The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites
| The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites | ||||
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| Studio album by John Fahey | ||||
| Released | 1965 | |||
| Recorded | August 22–24, 1964 at Adelphi Studios, Silver Spring, MD | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Length | 52:38 (Reissue) | |||
| Label | Takoma | |||
| Producer | ED Denson | |||
| John Fahey chronology | ||||
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| Alternative Cover | ||||
Cover of the 1968 release of the LP
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Allmusic | |
| Dirty Linen | (no rating) |
The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites (originally issued as Vol. 3: The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites) is the third album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1965. The 1999 reissue contained four previously unreleased tracks.
In the early ’60s, Fahey was enrolled in the graduate program in folklore studies at UCLA. In the summer of 1964, along with Bill Barth and Henry Vestine, Fahey visited the South where they “rediscovered” blues great Skip James. Fahey and ED Denson formally created Takoma Records in 1963. With increased distribution, Fahey's albums began to enjoy increased sales and popularity, though he had not as yet publicly performed on stage. As Matt Hanks stated in his article "Age Against the Machine" for No Depression, "For some reason, the hippies loved it." For his part, Fahey stated in his liner notes for his 1996 release City of Refuge, "I do hope that nobody will try to make me out as a child of the sixties. I was playing what I play before and after the sixties. This period had very little influence on me. I was never a hippie, and had no hippie friends."
The album was recorded at Adelphi Studios by Gene Rosenthal. Rosenthal would later create Adelphi Records, naming his label after Fahey's song "The Downfall of the Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill". He also claimed three other unused tracks from these sessions were used on subsequent releases by Fahey. Over 30 songs were recorded during the three-day sessions.
Of the sessions, Fahey recalled, ""It was an interesting session. It was the only one I ever did on marijuana and whiskey. It was kind of bouncy, you know. Another reason for that—I didn't actually own a good guitar at that time, so I was using Bill Barth's guitar, which was a big J-something Gibson and it had a real high action, so I couldn't hold the strings down very well."
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Wikipedia