American primitive guitar

Fingerstyle guitar music genre

American primitive guitar

John Fahey

Stylistic origins|

* Contemporary folk music
* old-time music
* Country blues

Cultural origins| 1950s, United States
Typical instruments| Steel-string acoustic guitar
Other topics

* Roots revival
* bluegrass
* country
* blues

American primitive guitar is a fingerstyle guitar music genre, developed by the American guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s. While the term "American primitivism" has been used as a name for the genre,[1] American primitive guitar is distinct from the primitivism art movement.

## Development

[edit]

John Fahey used the term "American primitive guitar" to describe the style of composition he developed in his releases from the 1950s onwards. Fahey employed traditional country blues fingerpicking techniques, which had previously been used primarily to accompany vocals, on solo guitar, in combination with nontraditional harmonic and melodic material. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, other musicians would become associated with the genre, including Leo Kottke. The style is similar to some forms of 20th-century classical music (particularly Minimalism), and the classical music of India.[2] Besides Fahey, other notable representatives of this genre include Kottke, Robbie Basho, Bob Hadley and Peter Lang,[3] who released recordings on Fahey's Takoma Records label.

In the 1970s and 80s some of the musicians of the genre have integrated new-age guitar techniques and have come to be broadly categorized into the New Acoustic genre. Potentially because the new age guitarist William Ackerman cited Fahey, Basho, and Kottke as influences, critics began to associate Fahey with new-age music. Fahey himself rejected any influence upon or responsibility for the genre, referring to it derisively as "hot tub music" and feeling that any association with New Age meant that he had failed as an artist.[4]

Peter Lang, a guitarist associated with the genre, described American primitive guitar, writing: ". . . The New Age people call it Folk; the Folk people call it New Age, but it is really neither. It's transitional. The style is derived from the country blues and string band music of the '20s and '30s, however much of the music is contemporary. Fahey referred to it as 'American Primitive' after the 'French Primitive' painters, meaning untutored."[5]

## Artists within the genre

[edit]

* Marisa Anderson[3]
* Daniel Bachman[3]
* Robbie Basho[3]
* Steffen Basho-Junghans
* Richard Bishop
* James Blackshaw
* Ben Chasny
* Darren Cross[3]
* John Fahey[3]
* Mark Fosson
* Michael Gulezian
* Glenn Jones
* Leo Kottke
* Peter Lang[3]
* Jim O'Rourke
* Max Ochs
* Bill Orcutt
* Hayden Pedigo
* Terry Robb
* Jack Rose
* Harry Taussig[3]
* Alexander Turnquist
* William Tyler

## See also

[edit]

* New acoustic music
* Folk baroque

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Cahill, Greg (2019-02-12). "American Primitive Guitar". The Absolute Sound. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
2. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "John Fahey | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h "A Celebration of John Fahey and American-Primitive Guitar". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2018-09-03.
4. ^ Lowenthal, Steve (2014-06-01). Dance of Death: The Life of John Fahey, American Guitarist (Kindle Location 1866). Chicago Review Press. Kindle Edition
5. ^ "Peter Lang on American Primitive Guitar". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-27.

## External links

[edit]

* John Fahey and American Primitivism: Nick Schillace's Master's Thesis
* The Cosmos Club. American primitive guitar. Washington City Paper.

* v
* t
* e

Folk and indigenous music

Music on the World Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Types and
subgenres|

| By subject or function|

* Ballads
* Child
* Murder
* Carols
* Christmas carol
* Koliadka
* Children's
* Dance music
* Drinking song
* Love song
* Protest song
* Anti-war song
* Sea shanties
* Sporting song
* War songs
* Work song

|

Fusions|

* American primitive guitar
* Anti-folk
* Bluegrass
* Country folk
* Dangdut
* Koplo
* Filk music
* Folk baroque
* Folk jazz
* Folk-pop
* Folk rock
* Folk metal
* Celtic metal
* Medieval metal
* Folk punk
* Celtic punk
* Celtic rock
* Celtic metal
* Celtic punk
* Folktronica
* Indie folk
* Industrial folk
* Lu
* Medieval folk rock
* Medieval metal
* Muiñeira
* Neofolk
* Nerd-folk
* Psychedelic folk
* Freak folk
* New Weird America
* Progressive folk
* Raï
* Skiffle
* Tamang Selo
* Vallenato
* Xẩm

