John Phillip

Back in the 1960s, when fingerpicking folk guitarists were a dime a dozen, John Fahey stood out for several reasons. For one thing, his sense of humor was sophisticated and unfashionably cynical for the period (this is the guy, remember, who simultaneously celebrated the blues tradition and ridiculed his own blues pretensions by adopting the nom de plume of "Blind Joe Death"). But most of all, he possessed absolutely astounding chops, and made no attempt to hide his superior guitar skills despite a pop music climate which was much kinder to earnest amateurism than to hard-earned virtuosity. Since that period, though, his profile has stayed pretty low.