Hallock Hill

John Fahey, “Dalhart, Texas, 1967,” America (Takoma 1998)

Fahey recorded his album America in 1971, but sometime between recording it and its release, half of the tracks were scrapped, apparently due to the fact that Fahey was cautioned that a double-LP wouldn’t sell. The truncated version, a single-LP, was all that was given to the public. Takoma finally released the nine tracks that would have made the first LP in 1998. Included is this masterwork, “Dalhart, Texas, 1967,” an 11 minute tour-de-force, showing all of Fahey’s power as a guitar player and composer. According to Fahey, it’s partly his interpretation of Jess Morris’ “Goodbye Old Paint.” Scholars have also detected elements of the African-American composer Louis Gottschalk’s work “The Banjo.”