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Bushnell's Turtle

by Joe Fahey

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Resolution 03:31
3.
Half Full 03:13
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Green 03:33
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about

REVIEWS of "Bushnell's' Turtle" by Joe Fahey (Rough Fish Records 2011)

"Joe Fahey has been heading up Minneapolis band Carp 18 for well over a decade now, but second solo album Bushnell's Turtle (***) ROUGH FISH is an eclectic grab-bag of folk, country and rickety old blues. It's very droll in places, most notably on "I Could Not Steal Her Heart (So I Stole Her Car)", though he really excels on the barn-bothering "Resolution"."

— UNCUT Magazine / Americana Roundup, (London, UK) (Jul 13, 2011)

————

Local singer/songwriter/ax-man Joe Fahey returns with Bushnell's Turtle, his second solo release after releasing a nice pair of full-band efforts with Carp 18. Fahey's also worked with The Tangents and The Bottom 40, and you'll see him frequently at just about any jam worth sitting in on around town. His solo albums are always treats though; Catchy, completely original works that allow the man to spread his musical wings and experiment with the many different styles and genres floating around his music-soaked mind. Bushnell's Turtle is no different from his other solo works in that aspect- Fahey pulls a wide variety of genres and studio tomfoolery out of his hat to create an album that carries the rare ability to shine in the studio while retaining the stylistic backbone to roll just fine in an on-stage setting. The disc features no less than 17 disparate musicians (including members of Carp 18 and Joe's uber-talented 16-year-old son Sean, who play on a majority of the cuts) many of whom local music fans would recognize- Boiled In Lead's David Stenshoel, Belfast Cowboy band leader Terry Walsh, and a bevy of local birds who have been listening to and chirping along with Fahey's music as he recorded between his own house and back yard and Tom Herbers' Below Ground Sound in St. Paul. The names help reveal the many different styles Joe employs in the writing of this album, and the guitar work here is simply mind-blowing. It's also nice to hear Fahey belt out a belly buster (“The Art Of Happiness Blues (Even The Dalai Lama Wants To Kick Your Ass”) without a drop of scenester humor, then showcase his love of the blues as an art form on tracks like “Delta Pine Blues.” Simply put, you can't peg this album in any one genre- it's a weaving, fiery beast of a recording, created by one of St. Paul's most underrated musicians and featuring a passel of his personal styles and influences. Joe and the gang plan to amp (pun intended) up their international touring schedule, so make sure you keep an eye out for upcoming local gigs and hear The Truth as it was meant to be heard. Check www.joefaheymusic.com for updates and where to track down the disc. Genuinely fun, yet serious, local music.

— Tom Hallett "Round The Dial Magazine (St. Paul, MN)

————

Joe Fahey is a guitarist, singer and songwriter from Minneapolis, Minnesota who has lost his heart to the simple rock music as we know from musicians like Billy Bragg, Nick Lowe or Ray Davies and The Kinks.

Vibrant, cheerful and uncomplicate...d rock songs he has compiled on his second solo album "Bushnell's Turtle, the sequel to his debut album" Tote Bag "which already dates back from 2006. Joe Fahey is in everyday life which is mainly active as a band leader since 1991 and operating in Minneapolis and surrounding roots rock group Carp 18.

Like the above-mentioned artists as reference, he places a few ballads subtly between these rock songs, which for the appropriate song variation is provided and subtle at the same show that he is in that genre very well at home.

His backing band on this album "The Bottom 40 'he has a place provided for his two sons Sean and Ryan, his wife Kathy who sings the song" The Full Moon Last Night "for guest violinist David Stenshoel group" Boiled in Lead, "and some members of his regular group Carp 18.

One of the most played songs from "Bushnell's Turtle" is the radio hit "I Could Not Steal Her Heart (So I Stole Her Car)". But there are also many songs that deserve to be hunted by the ether. It dots we opening track "Sunday Painter's Sunday", the melancholy ballad "Are There Clouds?", The previously mentioned "The Full Moon Last Night", the punk rocking, but very funny "The Art Of Happiness Blues (Even The Dalai Lama Wants to Kick Your Ass) "and the acoustic ballad" Your Tell-Tale Heart. "

With a sound that strongly reflects the music so interesting period of the golden sixties succeeded already in 1979 the music started veteran Joe Fahey in with the help of some close relatives through his second solo album "Busnell's Turtle" an very great album to deliver overflowing with catchy, catchy and highly enjoyable pop and rock songs. Clever!

— Valsam "Rootstime.BE" (Halen, Belgium)

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'Bushnell's Turtle' is Minneapolis musician Joe Fahey's second solo release after 2006's well received solo debut 'Tote Bag'. After a few listens it becomes apparent that while Joe Fahey is a talented singer songwriter with a sack full of great material, he's a little confused as to how to get it out.

