Original subtitles

let me see I had a Victrola when I was 5 years old

I still got it it was my father's

and neighbors would bring records by

and I was fascinated by records

later on

when I got into my I'm 12 years old

so I heard I like Gene Autry

so I went around look for Gene Autry records

and then one time I heard Jimmy Rogers

that's that did it

and I went to the record store and it was 1948

and I want anything you got by Jimmy Rodgers

and they went through the book

never heard of him see

but by that time Victor had pulled all that stuff off

I think it was 45

they pulled all the last records like that on

they were on Bluebird and Carter Family

all repressed so I heard where he had uh

sold so many records so I started going out and asking

and there was a woman sitting on the stoop

the street and I asked her

she said I got some

and she bought a box out

must have been 50 records in it

says just take them

and there was two Jimmy Rogers in there

but with some other stuff

things I like see

I like this too

I don't like this guy you know

this and that and this and that

but the

the real thing came when I got my driver's license

when I was 16 then I went all over the place

that's when

I ventured down into Virginia and found Carter Family

and I love them you know

I didn't know a thing about records

I mean who

how many were made and who

or what you know

and all that I had to learn as I went

but I went every day I could

so you were going to people's houses door to door

just randomly well

I could look at the house and say it's

you know I don't want to go to a new house

you want one that's old looking

you know

and the they

I bought them off the people that bought them

cause they were in their 60s in

you know maybe 70

so they had them and they kept them

I went up to this door one time

I knocked on the door

I looked through the screen door and I said

a big wind up in the hallway

I said oh boy

I gotta turn on the charm

ha ha

and I you know

people sold they didn't

you know they didn't

nobody wanted them really

I mean they weren't worth anything then

and I went all over the place

met people everywhere so I went out on the weekend

come home with 500 records

couple dollars a stack sometimes 50 cents a piece

a quarter a piece

oh let me see that one

well the one time I'm on this hunt

I hit a bunch of houses and found some nice records

and they

kept telling me about this old lady that had records

but the way they described it

it was like 25 miles away on 10 back roads

so I really didn't play all that much attention

you know and I

I made I went on all kind of roads

here and there and here and there

and I came down the road there was this old house

that sat on the right side of the road

if I remember and it looked good

it looked like if you braised the window up

records would slide out

and there was an old man on the porch

and um

I asked him no

we never had none of them talking machines

but you see that mailbox down there

I said yeah

he said

that old lady's got all kind of records back there

so I went it was a foot

path you had to walk back

you couldn't you know

you couldn't drive back it was about a mile

and I went over a foot log

over a creek up over a hill

and there was a house

old stone house and smoke coming out of the chimney

this was in the summertime

I want knocked on the door

is this 1950s early 60s probably

come on in well

in that situation

you gotta let him know you're a stranger

you know you screens for any of this local person

and just walk right in but I didn't do that

I let them know who that I wasn't around that locally

you know and she had a big wind up

stuff full and three or four boxes

and I picked out 300 records and we worked out a deal

and I got them reasonable

I didn't know at the time

the rarest Carter Family record ever made was in there

I picked it out which record is that

Bear Creek Blues

Conquer sold for one day from certain Cyrus store

I think they only had a few copies

I don't know how that came about

the other side came out on two other labels

it was just the Bear Creek Blues side

it was cut in Chicago 1940

they they had a big session fact that really great

whoever run that session

knew what they were doing for sound quality

so I had to drag them haha

I got to the foot log I took my pants off

my shoes and put the records on the foot log and draw

slide them across real slow

because if they did fell in there

they'd been gone

and when I got back on the other side

then I redressed and uh drug them for a mile

till I got down where I could see the car

and then I got smaller boxes and walked back up

I didn't find out about the Carter Family record

till later on

I know the guy in Chicago didn't believe it existed

and he came all the way down to take a look at it

pretty rare um

it's been how many years

57 years or more since I found it

never seen another one the mythology that I hear

or the folklore that I hear

is that

you have the only complete set of Carter Family

records in existence

I believe there might be one other set

um I'm not sure I know one fellow that has them all

but to conquer that's the big one

and it just happened happen that they had a few copies

I don't think it was 100 or less

and so one day I was in Nashville in 57

me and Jim he wanted to go to Opry

we came we were down in Florida and I got a sunburn

you wouldn't believe

I couldn't touch anything for a week

so we came back up I wanna go to the opera

I said you're gonna be disappointed

I said no used to go

this is 57 I said oh I wanna go alright

so we went it was a Friday night

it was awful some guy down on the stage

beating that boop out of a snare drum

I said that's it

I'm going to get my money back and Jim said

I'm getting mine back so we went up front

what's wrong I said what's wrong

I come down here

your country music that some idiot beat the drum

so it's see after 55 everything went to poop

did you at least were there

any names on the Opry that night

was Roy Acuff or Bill Monroe

no no

no no

Roy Acuff lived on the Opry

at the Opry to keep it traditional

he did everything he could until he died

and that was the end of it

anyway we went downstairs and I ran into Sam McGee

one of the best country guitar players ever lived

and we ended up back of the Opry house

in his old Chevrolet car for four hours

him telling stories and I didn't have a tape recorder

oh

he said they had a banjo contest

where the performer performed behind a curtain

so nobody could tell who it was

and he won he beat out Dave Mayken

and Dave was he said Mayken was ready to eat all

so Sam played a six string banjo guitar

oh you made one record

that one what was that one

uh Chevrolet car

an easy rider what a record

vocalion I issued in 28 I found three copies in a store

brand new

I wish they had the other two now

but he was a he was unbelievable

he said they making

worried him to death to go to New York

