Blind Joe Death's America
Subtitle: John Fahey, the blues, and writing white discontent
By: George Henderson
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2021
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 222
ISBN-13: 9781469660806
Copyright date: 2021
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation; Guitarists; Musicologists; Music; Guitaristes; Musicologues; Musique; Aspect social; Aspect politique; LITERARY CRITICISM / General; Social aspects; Political aspects
Description: "For over sixty years, American guitarist John Fahey (1939-2001) has been a storied figure, first within the folk and blues revival of the long 1960s, later for fans of alternative music. Mythologizing himself as Blind Joe Death, Fahey crudely parodied white middle-class fascination with African American blues, including his own. In this book, George Henderson mines Fahey's parallel careers as essayist, notorious liner note stylist, musicologist, and fabulist for the first time. These vocations, inspired originally by Cold War educators' injunction to creatively express rather than suppress feelings, took utterly idiosyncratic and prescient turns."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-218) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: New possibilities; title: Where did you go, John Fahey? Manufacturing discontent ; The suburbs, or communism; title: Delta haze. The politics of the songster ; The great liner note breakdown; title: Festivals of democracy (variations). Performance as war ; Some music : some dancing : some unusual intermingling; title: Coda: The unintended story.