John Fahey

John Fahey (1939–2001) was an American guitarist and composer, and one of the first guitarists to perform solo works for the steel-string acoustic guitar. His music defies categorization, drawing inspiration from American folk

John Fahey (1939–2001) was an American guitarist and composer, and one of the first guitarists to perform solo works for the steel-string acoustic guitar. His music defies categorization, drawing inspiration from American folk music, blues, classical music, Brazilian music, and Indian music. In several of his later works, he experimented with dissonance and noise; these later works have been compared with musique concrète and industrial music.

He founded the Takoma Records label (named after his birthplace, Takoma Park, Maryland) in the 1960s, which helped launch the career of fellow fingerstyle guitarists Leo Kottke, Peter Lang, and Robbie Basho. In 1996, Fahey formed Revenant Records which supports folk and blues artists.