Joe Bussard
Encyclopedia
Joe Bussard is an American collector of 78-rpm records
.
Based in Frederick
, Maryland
, Bussard maintains a collection of more than 25,000 records, primarily of American folk, gospel, and blues from the 1920s and 1930s, believed to be the largest in the world.
He was the subject of a documentary film, Desperate Man Blues, and his collection was mined for a compilation CD, Down in the Basement. He has gleefully shared his collection, which includes many only-known-copies of records (not to mention best-known-copies) with numerous reissue labels as well as with individuals for whom he has taped recordings from his collection for a nominal sum for decades.
From 1956 until 1970, he ran the last 78 rpm record label, Fonotone, which was dedicated to the release of new recordings of old-time music. Among these were the first-ever recordings by guitarist John Fahey
, as well as hundreds of other performers. A five-CD anthology of Fonotone releases was issued in 2005 by Dust-to-Digital
.
Bussard currently produces a weekly music program titled Country Classics for Georgia Tech's radio station, WREK Atlanta
. He has radio programs on three other stations, including WPAQ-AM 740 in Mount Airy, NC, WELD-AM 690 in Fisher, WV, and WTHU-AM 1450 in Thurmont, MD.
Joe Bussard has always had the collecting bug: in his teens, he and his cousin collected everything from rare coins to beehives to birds' nests. His dislike for modern music, especially hip hop and rock and roll, has been well documented.
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
.
Based in Frederick
Frederick, Maryland
Frederick is a city in north-central Maryland. It is the county seat of Frederick County, the largest county by area in the state of Maryland. Frederick is an outlying community of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of a greater...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Bussard maintains a collection of more than 25,000 records, primarily of American folk, gospel, and blues from the 1920s and 1930s, believed to be the largest in the world.
He was the subject of a documentary film, Desperate Man Blues, and his collection was mined for a compilation CD, Down in the Basement. He has gleefully shared his collection, which includes many only-known-copies of records (not to mention best-known-copies) with numerous reissue labels as well as with individuals for whom he has taped recordings from his collection for a nominal sum for decades.
From 1956 until 1970, he ran the last 78 rpm record label, Fonotone, which was dedicated to the release of new recordings of old-time music. Among these were the first-ever recordings by guitarist John Fahey
John Fahey (musician)
John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
, as well as hundreds of other performers. A five-CD anthology of Fonotone releases was issued in 2005 by Dust-to-Digital
Dust-to-Digital
Dust-to-Digital is a record company which specialises on documenting the history of American popular music, including historical recordings of blues, gospel and country music. They have described their aim as the production of high-quality, cultural artifacts, which combine rare recordings with...
.
Bussard currently produces a weekly music program titled Country Classics for Georgia Tech's radio station, WREK Atlanta
WREK
WREK is the radio station staffed by the students of the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is located at 91.1 MHz and on channel 17 on the Georgia Tech cable TV network, GTCN...
. He has radio programs on three other stations, including WPAQ-AM 740 in Mount Airy, NC, WELD-AM 690 in Fisher, WV, and WTHU-AM 1450 in Thurmont, MD.
Joe Bussard has always had the collecting bug: in his teens, he and his cousin collected everything from rare coins to beehives to birds' nests. His dislike for modern music, especially hip hop and rock and roll, has been well documented.