Recorded and released in 1968, it is considered one of his more experimental albums, combining elements of psychedelia, early blues, country fiddles, ragas, and white noise with folk music.

[7] The tracks with fiddlers Hubert Thomas and Virgil Willis Johnston were made with Fahey during his 1966 trip to the South with Barry Hansen.

On the right side of the cover appears "The Volk Roots & Hiart Leaves of John Fahey, Blind Joe Death, Hubert Thomas, Virgil Willis Johnston, L. Mayne Smith, Mark Levine."

and directly below that "The Fahey Picture Album: Genuine photographs of Blind Joe Death, Knott's Berry Farm Molly, The Adelphi Rolling Grist Mill, Etc."

[11] The back cover quotes a "Song of Solomon" verse "... and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."

But it's the three lengthy improvisational pieces that dominate, pointing forward to his later, more elliptical work..." In a November 1996 review in DownBeat it was rated 4.5 Stars — Very Good/Excellent — "...has to be the strangest folk trip of the '60s... it's Fahey's loopy sound collages and odd sonic touches that make this largely instrumental album a treasure."

In his AllMusic review, music critic Richie Unterberger called the album "One of his more obscure early efforts, Voice of the Turtle is both listenable and wildly eclectic, going from scratchy emulations of early blues 78s and country fiddle tunes to haunting guitar-flute combinations and eerie ragas."