Post subject: Genre Extravaganza: AMERICAN PRIMITIVISM
American Primitivism
The Roots
Released in The Anthology of American Folk Music remains one of the most important archival collection of music ever assembled. Compiled by Harry Smith, the expansive collection provides a substantial look into the period of 1926-1933 blues and folk. This is essentially the foundation of all of 20th century popular music in America.
This collection and the other classics that would come over the next two decades offer a grainy lens into a past that’s impossible to fathom today. It’s a dusty depressing era when religion and the pure need for it provided hope to souls who suffered greatly but still shined bright.
Along with Harry Smith, a young John Fahey was one of the greatest appreciators of American Folk music. Born in tail end of the Great Depression in 1939, John Aloysius Fahey would go on to be one of the most significant figures in the history of American folk music, not just for his half a century of solo recordings, but also for his steady fanaticism that led him to unearth and compile some of the most rare and interesting works in the history of American music.
Prior to his death in 2001, Fahey’s dedication to the genre led to the release of American Primitive vol. 1 & 2. Released in 1997, American Primitive vol 1 covered the same period as The Anthology of American Folk Music but focused on rarer gospel recordings. Digging even further back, the recordings on Vol. 2 go back as far and 1897. Relics of a distant dusty past, the story of these rare artifacts are as fascinating as the actual recordings. With static, the distorted wax transports the listener to another era.
This dedication to the roots of American folk music is the foundation of American Primitivism, a genre of music credited to the great John Fahey.
Inspired by performances he saw as a kid, he bought his first guitar at age 13 and would also begin his days as an avid collector. Also important to his story, Fahey gained degrees in Philosophy and Religion, subjects that would surely influence his music. There’s way way more to be said about John Fahey, but I’m unwilling to write a novel here.
And so begins the history of American Primitivism with the release of John Fahey’s stunning 1959 debut.
An all instrumental record solely comprised of Fahey’s remarkable finger-picked acoustic guitar playing, Blind Joe Death takes its cues from the instrumental guitar playing of early folk and blues. The recordings utilize a lo-fi style that seems to immediately age the music a good twenty years.
Through the 60s, Fahey would release a handful similarly fantastic records, while significant figures such as Robbie Basho, Leo Kottke, Sandy Bull and Peter Walker would eventually join the scene, each offering a variation to the formula, without straying far. Every one of these albums is deeply meditative, and usually a serene landscape inhabited by large fields and corn stalks.
The 1960s were clearly the pinnacle of the narrow parameters of the genre, but it continued on into the 70s with a few memorable releases from Fahey, Kottke and Basho, with Peter Lang, William Ackerman and Alex de Grassi adding something new. While Fahey mainly stayed true to what he did in the 60s, Kottke and Basho experimented with adding vocals. Kottke wasn't much of a singer, but his guitar playing was still phenomenal. Basho, on the other hand got weirder, and his vocal style would go on to influence the freak folkers to come. de Grassi would add a jazz guitar background to the American Primitive sound with startling results.
As far as my knowledge goes, this is pretty much a dead period. Although Fahey continued to release albums through the 80s, none of them are regarded quite as high as anything he did previously. Same holds true for Basho.
1990s
In the 90s came the emergence of a few new names into the fold, bringing much needed life to the genre, and blurring its boundaries. Known for his work with Sonic Youth and Wilco among plenty of others, Jim O'Rourke took the foundation of American Primitivism and turned it upside down with the ambient dreamlike Bad Timing. And then he possibly did it even weirder and better on Eureka, which really straddles the line of what American Primitivism is. That same year (1997), a 58 year old John Fahey released his finest record in decades. And in 1998, Six Organs of Admittance made their debut with their droning psych brand of American Primitivism.
In 2001, John Fahey passed away after a coronary bypass operation. Not long before his passing, he recorded what would be his final album, Red Cross. It may also be his most avant-garde recording. In the wake of his death came the emergence of arguably the genre's two most important names of the 21st century, James Blackshaw and Jack Rose, as well as Sir Richard Bishop of Sun City Girls (a band that often worked in sounds of American Primitivism into their undefinable sound).
This is great, mecca, thanks so much for putting it together. Also, thanks to Happymeal and RepoMan for getting this whole thing going.
I have a general question about the genre definition. To start the thread, you emphasize the Anthology of American Folk Music, an extremely diverse collection of American folk music, and the name of the genre itself, "American Primitivism", implies a very broad set of influences. However, the music actually referred to as American Primitivism seems to be restricted primarily to musicians who work with a particular type of acoustic guitar playing which emphasizes fingerpicking.
Is American Primitivism broader than its most famous practitioners or is there some deeper significance to this style of acoustic guitar playing that somehow connects the many threads represented in Anthology? Or is the genre name just too broad in its implications?
However, the music actually referred to as American Primitivism seems to be restricted primarily to musicians who work with a particular type of acoustic guitar playing which emphasizes fingerpicking.
Like pretty much any sub genre of music, American Primivitism originated with one artist and eventually a scene in which he was part of, which immediately restricts the scope of the genre. Fahey and the genre began simply as acoustic fingerpickers recreating some of the sounds from the era of The Anthology of American Folk. Pretty much, they focused on instrumental recreations of those sounds and the feel of that era. So, most records associated with American Primitivism are characterized by fluttering acoustic strings.
But Sandy Bull brought in Eastern influences which makes his original record seem like a cross between Fahey and Ravi Shankar. And later artists attributed with the genre branched out quite a bit more.
I've never been much of a fan of genre distinctions, as most sub genres are used to describe albums that just sound like something else, while much of the greatest music exists on the fringe. Basho and Kottke both added vocals to their music, but for some reason many other newer artists that play a similar style of folk will be dismissed of the genre label because of vocals.
I included my buddy Christopher Paul Stelling in the 2000s post, although he's unlikely to be called American Primitivism due to his vocals. His guitar playing couldn't be more indebted to Fahey, and his lyrics are a throwback to the era Fahey was inspired by. He's really the one who turned me on to Fahey, Basho, Kottke, deGrassi. Yet, he'll be lumped in with the regular folk music. _________________ http://jonnyleather.com
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