Medley: Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel / Joe Kirby Blues, by John Fahey (Patreon)

Welcome back all:

Santa came early this month with a two-for-one John Fahey post.

Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel
I mention in the YouTube lesson that Fahey had a tendency to close his early records with a hymn or a spiritual. Since the season is upon us, I thought it would be fun to present this slow, beautiful hymn in the key of E minor. This was first recorded on Vol 4: The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions, released in 1966.

Interesting Features
Fahey takes a fairly basic hymn, from a rhythmic standpoint, and mixes things up quite a bit. The piece is played very rubato, and is constantly moving in and out of straight eighths, swung eighths, triplets, and rolled chords. The technical intricacy of this on lies mostly in the performer's ability to faithfully execute the phrasing in a meaningful manner.

Joe Kirby Blues
A very simple, straightforward blues, yet one of my favorites of Fahey's catalog. This first appeared on Vol 6: Days Have Gone By, released in 1967. My transcription corresponds to the way he performed the piece on The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick, an absolutely fantastic presentation of the piece that was recorded in either 1968 or 1969 (my hard copy of the CD is currently hiding somewhere).

Interesting Features
There is a lot of rhythmic interest hiding in this one as well. The piece should mostly be felt in compound meter, the division of each beat is felt in threes. He makes interesting use of these standard triplet divisions, sometimes incorporating dotted rhythms within, other times including sixteenths inside of the triplets. I find the melody to be haunting yet beautiful, and there is a touch of Fahey's nonstandard harmonies mixed in.

Here is the link to my YouTube performance https://youtu.be/EibfbXzF3oE

Here is the link to the private lesson for Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel https://youtu.be/NrReSvVPRmQ

Here is the link to the private lesson for Joe Kirby Blues https://youtu.be/mJUUaBNMgrk

The transcriptions are attached below.

Very soon (within the next week or two) I am going to announce a giveaway for Takoma records tshirts. Patreon is very specific about what I can allow, so this will have to be limited to Patrons that are long time supporters. Once I have all of the details worked out I will make a post with more information. Have fun with the tunes, and I'll talk to all of you again soon!