| Let Go | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1984 | |||
| Recorded | February–March 1983 | |||
| Studio | High Tech Recorders, Portland, OR | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Length | 42:42 | |||
| Label | Varrick | |||
| Producer | Terry Robb | |||
| John Fahey chronology | ||||
| ||||
Let Go is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1984. It was his first release on the Varrick label after over 25 years on his own label Takoma, as well as a few releases on other labels.
Since his move to Salem, Oregon in 1981, Fahey met guitarist and producer Terry Robb, who accompanies him on all but three of the songs on Let Go. [1] He would work with Robb on three subsequent releases. Since his final album on Takoma ( Railroad ) Fahey had signed with Varrick Records, an imprint of Rounder Records. It was to be his first of four releases on the label.
His liner notes distance himself from the folk music label he had had since his career began. The notes begin "No folk music on this record—not even that sounds or suggest folk music... it's hard to break out of a bag I never intended to be in—never thought I was in... I'm not a Volk. I'm from the suburbs." [2] He also noted the influence of the Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete. He had commented on Sete's influence in 1977 in the notes to his guitar transcription book The Best of John Fahey 1959–1977. [3] He did his first cover of a Sete composition on his 1979 album John Fahey Visits Washington D.C. .
He had previously recorded the "River Medley" on the 1972 Reprise release Of Rivers and Religion . "Dvorak" is based on themes from Antonín Dvořák Eighth and Ninth symphonies. Regarding the duo's cover of the Derek and the Dominos song "Layla", Fahey commented: "Talk about ambition, Chutzpah—that’s us." [4]
The original LP lists a track titled "Lost Lake". There was never such a track. [5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [6] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [7] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [8] |
AllMusic critic Richard Foss wrote that Let Go "may not be the definitive John Fahey album, but it is a very good one from end to end." [6] CMJ New Music wrote that "you'll find this one to be subtley radiant, tropically blue and exceptionally calming." [9]
Production notes
Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s. It was named after Fahey's hometown, Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Peter Lang is an acoustic guitarist who recorded for Takoma Records with John Fahey and Leo Kottke.
The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death is a 1965 album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey. Originally issued in a hand-lettered edition of 50, it was Fahey's first album to be released by a label other than his own Takoma Records. As with all of Fahey's independently released early albums, it had little critical recognition upon release. The album has grown in stature since its reissue on CD in 1997 and is now highly regarded critically. It was Fahey's fourth album to see release, though after his fifth album, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party & Other Excursions, was labeled Guitar Vol. 4, reissues of The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death were subtitled John Fahey, Volume 5.
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, American primitive guitar is distinct from the primitivism art movement.
Blind Joe Death is the first album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey. There are three different versions of the album, and the original self-released edition of fewer than 100 copies is extremely rare.
Bola Sete was a Brazilian guitarist who played jazz with Vince Guaraldi and Dizzy Gillespie.
John Aloysius Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been enormously influential and has been described as the foundation of the genre of American primitive guitar, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate 20th-century classical, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian influences into his work.
Michael Gulezian is an American composer and fingerstyle guitarist. He is noted for dramatic compositions, a penchant for manipulating metre, an affinity for open tunings, and an unconventionally free two-handed technical approach. Gulezian's use of bottleneck slide on 12-string guitar, coupled with his command of reverse analog reverbs have made his recordings notable for their dream-like sonic atmosphere. Gulezian inhabits a musical territory between his mentor John Fahey and Gulezian's friend and colleague Michael Hedges.
Leo Kottke/Peter Lang/John Fahey is a split album by American guitarists Leo Kottke, Peter Lang, and John Fahey, released in 1974.
The Best of John Fahey 1959–1977 is a compilation album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1977. The songs are collected from four of Fahey's dozen or so releases up to that point.
John Fahey Visits Washington D.C. is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1979.
I Remember Blind Joe Death is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1987.
God, Time and Causality is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1989.
Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memories is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1992. It also marked the end of an era for Fahey, who would soon be involved in a downward spiral in his personal life, health and career.
Rain Forests, Oceans and Other Themes is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1985.
Live in Tasmania is a live album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1981. It was his first live album release after 18 albums.
Railroad is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1983. It was originally released as Railroad 1 by mistake. The Shanachie Records reissue is correctly labeled as Railroad. It was his last principal recording for Takoma Records, the label he founded in 1959.
Georgia Stomps, Atlanta Struts and Other Contemporary Dance Favorites is a live album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1998. It was the second and last live album he recorded and released during his lifetime.
Ocean is an album by Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete, released in 1975 through Takoma Records.
Terry Robb is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist, composer, arranger and record producer living in the United States. He plays electric and acoustic guitar, and is associated with the American Primitive Guitar genre through his collaboration with steel string guitarist John Fahey. He is a member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame, and was honored with the eponymous "Terry Robb" Muddy Award for Best Acoustic Guitar in 2011. His original compositions draw on the Delta blues, ragtime, folk music, country music and jazz traditions.
