The name Blind Joe Death will always be linked to the American Primitive Guitarist John Fahey

The name Blind Joe Death will always be linked to the American Primitive Guitarist John Fahey. Blind Joe Death's real name is unknown, and is only remembered today as the alter-ego of the young John Fahey, who so completely hijacked the name, that Blind Joe Death faded into the realm of myth.

A young John Fahey with his
famous Bacon & Day Guitar.

Here is what is known of this obscure, but influential, blues guitarist:

He recorded only one 78rpm record in 1927 on the Paramount Label, which also issued recordings by Charlie Patton, Ma Rainey, and Blind Lemon Jefferson in the late 1920s. The only remaining copy of the recording is included on the 2006 John Fahey Tribute Album on Takoma Records - released through Fantasy Records. The original 78 record was in Fahey's collection, but now is lost. Here is an image of the label:

Click on the label to hear
a sample of the song.

Artist: Blind Joe Death
Track: John Henry
Paramount Catalog Number 12522-B
Matrix Number - P4805
Recording Date - 8/??/27.

It is speculated that John Henry by Blind Joe Death only sold a few copies, or perhaps it was never commercially released, as it is not listed in some catalogs of Paramount titles. The artist died shortly after making this, his only known recording. He was thought to have influenced Charlie Patton and other blues guitarists on the label who recorded later.

Fahey wrote that the old 78 was so beat up that only the B side was playable. The A side had been played so much that very little could be heard, despite modern recording restorative techniques. Must have been a great tune. In any case, Fahey never handed over a recording of the A side.

The name Blind Joe Death would have remained lost to blues lovers forever had it not been for Fahey, who recorded his first album of solo guitar music in 1959 with a cryptic album cover that just had the name John Fahey on one side and Blind Joe Death on the other. It's rumored that Fahey lifted his early playing style from the Blind Joe Death recording.

The first Fahey album released on
the Takoma label. C-1002

There were no liner notes and no clue as to the identity of the musician (or musicians). A few serious blues collectors who knew the name Blind Joe Death speculated that the artist was "re-discovered" by either Fahey, ED Denson, Bill Barth, or Barry Hansen, while on 78rpm record collecting expeditions to the Deep South, as had been done with Skip James and Bukka White.

Barry Hansen (aka Dr. Demento)
finding 78s in the Deep South.

Fahey continued borrowing the Blind Joe Death persona throughout the sixties, even providing tantalizing clues about his existence. The line between fact and fiction became so blurred that it was impossible to sort out the real story.

No photograph is known to exist of Blind Joe Death, but on Fahey's Riverboat album titled, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, he included a drawing of the artist:

Riverboat Records - RB1