How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life
Project Director: Anup Pradhan
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How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life is a feature length documentary on the life and work of John Aloysius Fahey (1939-2001) the self-anointed 'American Primitive' guitarist.
Through a lifetime of tireless study and conviction, John Fahey became a living bridge connecting modern innovation and intellectuality with the purity and raw intent of pre-war Southern musical culture. He led the vanguard toward the rediscovery and scholarly appreciation of early American music forms such as bluegrass, gospel and the Delta blues and, drawing influence from them, revitalized the tradition of instrumental guitar song with an important historical and academic subtext.
An eccentric though inarguably American artist, Fahey carved a niche in music all his own. He was revered for his raucously brilliant personality, irrepressibly cavalier attitude towards anything and everything and the prolific string of inimitable recordings and performances he left at the end of a career that lasted over four decades. His story is told through a number of interviews with those who knew him closest, and through excerpts of unseen archival footage of John himself, in interviews, performances and in life.