Blind Joe Death

Infobox Album |
Name = Blind Joe Death
Type = Album
Artist = John Fahey


Released = 1959
Recorded = 1959
Genre = Folk
Length = ?
Label = Takoma
Producer = ?
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:7ll67u50h0j0 link]
Last album =
This album = "Blind Joe Death"
(1959)
Next album = "Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes"
(1963)

"Blind Joe Death" is the first album by John Fahey. Initially released in 1959 as a very limited edition, one side was credited to a mythical bluesman named "Blind Joe Death", while the other side was credited to Fahey himself. For years Fahey and Takoma continued to treat the imaginary guitarist as a real person, including booklets with their LPs containing biographical information about him including the "fact" that he had a guitar made from a baby's coffin and that he had taught Fahey to play.

There are three different versions of the album. John Fahey's earliest recordings were released on custom edition 78 rpm discs on his friend Joe Bussard's record label, Fonotone. In 1959 Fahey made his own record, recorded in his home town of Takoma Park, Maryland, and was pressed by RCA Custom Recorders. Fahey pressed only 100 copies using money he earned pumping gas at a local station. Some of the copies were broken on their way from the plant; besides the ones given away to friends, Fahey sent copies to folklorists and scholars around the country, as well as planting them in record stores and Goodwill bins for lucky customers to come across. The remainder were slowly sold over a period of four years. This was the first edition of "Blind Joe Death".

After moving to Berkeley, California, where he attended college, his career as guitarist began to take off. Having recorded a minorly successful second album, Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes in late 1963, Fahey decided to re-release his original efforts. However, he decided to rerecord much of the material as he felt he had become a much better player. This second pressing claims that "On Doing an Evil Deed Blues", "In Christ There Is No East or West", "The Transcendental Waterfall", "Desperate Man Blues", and "Uncloudy Day" are 1964 rerecordings and the rest ("St. Louis Blues", "Poor Boy Long Ways from Home", "John Henry", "Sun Gonna Shine in My Back Door Someday Blues", and "Sligo River Blues") are the original 1959 versions. "Uncloudy Day" was actually the same recording, as was "St. Louis Blues" in an edited version. The 1959 album contained a version of Blind Blake's "West Coast Blues", which (despite being rerecorded in 1964) was not included on the album. To fill the gap, the new version of "Transcendental Waterfall" was extended to over 10 minutes long, a glimpse of things to come.

By 1967 Fahey had released a number of albums and was very successful. It was decided that Fahey's first two albums be released in stereo; they were both rerecorded, resulting in a third version of "Blind Joe Death", with an edited version of the 1964 "Transcendental Waterfall" and a new song, "I'm Gonna Do All I Can for My Lord".

The 1959 album is not commercially available in its entirety. The 1996 Fantasy/Takoma release, "The Legend of Blind Joe Death", contains both the 1964 and 1967 versions of the album, with a 1964 recording of "West Coast Blues" (previously unreleased).

Track listing

# "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"
# "Desperate Man Blues"
# "Sun Gonna Shine In My Back Door Someday Blues"
# "Sligo River Blues"
# "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"
# "Desperate Man Blues 1967
# "Sun Gonna Shine In My Back Door Someday Blues"
# "Sligo River Blues"
# "I'm Gonna Do All I Can For My Lord"
# "The Transcendental Waterfall"
# "West Coast Blues"