Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
This band has no press
Discography
I have 2 self-made cds: "What John Fahey Taught Me," all instrumentals and "One Voice, One Guitar, One Bottle," vocal selections. www.strangebrews.com has several tracks from the latter.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Imagine a kid in Eastern Oklahoma with a guitar and a record player. To what was he listening? The sounds of Robert Johnson, Jimmie Rogers, Hank Snow, Sonny Boy Williamson and John Fahey soon fill the room. Since Fahey was the only one alive, the boy writes to him and, lo and behold, John Fahey answers. A correspondance continues and the master shares secrets with the kid.
Then the sounds of Segovia and Parkening captivate him. He studies classical guitar with Paul Mendy in Arkansas, but, alas, he feels compelled to move East to Maryland. His guitar is his night time comfort as he struggles through the world of retail sales by day.
Then it happens! He lays his precious instrument aside and concentrates on a new career in teaching computer applications. Once in a great while it is removed from its case and fumbling fingers try to recreate the beauty he sought so long ago.
Then another change: marriage. One night his wife said, "you have to see this guy on tv and listen to his playing." She woke him up at 2 in the morning to see.... Esteban. Groggily he listened and muttered, "I used to play like that." "I don't believe you," she snapped back. "We'll see," he said as he staggered back to the warmth of his bed. The next day a new chapter began in his life as he went to the long neglected case and awoke the instrument. Giving himself 2 days to practice, he then played Bach's "Gavottes" from the 6th Cello Suite and the "Romanza" for his beautiful wife. She wept and said, "how could you ever stop playing?" He had no answer but just hung his head.
A new chapter began that day. Practicing every morning, new songs came into that part of the brain that had been dormant too long. He must recapture the fire of old, and he did. Playing anywhere a solo singer/guitarist could find a gig he honed his craft more and more. Then he thought, "let me see if there is any info on John Fahey on the internet." He found John's website and sent a message to the master: the kid from Oklahoma was back. A very nice reply was received from John's girlfriend and not 2 months later John Fahey was dead. He cried and vowed never to lay the music down until age or disease kept him from it.
This is my story. The heartbreak and joy come through in the music I love to share with others. Whether originals or covers, the songs become mine because they have meant something to me in life.
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