American Primitivism
American Primitivism, also known as American Primitive Guitar, is the music genre started by John Fahey in the late 1950s. Fahey composed and recorded avant-garde/neo-classical compositions using traditional country blues fingerpicking techniques, which had previously been used primarily to accompany vocals. Other famous early proponents were Leo Kottke, Robbie Basho and Peter Lang who all played at one time or another on Fahey's Takoma Records label.
Contents |
Quotes [edit]
". . . The New Age people call it Folk; the Folk people call it New Age, but it is really neither. It's transitional. The style is derived from the country blues and string band music of the '20s and '30s, however much of the music is contemporary. Fahey referred to it as 'American Primitive' after the 'French Primitive' painters, meaning untutored."[1]
"...Fahey suggested the idea of joining similar themes, and exploring both time and space. He also wanted me to try using dissonance and minor tunings. Maybe the biggest thing he put into me was the idea that a major part of music exists in the space between notes and chords."[2]
Notable proponents [edit]
- John Fahey
- Leo Kottke
- Peter Lang
- Robbie Basho
- Max Ochs
- Harry Taussig
- Mark Fosson
- Michael Gulezian
- Terry Robb
- Glenn Jones of Cul de Sac (band)
- Steffen Basho-Junghans
- Jack Rose
- James Blackshaw
- Ben Chasny
- Sir Richard Bishop
- Andrew Stranglen
- Charlie Schmidt (Fahey's ghost player)
- Pat O'Connell
- Bob Hadley
- Mike Salovich
- Andy Abbott
- Mandrax Icon
- Norberto Lobo
- Daniel Bachman
- Jerry Hionis
- Matt Sowell
- Jim O'Rourke
- Chuck Johnson
References [edit]
- ^ "Peter Lang on American Primitive Guitar". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
- ^ "Peter Lang on Fahey's influence on his playing". Archived from the original on 12 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
External links [edit]
- John Fahey and American Primitivism: Nick Schillace's Master's Thesis
- Fahey discography and short essay on american primitive guitar
- The Cosmos Club. American Primitive Guitar. Washington City Paper.
 |
This article about a music genre is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
