John Fairhurst’s musical eloquence is borne from a natural skill that very few are honoured to possess. Over years of obsessive dedication to his instrument, the slide guitar blues and psycheldelic rock he first fell in love with playing in infancy has opened up to incorporate diverse musical traditions.
As John Fairhurst plays his well worn guitar, rhythms, harmonics and scale patterns from Thailand meld with elemental hints of Indian raga, creating “music both born in delta swamps and in wailing sub-continental mountains” (BBC Manchester)
Ever present is the influence of venerated sarod master K Sridhar, whose decades of devotion to the mastery of his art spurred the young man from Manchester on to dedicate his life to an unending quest for musical perfection.
John Fairhurst’s debut album, Joys of Spring, has garnered wide eyed praise from reviewers- it’s an ecstatic, complex and highly evocative journey through landscapes familiar and unknown, “an instrumental record of immense power and creativity that blends eastern melodies with brilliant guitar dexterity. Fairhurst exudes a zest for life and being that is nothing short of intoxicating.” (Electric Ghost)
What a surreal video: a Billinge born rapscallion filling the dead air of an empty house with the ghost of Mississippi John Hurt. MCR Scene Wipe is ace! I’m spreading the word.