Joe Bussard is on the left in this photo.
A tape from my collection that goes back a few years. Not sure if Joe sent this to me or I obtained it from a third party. Anyway, it's a very entertaining cassette with Joe telling us about his life as a record collector - mostly old 78's he bought from hillbillies and farmers up in the mountains of Kentucky and rural places - mostly fiddle music and old timey stuff he managed to track down. Nice yarns he spins about his meetings with folk and how he came to buy the records.
I can't find out much about him on the internet - just this snippet-
"Joe Buzzard(sic), another 78 fanatic, has put out his own set called 'Down In The Basement' as well as making his records available to Steven Lance Ledbetter - also an extensive collector – who formed the Dust To Digital label for the purpose of making some of those old recordings available in the best possible sound quality. His crowning achievement is a six-disc box set – literally a cedar wood box, complete with substantial book – of sacred music recorded between 1909 and 1960 called 'Goodbye, Babylon' released in 2003. It takes from both the black and white tradition and it rivals Harry Smith's 'Anthology of American Folk Music' in stature."
Joe Bussard - Side One
An easy mistake from an old tape, it's actually Joe Bussard. You'll find plenty of info on him, there was even a rather spectacular documentary about him that has been on BBC 4 a few times and is well worth seeking out.
ReplyDeleteThanks The Dalai. I did wonder as I saw it spelled both ways. I will look out for that documentary. I may well have seen it and not realised it was the same chap!
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