Takoma Records
| Takoma Records | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Parent company | Concord Bicycle Music |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Founder |
John Fahey Eugene Denson Norman Pierce |
| Distributor(s) |
Concord Records Universal Music Group |
| Genre | Folk music |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Official website | acerecords |
Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by guitarist John Fahey in the late 1950s. It was named after Fahey's hometown, Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Takoma Records began with a custom pressing of 100 copies of John Fahey/Blind Joe Death, an album of Fahey's fingerstyle guitar playing released around 1959. Fahey had no distribution and sold the pressing to friends and at music parties. A copy of this record sold on eBay for several thousand dollars.
Fahey moved to Berkeley, California. He rediscovered the country bluesman Bukka White. With Eugene "ED" Denson, Fahey drove to Memphis, Tennessee, and the pair produced White's first recording in 23 years. It was released in 1963 along with Fahey's second album.
Takoma expanded to include other guitarists, such as Robbie Basho, and other types of folk music. The compilation Contemporary Guitar was recorded in 1966 and featured Fahey, Basho, White, Max Ochs, and Harry Taussig. It demonstrated Fahey's interest in diverse guitar styles, from plantation blues to raga. Although at the same time Takoma released the avant-garde album The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing, its concentration was on acoustic guitar music, especially Fahey's.
Fahey started a genre of guitar music known later as American Primitivism in which he applied traditional fingerpicking to neoclassical compositions. Takoma's musicians using this technique included Leo Kottke, Peter Lang, Mike Auldridge, Robbie Basho, and Max Ochs. The label also produced records by New Age pianist George Winston, Mike Bloomfield, and electronic musician Joseph Byrd.
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