This is the famous guitarist. He was ranked #35 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Guitarists.

Biography on Findagrave.com:
Ground breaking guitarist who's influence spread from the folk underground to the fringes of avant-garde rock. A true innovator and eccentric. John Fahey was an accomplished guitarist by his teens. He made his first album in 1959, ascribing part of it to "Blind Joe Death." He continued to make music and was a key influence on Leo Kottke, Peter Lang and George Winston along with other musicians. He was a writer (How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life, a memoir), a record label owner, recording artist and performer. He battled chronic fatigue syndrome, alcoholism and diabetes; dropping out of the music business and living homeless in Oregon. He had a short come back in the early 1990's before his death following by-pass surgery.-- by Roxann Balmer

Obituary, Statesman Journal (Salem, OR), Friday, Feb. 23, 2001, p. 1:

Area guitarist John Fahey dies
The Grammy winner died three days after having heart bypass surgery.

By Alan Gustafson
Statesman Journal

John Fahey, a legendary American guitarist and Grammy winner who continued to make music while living in a series of dingy Salem motels, died here Thursday.

Fahey’s death at Salem Hospital came three days after he underwent heart bypass surgery. He slipped into a coma after Monday’s operation and was taken off life support Thursday, said his former wife, Melody Fahey of Salem.

“His body just didn’t make it through the stresses of the operation,” she said.

Fahey was 61. An accomplished guitarist since his teens, he made his first album in 1959 and recorded several albums in the ‘60s that are recognized as classics of their kind.

“He’s America’s leading finger-style guitarist. He invented the style,” said Tim Knight, owner of Guitar Castle in Salem, who played organ, guitar and percussion with Fahey’s local group, the John Fahey Trio.

In all, Fahey released 45 albums since the 1960s. He made his mark, not only for musical versatility and innovative playing, but also for his brilliant mind and eccentric manner.

“People called him a genius” Knight said. “He would laugh that off in a hurry. He was the most down-home person you’d ever meet as far as not waving his own flag. He let others do that.

“John was a man who played Carnegie Hall. John was a man who won a Grammy. But those things were not important to him. The important things to him were things like Chinese food. He loved to eat.”

Described as a bear of a man, with a large appetite for life, Fahey’s eclectic interests ranged from folklore and religion to spontaneous paintings done with antifreeze and paints even he couldn’t identify.

“He called himself a spiritual detective,” Melody Fahey said. “He spent quite a bit of time being an Episcopalian, but he also had an interest in Eastern religions.”

West Coast Move

Raised in Maryland, John Fahey said in a 1998 interview that his life was profoundly changed by a move to the West Coast in the early 1960s.

“I hated my family, so a bunch of us decided to move to Berkeley and take over the folk music scene. So we did,” he said. “I moved out there in 1963. We were pretty successful and a lot of us got degrees.”

Fahey got a master’s in folklore and mythology from the University of California at Los Angeles, added to an undergraduate degree in philosophy and theology from American University in Washington, D.C.

John and Melody Fahey, his third wife, moved from Los Angeles to Salem in 1981.

“He bought a home here to get as far away from LA as he could,” Knight said. “He absolutely loved the climate and the relaxation that Oregon brought him.”

But he was burdened by frequent health problems, including diabetes, restless leg syndrome and a viral condition known as Epstein-Barr.

After his marriage to Melody ended nearly a decade ago, Fahey variously lived in his car, on the streets and in low-rent motels.

“I’ve been very creative, making a lot of records, but I’m poor,” he once told the Statesman Journal. “I’m in debt to the Internal Revenue Service and a lot of other people. That’s how I’m paying them off, by getting gigs.”

Even so, making money never amounted to a big concern for Fahey.

“I’ve seen him with plenty of it and none of it,” Knight said. “It just wasn’t something that interested him at all. He would give it away. I was a recipient of plenty of it.”

In return, friends often helped him with gifts and money. Fahey also regulaarly acquired cash for food by buying and reselling old books and records — including his own.

Grammy award

Fahey typically downplayed his legendary status and accomplishments, including his Grammy. It was awarded in 1997 for Best Album Notes on the Smithsonian Institution’s release of “Anthology of American Folk Music.”

After decades as a recording artist, Fahey reportedly was miffed that he was honored for his literary skill.

Friends said Fahey was a happy man, even without wealth and conventional fame. He once provided the same assessment for a reporter.

“Because I know I’m good inside,” he explained. “I believe in talent.”

A Salem memorial service for Fahey is being planned. The place and time are yet to be determined.