The Enigma of Blind Joe Death: Harper Stone Performs Works of John Fahey

Acoustic guitarist John Fahey (1939-2001) was impossible to classify. His eclectic music included traditional-sounding folk pieces, Indian ragas, blues, and unpredictable modern works, somehow compressing a whole orchestra into a single guitar with a wistful and mysterious voice. 

He released his first album, Blind Joe Death, on his own record label in 1959. He started the genre of instrumental acoustic steel-string guitarist/composers and in a sense became the first indie musician while he was at it. He was a collector of 78rpm records and helped to rediscover some of the blues masters who had recorded in the 20s, and bring their careers back in the 1960s. 

This concert will present a bunch of John Fahey tunes played by Harper and rendered as faithfully as possible, and a bit of storytelling about John Fahey’s life. 

This is one of many events happening in the Bellingham Folk Festival, January 22-25. See https://www.thebellinghamfolkfestival.com/ for more details