Mystic folk has always thrived in the margins—where memory, landscape, and imagination braid into something both ancient and newly invented. These five spellbinding tracks trace the same lineage explored in Alta’s stories on John Fahey’s influence, the modern guitarists carrying his legacy forward, and the California spaces where this meditative sound took root. To drift deeper into the genre, visit our Spotify playlist and let the state’s folk currents carry you.•
1. “The Portland Cement Factory at Monolith California”
John Fahey, 1967
2. “Dance of the Inhabitants of the Invisible City of Bladensburg”
John Fahey, 1969
3. “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”
John Fahey, 1980
4. “Kensington Blues”
Jack Rose, 2005
5. “Cliffwalk”
Yasmin Williams, 2024
RJ Smith is the author of Chuck Berry: An American Life. He edits for the Capital & Main website, and has written for GQ, the L.A. Times, Vogue, and Maggot Brain. His The One: The Life and Music of James Brown, was listed on the NY Times Book Review's "100 Notable Books of 2012," and his 2006 The Great Black Way won a California Book Award.
