Peter LaFarge
| Peter La Farge | |
|---|---|
Peter La Farge
|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Oliver Albee La Farge |
| Born |
April 30, 1931 New York City |
| Origin | United States |
| Died | October 27, 1965 (aged 34) New York City |
| Genres | Folk music |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1962–1965 |
| Labels | Folkways, MGM |
Peter La Farge (born Oliver Albee La Farge, April 30, 1931 – October 27, 1965) was a New York-based folksinger and songwriter of the 1950s and 1960s. He is known best for his affiliations with Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.
Oliver Albee La Farge was born in 1931 as the son of Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and anthropologist, and Wanden (Mathews) La Farge. His mother, a linguist (French, Italian, Persian, Arabic) who translated Dante in the original when she was 15, married Oliver in 1929 in New York, where they made their home. Shortly after Oliver Albee was born in April 1931, as Oliver senior need to continue his research in Guatemala, he and Wanden spent several months in that country. This was the time of the Lindbergh baby's kidnapping, so when a kidnapping threat was received on Oliver Albee, it brought the couple hurrying home in consternation.
Oliver's sister, Povy, was born in August 1933. For several years, Wanden and Oliver lived in New York City, with frequent summer trips to Santa Fe. Sometime after Povy's birth, the couple were legally separated. Oliver Albee was subject to mastoid infections, several of which resulted in his hospitalization. When, in 1938, the doctors advised Wanden that her son would be deaf for life should there be another infection, she sent him to a special school in Tucson, where he and a number of other children boarded with special care.
Wanden found a way to rebuild her life when in 1940 she bought a 5,000 acre ranch east of Fountain, Colorado. She rented a two story rambling house in town, invested in chickens and hogs, and hired a local rancher, Andy Kane, to run the ranch and care for the cattle and horses.
Sometime in 1943 or 1944, while Wanden was Mayor of Fountain, Josh White, the Black Blues singer, came to entertain the troops at nearby Fort Carson, and was a guest in Wanden's home. Oliver Albee had by then changed his given name "Oliver" to "Pete", which he said sounded more like a bronc rider's name, and he started playing guitar. Both Josh and his brother Bill spent hours with him listening to him sing and showing him chords on his guitar. It is possible to hear Josh White's influences in Peter La Farge's guitar technique on his records.
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