That's not to say that there's not some fantastic tunes on this CD - it's just that it doesn't gel together as a great album should. Here's a case in point: track two is 'Resolution', a lolloping, stroppy stroll of a song which wouldn't be out of place on a Violent Femmes B side. Next up is 'Half Full', which Fahey clearly pinched out of Peter Buck's notebook one afternoon (and which contains the killer line: "I love you in the present, in the past and in the future tense.") It's a little too jumpy, a little too in awe of it's influences to be original. At one point we even get to a kind of Ritchie Blackmore moment on the 80's rock influenced 'Mark of the Wolf'. Nothing at all wrong with throwing the kitchen sink at a project but ultimately it needs to feel right. And this doesn't - quite.

However, a fair amount of sharp humour is a real bonus with a number of the tracks being evidence of a rapier wit being honed. 'I Could Not Steal Her Heart (So I Stole Her Car)' is, while being morally dubious and abhorrent to Daily Mail readers, a lovely laid back heartfelt strum while 'The Art of Happiness Blues (Even the Dalai Lama Wants to Kick Your Ass)' has to be the best case of bracketing a title I've ever come across.

One major flaw of the album is the editing process. At least three of the fifteen tracks here could have been ditched to make it a crisper, leaner effort, particularly the annoying pub rock of 'The Camel Watusi' and the pleasant but pointless 'Breakfast With the Loudbeaks'.

Somewhere within the fifteen tracks on this CD, a fantastic album is trying to get out. Joe Fahey certainly has the licks and the talent, he just needs to pull it all together as a cohesive whole and he could really make waves.

— Matt Fancy "AllGigs.CO.UK" (London, England)

————

Two sons and various backing musicians including his band Carp 18 were all involved in making Joe Fahey’s second solo record, and have only served to over complicate matters. There is a lack of cohesion in these fifteen tracks which spills over into Fahey’s production so that nobody seems to know exactly what fits where. Every number is a sing along, but you find yourself singing the wrong words.

There’s a large slice of bar room humour here with ‘I Could Not Steal her Heart (So I Stole her Car Instead)’ having had some radio time and ‘The Art of Happiness Blues (even the Dalais Lama wants to Kick your Ass)’ being a bit of a riot. ‘Clouds’ is trippy and vaguely political and a Rolling Stones/Kinks feel runs freely throughout it all. This is no Carp 18 though and feels for all the world like an attempt to get previously unreleased material onto the shelves whilst giving the boys some studio time and a bit of publicity to boot. It feels rushed to be honest. Although you really want to love Fahey and his gang for their f*** you, stick it to the man, we’re just going to do our thing attitude, it pains me to say that he doesn’t have the ammo to pull it off. He has too many songs here and they can’t decide what they want to be. Going straight from the 80’s power pop of ‘Mark of the Wolf’ to Josh Ritter’s school of Lawrence, KS on ‘Your Tell-Tale Heart’ is just one example. When he sounds like Bob Dylan on ‘Green’ it’s as though he can’t wait to sound like someone else on the next song and that’s the problem. Fahey has yet to find his true voice as a solo artist and until he does he’ll always be looking for his style.

— Tim Merricks "AmericanaUK" (Liverpool, England)

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credits

released December 26, 2011

Bushnell's Turtle Musician Credits:

Side One
1. sunday painter’s sunday:
Joe: vocals, acoustic & electric guitar
Sean Fahey: electric guitar, vocals
Paul Schmitt: electric guitar
Rod Bell: lead guitar
Mike Mahin: bass
Kraig Olmstead: drums

2. resolution:
Joe: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sean Fahey: electric guitar
Mitch Ostwald: piano
Mike Mahin: bass
Kraig Olmstead: drums &
plastic wood block
Terry Walsh: vocals, harmonica
Erik Miller: vocals
Dave Helgerson: vocals

3. half full
Joe: vocals, electric guitar, bass
Sean Fahey: drums, electric guitar,
keyboards
Pete Christensen: piano
Ben Baldridge: vocals, handclaps

4. are there clouds?
Joe: vocals, acoustic guitar, bass
Paul Schmitt: electric guitar
Pete Christensen: piano
David Stenshoel: violins

5. the full moon last night:
Joe: vocals, electric guitar,
electric 12-string, bass
Rod Bell: lead electric 12-string
Sean Fahey: drums
Kathy Fahey: vocals

6. green
Joe: vocals, electric guitar
Mike Mahin: bass
Kraig Olmstead: drums
David Stenshoel: violin
Ben Baldridge: acoustic guitar,
vocals, horn & background
vocal arrangement
Lori Landry: vocals, trumpet,
background vocal arrangement

7. The Art of Happiness Blues
(even the dalai lama
wants to kick your ass)
Joe: vocals, electric &
acoustic guitars
Mike Mahin: bass
Kraig Olmstead: drums

