A biography for John Faheyhasn’t been written yet.
“How can I be a folk? I'm from the suburbs you know.”
“But I say these things in an objective dispassionate manner because, you know, and I can't explain why, but being one of the greatest guitarists in the world simply is not very important to me.”
“As soon as the groupie finds out that you make errors in everyday life like everybody else does and that you are human, they turn on you and hate you.”
“See my father knew a lot about music, he played the piano and he would do theory and stuff like that, but I didn't learn anything from him, but I played that for him and he liked it a lot.”
“From a social perspective, I am looking for friends, not acolytes.”
“Well when I made my first record I thought it would be a good joke to have me on one side, have the lable say John Fahey on one side, and this guy Blind Joe Death on the other side.”
“I thought I'd be wasting my time to go to commercial record companies and make demos for them, because don't forget, I was doing what I was doing and nobody understood what I was doing.”
“Well I was on the one hand, the more I played the guitar the more I began to really love the guitar and to love virtually any kind of music that anybody played well on guitar.”
“So I learnt a few country western songs, I bought a chord book, and right away I started writing my own stuff, which nobody else did that, I don't know why.”
“I was using them as teachers for technique but I was never trying to be a folk.”
“When I play, I very quickly put myself into a light hypnotic trance and compose while playing, drawing directly from the emotions.”
“I just want to be treated like an average guy.”
“Well folks, that's about it for the show tonight.”
“As for fame, it can go to your head and you can become full of yourself.”
“Being worshipped is a horrible experience.”
“I also know that I am not a great technician.”
“I had a big background in listening to classical music and I started trying to compose, like I was playing the guitar but I heard an orchestra in my head.”
“The other thing in composition is opening up the unconscious.”
“Early Bluegrass is my favorite kind of music, not to many people know that.”
“Regarding fame, fortune and Oregon I do wish I had more money.”