Testimonials

It is with great pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation for Bob Fahey. I have worked with Bob Fahey in a couple of capacities over the past 20 years. I have personally  known Bob for longer than he or I will admit, but once again, more than a few decades.

Bob Fahey is an exceptional musician. He has worked professionally in the music business in and around South Dakota since the 1970s. As I first recall Bob, he was a rhythm player and lead singer. However, with practice and determination, Bob has become a first rate lead guitarist with a specialty in slide guitar. His expertise has allowed Bob to play with some of the finest blues bands in the region. It may come as a surprise to you reading this letter, but we have some exceptional blues players in Western South Dakota and Bob was always included in the cream of the blues crop.

Bob is also a great person and professional entertainer. There is no pretense in his presentation. He is personable, approachable, informative and funny when engaging an audience. I have found in my working experience with Bob that he is punctual, properly attired and prepared for the situation.

When hiring musicians at the Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City, I often hired Bob and one of his musical configurations for many concerts. Last year, I asked Bob to play in the Guitar Masters Concerts. The Guitar Masters is a series of two concerts involving 4 of the finest players in the region. It is quite an honor to be asked to be part of the show. Bob’s specialty is slide blues guitar and he certainly stepped up to represent the genre. Not only did he play exceptional slide, but he sang too and the vocals were outstanding. Before he did a song, he took time with the audience to explain the background of the song and its personal meaning for him. This deepened the experience for the audience and the other guitarists.

I respect Bob for many of his qualities but most of all because he is able to connect with his audience and customize his show according to his strengths and the audience interests. Bob is a very positive person whose confident presentation puts people at ease. I highly recommend Bob for any musical position for which he may be considered. Bob Fahey will present a high quality concert or performance for his audiences who will experience his contagious passion and love of music first hand.   -- Darla Drew Lerdal. Assistant Director, Rapid City Arts Council at the Dahl

I’ve noticed two strange things about Bob Fahey. Actually, a lot more than that, but I’ll limit myself to the ones that relate to his music. To begin with, he’s been strongly influenced, as a writer, vocalist and guitarist, by several great musicians, and yet he sounds entirely like himself. Secondly, he has a weird ability to channel musicians he’s never heard. Bob has long had an affinity for the songs of J .J. Cale, and he’s taken Cale’s minimalism and made good use of it. You don’t put any more into a song than it needs to have in it, and all it needs is a good lyric and a rock-solid groove. Bob also loves the music of Robert Cray and from Cray he learned something about singing: you can put a lot of soul into a relatively restrained vocal. When Bob sings the blues it sounds completely sincere and real because he sings with his own voice. He doesn’t try to sound like Robert Johnson or Muddy Waters--or Robert Cray for that matter. He doesn’t over-emote, but the feeling is there–all of life’s joy and pain. Maybe George Harrison said it best: "You don’t have to shout or leap about, you can even sing ‘em easy." Because most audiences and critics focus solely on lead guitar, it’s easy to forget that there’s such a thing as a virtuoso rhythm guitarist. Bob is one of them. You can solo over a Bob Fahey acoustic guitar groove with as much confidence as if you had the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section behind you. You’ve got this fat back-beat smacking away, and these bass hooks moving it along, and these little details filling in the harmony–all this is going on with the precision of a V-8 engine, and it’s all coming out of one wooden guitar. As a slide guitarist, Bob is unequaled. He can blaze away with the best of them–with blinding speed and fierce conviction, but he also knows the value of the spaces between the notes. This is where I hear the echoes of one of my own heroes, John Fahey (no relation). Bob has never listened to that great master of space and time, but there are moments when I’d swear the spirit of John Fahey is playing through Bob’s guitar. Like John, Bob will paint his way into some bizarre harmonic corner, and the listener thinks "wrong note." But a split second later he resolves it and you’re thinking, "How the hell did he get out of that one?" Like all great improvisers, he knows that it’s all about taking crazy risks. That’s what makes music live and breathe. Bob’s music lives. -- James Van Nuys, Rapid City, SD