Side Two
8. anyway, happy wren day
Joe: vocals, electric, slide & acoustic
guitars, keyboards, bass
Sean Fahey: drums, percussion
Patrick Burton: percussion
Rod Bell: slide guitar
Ryan Fahey: electric guitar

9. I could not steal her heart (so I stole her car):
Joe: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sean Fahey: electric guitar
Mitch Ostwald: piano
Mike Mahin: bass
Kraig Olmstead: drums & egg
David Stenshoel: violin

10. delta pine blues
Joe: vocals, acoustic guitar
Rod Bell: slide acoustic guitar
David Stenshoel: violin
Pete Christensen: piano
Terry Walsh: harmonica

11. mark of the wolf:
Joe: vocals, electric guitar
(Fender Telecaster)
Sean Fahey: electric guitar,
(Fender Jazzmaster), lead guitar
Bob Bursell: electric guitar
(Gibson Flying V), lead guitar,
fills, guitar solo
Rod Bell: electric guitar
(Gibson Les Paul), guitar solo
Mike Mahin: bass (Precision)
Kraig Olmstead: drums (TSILB)

12. your tell tale heart
Joe: vocals, acoustic guitar

13. there goes
johnny faithful
Joe: vocals, electric guitar, bass,
acoustic guitar
Sean Fahey: drums
Rod Bell: lead guitar

14. the camel watusi:
Joe: vocals, electric guitar
Mike Mahin: bass
Kraig Olmstead: drums
David Stenshoel: wah-wah violin
Dave Helgerson: vocals

15. breakfast with
the loudbeaks:
Joe: acoustic guitar
The Loudbeaks: beakground vocals

Recorded by:
Rod Bell at Below Ground Sound
St. Paul, Minnesota
(December 2009 - April 2010)
Mixed and mastered by:
Tom Herbers at Creation Audio
Minneapolis, Minnesota
(September 2010 - January 2011)
Additional recording BY:
Joe Fahey at Camp Lackadaisica
Manomin Township, Minnesota
(Summer of 2010)
Produced by:
Joe Fahey
CD ManufacTuring by:
Noisleland Industries: Mark Downey, Mary McGeheran and Andrew Volna
CD Design by:
www.joefaheydesign.com
Outdoor Photos by:
Jenn Barnett
Indoor Photos by:
Mike Mahin
COVER PAINTING:
“Voyage To Inner Space” by Johnny Prince (used with permission from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce)
Zebra & Monkey Art by:
Edward Lear (Public Domain)
Cover & Spine Fonts:
Gyrl Friday © Heather Daniel
Body Text:
Garamond Regular
Thanks to all the cats who helped me out and played on this record.
A heartfelt thanks to everybody.
All songs by Joe Fahey
© 2011 Rough Fish Music BMI
email me at: joe@joefaheymusic.com
www.joefaheymusic.com
www.facebook.com/joefaheymusic
www.reverbnation.com/joefahey
www.myspace.com/joefaheymusic
Rough Fish Records
Box 21568, Minneapolis, MN 55421

Here it is, Bushnell's Turtle, the long-awaited second solo release from Carp 18 leader Joe Fahey. Within this beautifully designed 6-panel digipak are 15 new songs penned by the prolific Minneapolis songwriter Joe Fahey and he sings them out in his strongest voice to date.
Accompanied by his band The Bottom 40, his sons Sean Fahey, Ryan Fahey, members of Carp 18 and many other singers and musicians featuring David Stenshoel (Boiled in Lead) on violin and a vocal debut by Joe's wife Kathy Fahey this album ranges from intimate to rocking.

Once again, Joe has written a song worthy of airplay on NPR's Car Talk with "I Could Not Steal Her Heart (So Stole Her Car)" as it was aired a few months back.

A few years back, the Joe-penned Carp 18 song Muscle Car Blues (Tell Me Another) was played on Car Talk and it appeared on their CD Car Talk: Born Not to Run: More Disrespectful Car Songs and receives frequent airplay on satellite radio and on in flight entertainment channels on commercial airlines as well as other licensed sources.

Recorded by Rod Bell at Below Ground Sound in St. Paul, MN, mixed by Tom Herbers (Low, Trampled By Turtles) at Creation Audio in Minneapolis, MN and produced by Joe Fahey.

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Joe Fahey Minneapolis, Minnesota

REVIEWS ON "Baker's Cousin"

"Pithy yet perceptive views conveyed both gently and with verve. "
— Lyndon Bolton
American UK

*** stars
— Robert Christgau
Dean of American Rock Critics
Consumer Guide January, 2023


Also, make sure to check out my 2021 album "February On Ice" which made Robert Christgau's "Dean's List" for best albums of 2021.
www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=17821
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