Vanguard Visionaries is the title of a compilation recording by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 fingerstyle guitar

Fingerstyle guitar

Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....

ist and composer John Fahey

John Fahey (musician)

John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...

, released in 2007.

History

Vanguard Records

Vanguard Records

Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...

 had a high profile during the 1960s folk revival and released music by many folk artists such as Doc Watson

Doc Watson

Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...

, Odetta

Odetta

Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...

 and many others. To celebrate their 60th anniversary, Vanguard had released a series of artist samplers called Vanguard Visionaries

Vanguard Visionaries

Vanguard Visionaries is a compilation album by American banjoist Alison Brown, released in 2007.-History:Vanguard Records had a high profile during the 1960s folk revival and released music by many folk artists such as Doc Watson, Odetta, John Fahey and many others...

from the 1960s and early-'70s era. Each contained a small track listing and all the tracks are available on other compilation packages.

Fahey recorded two albums for Vanguard: The Yellow Princess

The Yellow Princess (John Fahey album)

The Yellow Princess and its reissue has received consistently positive critical reviews. Record Collector called it "...a pleasant journey to take, rattling along with the odd surprising flourish to mark the way, a random piece of dissonance to keep you awake and, above all, a reassurance that...

and Requia

Requia

Requia is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1968...

.

Reception

Allmusic critic Thom Jurek favorably reviewed the album, writing "[Fahey] is forever unpredictable, no matter how often one hears these songs. His playing is simply the element of imagination and surprise itself. While it's true that "Requiem for ," may be off-putting for those looking for a real introduction to Fahey, this is his earliest experimentation with the electronic sounds he explored a great deal more in his later career, and stands as a singular moment in his catalog."

Track listing

All songs by John Fahey.

1. "Lion" – 5:10
2. "March! For Martin Luther King" – 3:43
3. "Requiem for John Hurt" – 5:09
4. "Dance of the Inhabitants of the Invisible City of Bladensburg" – 4:10
5. "The Yellow Princess" – 4:51
6. "Irish Setter" – 7:16
7. "Requiem for Molly, Pt. 1" – 7:40
8. "Requiem for Molly, Pt. 2" – 7:45
9. "Requiem for Molly, Pt. 3" – 2:33
10. "Requiem for Molly, Pt. 4" – 2:56

Personnel

• John Fahey
  John Fahey (musician)
  John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
  
   – guitar

Production notes:

• John Fahey – producer
• Samuel Charters
  Samuel Charters
  Samuel Charters, born Samuel Barclay Charters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1929 , is an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet...
  
   – producer
• Barrett Hansen
  Dr. Demento
  Barret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....
  
  – producer
• Vince Hans – compilation producer
• Georgette Cartwright – creative services director
• Amy L. Von Holzhausen – package design