• artist:
  John Fairhurst
• country:
  United Kingdom
• release year:
  2009
• style(s): Blues Indian
• formats:
  • audio file
  • CD (Compact Disc)
• record submitted by:
  Magpie Brown
• label:
  Magpie Brown
• 
  buy this record

Largely conceived under the stars, John Fairhurst's beautiful debut Joys of Spring is the tale of a restless spirit. "Music born in delta swamps and wailing sub-continental mountains. Joys of Spring is part blues and part raga, as far removed from the English North West as you could get." (Chris Long, BBC Manchester)

After a youth spent 'drawing pictures of Stratocasters', playing in heavy rock bands and listening to Captain Beefheart in a shed near Manchester, John headed to South East Asia, where his own dedication to music was cemented.

He worked alongside Maori gangsters, played slide guitar in a Bangkok blues bar, wrote for a traditional Thai dancer, and was tattooed with protective blessings by monks. Apparently, these markings mean John cannot be killed, which is lucky, since he was stabbed by a street gang not long afterwards.

No wonder, then, that audiences at John Fairhurst's live gigs rarely know what's hit them: "It's what the Old Crow Medicine Show would sound like if Ravi Shankar became their musical director. Newcomers to John Fairhurst certainly won't be forgetting his name in a hurry." (Manchester Music)

Out of this experience, alongside influences ranging from Hendrix and Miles Davis to Nick Drake and Indian sarod master, K Sridhar, came Joys of Spring. "An instrumental record of immense power and creativity that exudes a zest for life and being nothing short of intoxicating." (Electric Ghost)