The voice of the turtle is the voice of John Fahey, the guitarist from Takoma Park, Maryland who, in the words of Leo Kottke, "invented the audience for solo steel-string guitar playing and the industry behind it." This 1968 recording, from Fahey's early days with Takoma Records, the company he founded, is probably his most traditional, featuring mainly duets recorded over a few years with various other artists including (via overdubbing) his own alter ego and mentor Blind Joe Death. In the music and in the typically lengthy, hilarious pseudo-academic liner notes mythologizing his life, Fahey does his usual balancing act–juggling paranoia, parody, and reverence for an entertaining and wholly unique experience.

with Blind Joe Death, Hubert Thomas, Nancy McLean, Blind Thomas Curtis, Tibetan Buddhist Monks, Gamblin' Gamelan Gong, Mark Levine, L. Mayne Smith, Harmonica Ed, Virgil Willis Johnston