Fahey offers five solo pieces ("Atlantic High" and "Intro To Ocean Waves/Ocean Waves" most preferred), and five with guitarist and part-time partner Terry Robb, who effectively compliments Fahey's style, shining most brightly when playing bottleneck guitar, as on "May This Be Love/Casey Jones." Other tandem efforts worth hearing more than once are "Juroscho Ascopi," "Samba De Orfeo" and "Theme And Variations" which features some percussion and bass for added depth.

A gentle blues songster with an impressive acoustic guitar style, Mississippi John Hurt made a handful of wonderful recordings for OKeh Records over a pair of sessions in 1928, but he never developed a professional career and dropped from sight shortly afterwards. Hurt was rediscovered in 1965 during the folk and blues revival, and the considerable guitar skills and gentle vocal approach that highlighted his 1928 recordings were still very much intact. He recorded four albums for Vanguard (one of them was actually a concert recording made at Oberlin College in 1965) in the mid-'60s, each of them a pure delight. This brief sampler of his rediscovery recordings includes fine versions of such traditional country blues fare as "Candy Man," "Louis Collins," and "Spike Driver Blues" as well as Hurt's personal calling card, "Avalon Blues"…