Jim O'Rourke - Empty Bottle, Chicago, Illinois, August 27, 1999

Jim O'Rourke - Empty Bottle, Chicago, Illinois, August 27, 1999Amidst the heads and young guitar slingers in attendance at that 1996 CBGB John Fahey show we listened to yesterday — none other than Jim O'Rourke! Jim, of course, collaborated with Fahey on Womblife, and would go on to make some excellent Fahey-influenced music all on his own. And speaking of all on his own, a very nice summer of 1999 Aadam Jacobs tape of O'Rourke playing solo acoustic recently made its way onto the Archive. (What a gift the Aadam project continues to be!) Here, Jim performs the then-unreleased, now-classic Halfway to a Threeway EP in unadorned fashion, a rare thing indeed. The first three tunes are delivered as an unbroken suite, and some superfan in the audience requests the title track to close things out. Magnificent. O'Rourke has moved on from this kind of material — I think he’s claimed he hasn’t played guitar in decades — but this era remains captivating. Can’t wipe the smile off my face! It was a…