mainejohn - Posted - 01/30/2016:  13:01:11

One of my all-time banjo idols, master of the longneck, and a cornerstone of the NYC folk revival of the late 40's and 50's left us last night at age 85. I first heard Billy's unique approach and style to banjo and folk music back in '59 when I was in high school, when my aunt gave me his "Art of the Five String Banjo." I was immediately hooked, and from there he was an inspiration to my journey with the open-back longneck Vega. He was never widely popular, but had a strong cult following and continued to perform mostly near his adopted home of Marathon TX over the last few years. I fulfilled a lifelong ambition back in 2011 when I met up with him in Saugerties NY, spending the afternoon with him, and relishing his unique style and personality. He had quite the life which included, among many other pursuits, hosting a folk music radio show back in the 50's and "bumming" around the Americas with the likes of Jack Kerouac. I know you're up there Billy, right along side Pete. I can almost hear you from here.

Billy Faier playing my homemade longneck Vega

coalandice - Posted - 01/30/2016:  13:20:09

Damn.

I have to agree though
he lead a full life.
To paraphrase Mr. Burns
Here's to him
those like him
damn few

Bill Rogers - Posted - 01/30/2016:  14:54:39

A brilliant innovator, who never had a wide following, but contributed a lot to those of us learning the banjo ca. 1960.  He's not to be forgotton.

rowdyboy - Posted - 01/30/2016:  15:18:51

Billy Faier was one of my all time favorite players. Some of his original pieces and his take on classics are just dazzling examples of what banjo can be. In a spirit of generosity he posted all of his banjo work online free for the taking. How many great players can claim this? You're right, he will not be forgotten. If you haven't already been there, go to his website billyfaier.com. It is a treasure trove of his music and performances s well as the history of the folk music of the 50's and 60's

Edited by - rowdyboy on 01/30/2016 15:29:20

BrianBanjos - Posted - 01/30/2016:  15:20:44

Have been listening to art of the 5 string banjo since I was a small child. I am deeply saddened.

corcoran - Posted - 01/30/2016:  16:51:07

Sad news.  Billy Faier was one of the all-time greats, a real original.  His version of Sailor's Hornpipe antedated Bill Keith's, although their approaches to the tune were radically different.  If you haven't ever head it, give a listen to Ramblin Jack Elliott's song "912 Greens," about his trip down to New Orleans with Guy Carawan and Frank Hamilton to look up Billy, who lived at 912 Toulouse.

Over the last few weeks we have lost a couple of banjo giants, Bill Keith in December and now Billy Faier.

Joe Connor - Posted - 01/30/2016:  17:07:14

Here's a great interview that BHO member Pete Curry did with Billy Faier in 2001.

lazyka.com/linernotes/OddsAndE...acher.htm

yopasjim - Posted - 01/30/2016:  18:36:55

I did not know Billy.  Sounds like a wonderful man!  I am captivated by the picture!  I don't know why, but he expression on the woman in the background is priceless!

Andy B - Posted - 01/30/2016:  20:22:49

So sorry to hear about Billy's passing. I first heard him playing on the green in Woodstock NY in the fall of 1981. I didn't know who he was in those days, but I could tell he was really good. I remember asking him how long he had been playing and he said, "35 years!" In the 80's, he was an occasional visitor to jam sessions in the Saugerties-Woodstock area, livening them with his playing and singing. I still remember his singing "The Great Assembly." In the 90s, by then having long since learned who he was, I bought some of his 50's recordings (including "The Art of the 5-String banjo") and his book ("Billy Faier's Banjo Book") from him when he was again busking at the green in Woodstock. He was very friendly, and inscribed the book: "Dear Andy, Can you really play this stuff?" I did manage to work up (slowly) his arrangement of "Sailor's Hornpipe," which was very different from Bill Keith's. How lucky we all were to have three five string banjo legends in Woodstock: Bill, Billy and Eric Weissberg. RIP Billy Faier.

mainejohn - Posted - 01/31/2016:  06:27:47

quote:

---

Originally posted by yopasjim

 

I did not know Billy.  Sounds like a wonderful man!  I am captivated by the picture!  I don't know why, but he expression on the woman in the background is priceless!

---

The lady in the background was his girlfriend, Sarah.

arnie fleischer - Posted - 01/31/2016:  06:48:01

I learned Billy Faier's elegant and deceptively simple version of "Spanish Fandango" from his Riverside album, "Art of the Five String Banjo,"  which I came upon in the Columbia University bookstore in the early '60s. I still have the album. I can't tell you how often I slowed down that particular cut in order to learn "Spanish Fandango" because it was not included in the accompanying tab booklet (which I also still have). It remains in my repertoire to this day. It's especially popular when I perform at nursing homes, and of all the songs I know it was my father's favorite. 

Edited by - arnie fleischer on 01/31/2016 06:49:31

Kirk Jacobs - Posted - 01/31/2016:  09:43:50

billyfaier.com

Bird Dog - Posted - 01/31/2016:  14:34:06

I had The Art of the Five String Banjo, too, but my copy got stolen years ago. I did have the pleasure of meeting Billy in the early '60s, when he was traveling with and emceeing a talent search. The Greenbriar Boys were on the tour; they would play with individual Bluegrass auditioners, such as me. I played banjo and sang that night. Bob Yellin sat out while I played. This was when Jody Stecher was playing mandolin for the Greenbriars, a configuration that I guess never recorded. They were all very nice to me, especially Billy; but nothing ever came of it. (Nor should it have; I wasn't that good.)

