JOHN FAHEY
LIVE AT MR BROWN'S, COLUMBUS OHIO
19 June 1978

Tape received in trade (unknown generation) - transfer to hard drive - Audacity (to split tracks) - TLH

I have done nothing to the sound, this is how it came out. Overall it's not bad.

(PLEASE NOTE: my upload speed is not great so please be patient if you're one of the first to upload!)


I've not seen this show shared anywhere before so thought it was about time it was available. It's certainly not John Fahey's greatest moment but it's a fascinating listen none the less.

Fahey had a reputation for erratic behaviour and here is a prime example. Fahey seems to be well-hammered on brandy. He manages to play what's expected of him to start with but would rather do something else involving audience participation. See below for more details of what went down!

Warning! - contains a song with Fahey's vocals!!

01 - intro (00:42)
02 - medley #1 (19:34)
03 - medley #2 (11.30)
04 - medley #3 (12:48)
05 - drunken ramblings (2:29)
[tape flip]
06 - more drunken ramblings (3:55)
07 - The Grand Finale (4:29)
08 - Lonesome Valley / The Grand Finale - voc: Fahey (4:58)
09 - "let's sing some country hymns" (1:52)
10 - Meet You On The Other Shore - voc: unknown (5:25)
11 - River of Jordan #1 - voc: unknown (8:09)
12 - tuning (2:53)
13 - River of Jordan #2 - voc: unknown (4:08)
14 - more banter (6:28)
15 - Will The Circle Be Unbroken [cut] - voc: unknown (4:59)

I'm hopeless at identifying particular Fahey tunes so I've only listed the three main (straight solo guitar) sections as 'medley'. In amongst these are the following tunes: 'Stomping On The Pennsylvania/Alabama Border', 'Ann Arbor', 'Melody McMad', 'The Grand Finale', 'Camptown Races' and 'Dixie'.

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The excellent (but, sadly, no longer updated) John fahey website - www.johnfahey.com/pages/music3.html - has this transcription of most of what happened:

"That Part of the Show's Over"

Part of a concert recorded at Mr Brown's, Columbus, Ohio in June 1978. In the first half of the performance Fahey races through some splendid medleys lasting 20 minutes each. He does the business, he gets on with it, he delivers the goods. However, after the first half comes the second half. Here's a transcript:

JF: Now they must turn over the house, in other words all of you have to leave and pay to come back again regardless of whether only I play or both people play. This is the standard policy of the clubs on the circuit in the United States -- I beg your pardon?
Audience: Encore, encore!
JF: I just played the encore, baby, you wanna hear me again you stay and pay your money for the second set!
JF plays six more tunes without a break and without talking. The rowdy student audience applauds.
JF: Woh, thank you ver' much, one more li'l drink of brandy [beginning to speak in a mock French accent] -- I just wajnt to 'ave one more shot of the brandy but there was none 'ere... Unfortunately it is all GONE but what can one do...

He bums a cigarette off someone in the crowd then continues, still in the French accent.

JF: Now I will play. I will conclude this evening's performance with the song we used to sing ice-skating in the winter going to see a girl-friend at McConnellsville [?] up the [indistinguishable] river.., and by the way if anyone wants to see me tomorrow night, when I am more sober or more drunk as I am, I will be in Dayton, Ohio, on June 20th - is that tomorrow night? Yes, ah, at Gillie's...can't read the address, yes, Dayton, Ohio but I can't read the name of the street, and then on June 22nd I am in Milwaukee. And now a sacred song from my youth skating up the [indistinguishable] river in midwinter to see my girlfriend Gretchen Hosenfat... I don't remember exactly what it was but for God's sake does someone have an ASHTRAY? I don't wa nna burn the stage... ASHTRAY!~ Thank you, thank you, let us have a hand for the young man, the cute young man, ha ha ha ha... ah, but have you ever made it with an elephant? And now, the Ice Skating Song concluded by two spirituals--- hey GANG!

The first part of this song starts quietly, just gimme one minute of relative quiet, not absolute quiet, just a little bit of quiet, so that it can build up dramatically, so you can imagine skating up the [indistinguishable] river, ha ha ha ha haaaah!

JF plays "The Grand Finale".
JF: [Yelling now] You've got to sing "You've Got to Walk that Lonesome Valley'. I can't sing

He proves this by howling the first couple of lines. He exhorts the audience to join in. Howls out the rest of the song. The most painful recording in the whole Fahey discography. He slides into a frantic "Grand Finale". The crowd yells.