Regional
traditions|

| North America|

* Central America
* Mexican
* Corrido
* Son calentano
* Son jarocho
* Son huasteco
* Tierra Caliente
* Yaqui
* Panamanian

| Indigenous North
American|

* Canadian
* Arapaho
* Blackfeet
* Dene
* Innu
* Inuit
* Iroquois
* Kiowa
* Kwakwaka'wakw
* Métis
* Navajo
* Pueblo
* Seminole
* Sioux
* Yaqui
* Yuman

|

American|

* Appalachian
* Old-time
* Folk revival (1950s–60s)
* Hawaiian
* New Mexico
* Red Dirt
* Tejano
* Western

| African-American|

* Blues
* Jazz
* Dixieland
* Jug
* Ragtime
* Spirituals

|

Country|

* Americana
* Roots rock
* Bluegrass
* Country folk
* Country pop
* Country rock
* Honky-tonk
* Rockabilly
* Southern soul
* Western swing

Canadian|

* Canadian fiddle
* Indigenous
* Dene
* Innu
* Inuit
* Métis
* by ethnocultural group
* Celtic
* French
* by region
* Prairies
* Québécois
* Quebec fiddle
* Néo-trad
* Maritime
* Cape Breton fiddling

Caribbean|

* Cuban
* Haitian
* Kontradans
* Jamaican
* Mento
* Trinidadian and Tobagonian
* Cariso
* Chutney
* Chutney parang
* Chutney soca
* Kaiso
* Parang
* Soca

South American|

* Brazilian
* Chilean
* Venezuelan
* Gaita zuliana

Oceanian|

* Australian
* White Australian
* Indigenous Australian
* Cook Islander
* Easter Islander
* Maori
* Marshallese
* Papua New Guinean
* Samoan
* Solomon Islander
* Tahitian
* Tongan
* Tuvaluan

Asian|

* Bangladeshi
* Bhawaiya
* Bhutanese
* Central Asian
* Chinese
* Cantonese
* Hakka
* Jingnan
* Lâm-kóan
* Pak-kóan
* Teochew
* Zhongguo feng
* Filipino
* Bodabil
* Kundiman
* Manila sound
* Indian
* Kamrupi Lokgeet
* Rasiya
* Sanedo
* Indonesian
* Japanese
* Min'yō
* Korean
* Trot
* Mongolian
* Nepalese
* Pakistani
* Vietnamese
* Quan họ

European|

* Alpine
* Austrian
* Balkan
* Albanian
* Tallava
* Bosnian and Herzegovinan
* Sevdalinka
* Starogradska muzika
* Bulgarian
* Chalga
* Starogradska muzika
* Croatian
* Starogradska muzika
* Greek
* Laïko
* Rebetiko
* Tsifteteli
* Italian
* Kosovan
* Tallava
* Montenegrin
* Macedonian
* Čalgija
* Starogradska muzika
* Romani
* Romanian
* Manele
* Serbian
* Balkan brass
* Starogradska muzika
* Turbo-folk
* Slovenian
* Turkish
* Anatolian blues
* Anatolian rock
* Arabesque
* Fantezi
* Tsifteteli
* Belarusian
* Breton
* Celtic
* Celtic fusion
* Celtic metal
* Celtic punk
* Celtic rock
* Czech
* Moravian
* Polka
* Danish
* Dutch
* English
* Hornpipe
* Jigs
* Morris dance
* Estonian
* Finnish
* French
* German
* Hungarian
* Icelandic
* Irish
* Gaelic folk music
* Hornpipe
* Latvian
* Lithuanian
* Maltese
* Norwegian
* Polish
* Pontic Greek
* Portuguese
* Russian
* Scottish
* Gaelic
* Slovenian
* Spanish
* Swedish
* Swiss
* Ukrainian
* Cossack
* Dumka
* Welsh

Middle Eastern and
North African|

* Armenian
* Assyrian
* Azerbaijani
* Egyptian
* Fantezi
* Iranian
* Israeli
* Klezmer
* Mizrahi music
* Pontic Greek
* Turkish
* Anatolian blues
* Anatolian rock
* Arabesque
* Tsifteteli

Related
articles|

* 20th-century Western folk music
* Acoustic music
* Filk music
* Festivals
* Folk clubs
* Folk dance
* Instruments
* List
* Collections
* Roud number
* Child
* Laws numbers
* Outlaw country
* Progressive rock
* Pub session
* Record labels
* Roots revival
* World music
* Worldbeat
* History of music

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