The loss of Billy leaves one more hole in the ranks of those who were into this music in the '40s, before the big folk boom of the late '50s-early '60s. I wish the best for all his loved ones.

Robin Kincaid aka Bird Dog

D Webster - Posted - 02/01/2016:  06:31:40

Wow! Billy Faier playing “You Won’t See Me” 

Edited by - D Webster on 02/01/2016 06:32:29

gDGBD - Posted - 02/01/2016:  09:15:31

Very sad news.  Billy was an amazing picker years ahead of his time.  IMHO, his tour de force is Faier's Rag, a/k/a Bright Angel Rag, which can be heard on his website.  Click on the album titled "Banjo".  RIP.

R.D. Eno - Posted - 02/02/2016:  09:05:17

Learning "Sailor's Hornpipe" and "Spanish Fandango" from Billy's book was a transformative experience for me as a kid. I couldn't make up my mind whether they represented extensions of the banjo's possibilities or the sort of wretched excess Pete Seeger described in "How to Play the Five-String Banjo". In the end, I played them proudly (if imperfectly) and looked over the horizon where Billy was pointing to Bill Keith, melodic clawhammer and (in the other direction) minstrel and classical style, insisting: Look what this instrument can do! Well, 85 is a good age, and I hope Billy enjoyed the whole ride.

UncleClawhammer - Posted - 02/02/2016:  09:13:17

I only knew Billy through correspondence, but he was a big inspiration for me and doubtless many other folksingers and banjo players. I sent him my song "The Upper Big Branch Disaster" and he said he would perform it in public. He was nothing but encouraging and it really meant a lot to me. He said he wanted to visit me the next time he was this way. I guess now that'll never happen.

Billy's signature song was "The Great Assembly," a gospel song that he learned from a man named Will Calvin and never heard anywhere else. He said his mission in life was to keep "The Great Assembly" alive. I learned it from his recording of it, and I'm gonna keep singing it. As long as that song and others like it stay alive, Billy Faier stays alive.

Check out his website, where you can listen to lots of free music and read lots of great stories. He'll definitely be missed.

mainejohn - Posted - 02/03/2016:  06:19:09

The one time I sat with him (four years ago) I was especially impressed by the length and dexterity of his fingers, even at age 81. He was an authentic longneck player, always utilizing the full 25 fret configuration. I never saw him use a capo, nor did he use fingerpicks, as he frowned upon both. The speed, accuracy, and tone of his up-picking style, achieved without the use of picks, was unlike anything I've ever heard from any other player.

calypsojimmy - Posted - 02/03/2016:  10:49:03

Billy Faier was just a great musician.... always on my list whenever I've been asked to come up with a list of my 5 favorite 5-string banjoists. Always in creative mode, up to the very end. His style was uniquely his own, just like all of the original masters of 5-string.... And yet he always had a classic 5-string sound, to my ear anyway. I was glad to hear that of all of his personal recordings, letters etc. were donated to the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 'Nothing quite like listening Ramblin' Jack Elliot perform his ramblin-epic-piece "912 Greens" ... a tale of an early-1950's road trip from NYC down to New Orleans to connect with Billy Faier who apparently lived at 912 Toulouse St. , NO, LA.

calypsojimmy - Posted - 02/03/2016:  10:51:09

quote:

---

Originally posted by mainejohn

 

The one time I sat with him (four years ago) I was especially impressed by the length and dexterity of his fingers, even at age 81. He was an authentic longneck player, always utilizing the full 25 fret configuration. I never saw him use a capo, nor did he use fingerpicks, as he frowned upon both. The speed, accuracy, and tone of his up-picking style, achieved without the use of picks, was unlike anything I've ever heard from any other player.

---

You're right-on, mainejohn.

Moleman - Posted - 02/05/2016:  13:28:20

I had the pleasure & honor to meet Billy F at the 1986 Rainbow Gathering in NW Pennsylvania's Alleghany Nat Forest where 20,000 hippies were camped out. I was at my campsite playing the hell outta my guitar (Kottke/Fahey instrumentals) when this old potbellied guy walked up and said, "That's right good pickin' there, young fella.". I was happy to make friends with this guy, but it wasn't until 20 minutes or more later when we were walking to the main drum circle that he switched hands to carry his banjo/case with his left hand and with his right hand, reached over to shake mine and said, "BTW, my name's Billy, Billy Faier." My jaw dropped two inches! Here's the guy who's lp, "Banjo" had fascinated me endlessly for the past 9 years. I tried often before to find info on him and was quite frustrated except for one response in '81 to the Baltimore City Paper's free adds where I posted an inquiry on him. A lady answered saying she was to marry Billy when he was a streetcar driver in SF, Calif in the early '50's.. Hanging out with him, I told him of this story, and he simply said, "I wonder who THAT was?!", tho he did acknowledge having had the streetcar job. When we went back to my campsite, I asked him to play some of the songs from the Banjo lp I loved, which he did. Helluva nice guy, whom I didn't recognize because the picture of him on the "Banjo" lp was from so many yrs before! I got to jam with him & his friends the following evening up at his campsite.. Kept in touch and even tried to visit him in Woodstock when passing thru there about '89, but he was busy that time, & sadly there was never another.. RIP to my favorite banjo player!

Edited by - Moleman on 02/05/2016 13:32:13