JF : [The ridiculous French accent returns] Thank you very much. I have enjoyed playing here this evening. I will not play any more, but if someone wants to sing a couple more hymns.., so I wonder if we could have a couple of requests for hymns we could sing together.
Audience: "Knott's Berry Farm" "Oh Lord I'm Discouraged"!
JF: You wanna sing "Lord I'm Discouraged", you came up here and I'll play it and you sing it. Come on, come on. And where the hell's the bartender with the brandy? Come on, man, you wanna sing "Lord I'm Discouraged"?
Man in audience: I can't even remember the first line.
JF: I'm tired...

Flamboyant amateur in audience commences singing.

JF: That's not the first line, that's the verse.
Audience : "In Christ there is no East or West"
JF: No, no, let's sing spirituals. I have the American copyright on that. Come, come, let's sing some ooooold country hymns.
Audience [satirically]: "Onward Christian Soldiers"!
JF: Nah, corny, corny, corny. Country hymns, country hymns, man. Okay. We have a young man here who wishes to lead us in a hymn. What is the name of this? An old Negro spiritual, good one.., what are the words? Oh, oh yeah, it's ca lled "I'll Meet you on the Other Shore". Now you must keep strict rhythm young man. Let us have the hand for the young man who is going to try to lead us in an old, a very very old Negro country spiritual.
Young Man (rather rudely): I don't know if I can keep it as strict as you. I haven't drunk quite as much.
JF: How's this key? What's your name sir?
Young Man : Masked Marvel.

They perform.

JF: No no no we gonna sing you some songs from way down south. We recognise that this is Southern culture up here. Let us sing you something REAL DEEP SOUTH. Do you know "Troubled Bout my Mother"? Well, what do you know?
Marked Marvel: I know a lot of Charley Patton. Blind Willie McTell. "Moon Goin' Down"?
JF: No, no, spirituals.

They are all looking blank. The audience is growing restive. Fahey is losing their attention.

JF: Do you do "Down by the Riverside"? It's kind of a little overdone, don't you think?

Someone suggests "The Other Side of the Jordan" but no one remembers how it goes.

JF: Do you do "Sone Day, Some Happy day"? SOME DAAAAAAAY, SOME HAAAAAAAPPY DAAAAAAAY... You don't know that.
Masked marvel: I could follow it.
JF: "Jesus Met a Woman by the Well"... "Lord, Lord, He's a Dying Bed Maker"...
Masked Marvel: Which one's that?
JF: Well you tell me, cause you're singing.
Masked Marvel: I'm drawin' a blank "I Shall Not be Moved".

A group of women in the audience break into "Will the Circle be Unbroken".

JF: Oh, man, everybody's tired of "Will the Circle be Unbroken". God damn, come on ladies. Come on ladies, cool it, cool it. We're tryna do spiritual songs that you ain't never heard before. You can hear those songs any day of the week... If you don't like what we're doin' you can kick us out, but what they're doin' you can hear anytime up here. Now you had a song there, "I Shall Not be Moved", but the original, not the Martin Luther King stuff.

They perform "I Shall Not be Moved".

JF: Hey, you know what we got, we got a problem. I am in a weird tuning in which I can only play in one key.
Masked Marvel: Yeah, and it's a little too high for me.
JF: So I am gonna change to standard tuning... Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to attempt to recreate in our diminutive manner a song which A P Carter wrote many years ago called "I'm Going Down to the River of Jordan Some of these Days". Give me perhaps fifteen seconds more to tune my guitar, cause I am just not as good as Maybelle Carter to whom I did dedicate my new book which isn't coming out by the way. Y'all will forgive me for my lack of hot guitar licks, like Maybelle Carter maybe, but I don't have a capo. Never use one. Sing.

They perform.

JF: You know folks, we are amateurs at doin' this gospel singin' but, by God, you know I was brought up in Maryland, near the Appalachian Mountains, and, er , I happen to believe all this stuff we're singing... [collapses in laughter]. If anyone wants to sit around and sing a few more gospel songs... I ain't gonna sing nothing too sentimental, cause I don't believe in that... "Horses"? I wrote a song called " Horses" but it ain't got nothin' to do with this stuff man... Well, you're from Ohio and--- hey, Canada's same as Ohio. Better place than where I live. I have to live in that damn place California and I hate it. Let us not do "Gospel Ship" because Joan Baez did it and I hate her... Look, I want songs that didn't come out of the God damned folk boom. I want songs that came out of these hills just like I did. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for, man. Songs that come out of my heart didn't come out of this Joan Baez Pete Seeger crap. Beg pardon?
Audience: "Requiem to John Hurt".
JF: No, no, that part of the show's over, we're just singing a few gospel songs... If we do this song "Will the Circle be Unbroken" which you've all heard, we're gonna do it really nice...

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There you have it.

Enjoy and share!