Said Sam

come on go to New York

they'll love you up there

they'll make a record of you

and he said I really didn't want to go

he said Fanny talked me into it

and he said we drove from Nashville to Knoxville

took three days he said every creek we came to

you had to put water in that damn dough mold of tea

hahaha

and they didn't know bridges

you had to drive through the rivers those days

and they went up there and uh

he recorded Knoxville Blues

which I have a beautiful copy of

Buck Dancer's Choice and Franklin Blues

that's a hard one to find

and he

I had this record of Knoxville blues that I found near

Front Royal Virginia

it had this terrible feedback boom boom

boom boom boom boom

boom boom

when Uncle Dave was on there talking

he said hello folks

this is Sam McGee from Tennessee

just to get right let's go Sam

and he picked the guitar and Uncle Dave would

you know I guess yeah

boss wise born to die

you know

and they had this terrible feedback

so I found another copy that didn't have it

so I asked Sam about that

he said yeah

he said they had problems

he said we had to do it over somehow another

the stamper got mixed in and they pressed a few copies

before they found out about it

you had one

I've never found another copy with the feedback in it

now the other

the other one I I fell in Asheville

Kentucky found it like a E+ copy in the big trove

I still got that I was

I'm Sheesh to find that record in that condition

he's an unbelievable guitar player

played open d three fingers style on it

best records were made were Columbia

anything cause they were laminated

they had this it looked like pancakes

and they had a mixture of tar and stuff

they put um

they put one pancake a label down

facing up you know

out then they put one of the tar

then they in the middle was a block of this

like tar or whatever mixture

then they put another pancake over on top

and then stick a label on that

put it in that thing you know

and stick it in 70 tons

and that was your record it had a good surface

anything clumsy pressed

if you had a test pressing on vinyl

right off the same stamper

it wouldn't be any better than the record pressed

I've heard people much smarter than me

saying that

that was the best quality records were ever made

I mean what they were doing was fantastic

you only hear through my speaker system at home

Western Electric of course

had it they invented it uh

in 1920 but

none of the companies wanted to touch it'cause

it was too expensive

so they went on with the horn

acoustical mechanical

there was a guy in Chicago that made a label called

autograph extremely rare

in 1925 he was

he was recording electrically

you could tell it

he was ahead of everybody

and then in 1925

when radio was ready in rodding in Columbian Victor

they had the bucks finally got it

and that revolutionized records

but I think if you had to pick the surface

Paramount's were

oh ho oh

Paramount Furniture company

they scraped the sawdust off off

off the floor

mixed it with molasses and tar pressed Paramounts

hahaha

and some of the best stuff in the world was on that I

I mean I got some Paramounts to play

beautiful and then some that look good but terrible

well say you have a large collection

but it's a very very high quality

yeah I

I slimmed it down I'm down to 15,000 now

I sold a few things I'm not getting any younger

and I might as well you know

a guy offers you big money for a record

I've sold some most of it's early country

well Ike Robertson

Sally Goodin 1922 to country music was over in 55

after that was bluegrass uh

also collect um

swing early swing but uh

black gospel black lady singers

black blues

uh Cajun

you know all kinds of stuff

see the trouble with me

when I when I was collected

I collected all of it most of the time

a guy that collected jazz

you know he picked up some good country stuff

I'll trade you for a jazz record

I didn't couldn't do that because I

I wanted to keep everything

I liked all of it

oh I got a lot I

I canvassed Johnson City

Tennessee years ago for the richertone records

they were only sold down there

and you would just go door to door to people's houses

we went to radio stations

and they were dumping all that stuff

oh yeah

I went to house house

oh yeah

that's fun I want to be sure that people know that

when you were doing this

most people didn't want this stuff

no there was

there might have been a few other guys out doing it too

you know I went to one house

lady came out and was talking

she said well

there were two men here a month ago looking for records

and I didn't like them

she liked me

and they're the ones that's got the good stuff

because she had all kind of Mcgum rewards

Blue Sky Boys in decent shape

they're my favorites that's great stuff

oh yeah

they were beautiful

14 and 17 years old when they recorded in 1936

but it's all kind of stuff like that

and I got a lot of jazz

jazz was over in 33

after that forget it

oh by the way

um all records up until late 28 were 76 RPM

all played everybody plays them too fast

we wonder why Sarah Carter's voice sounded so high

on those Victor Bristol sections

so we started slowing them down

we got them down to 76 and it was normal

and in fact I had a guy came in with a bass saxophone

you ever see one of those things

yeah

and he can play it I put on some Frankie Trimble

I think that's the way you pronounce it

he had big sax on that and he says something wrong

he says the sax is out of tune

he says Joe

he says saxes don't go out of tune

so I started slowing down

we got down to 76 he said

that's it

that's that's where it was recorded at

so all all the stuff I play on the radio

I play at 76 that's a normal speed

I think by 29 or 30 they went to 78

but I I said I went out every time I had any money I

I went out I mean

when I first started gas was 16

17 cents a gallon

you took 50 bucks you could stay out a week

um you could get a nice lunch

hot beef sandwich

mashed potatoes and a Coke for 50 cents

I spent more money on eats than I did records

yeah you got to see the real America

I got in some weird places man

ha ha

all kind of stuff it

um Bluefield

Virginia was a good place

the blacks and the whites had jobs

railroad and coal mine so they bought records

and there was a Blue Field Music company

handled all the labels I used to find them

you know Blue Field Music Company

open meetings ha ha

and that's where I've

below there is where I found the black patties

uh the one is the only known copy

did you know what it was when you found it

no I

I I went out looking for this flea market

and I made a wrong turn

ha ha

the best wrong turn I ever made

and I got down the road about a mile

and there's this fellow

walking up the other side of the road

and I stopped I said

where's the feed market it's up there

I said you going up there

and he said yeah

I was like hop in

I always had somebody with me when I went on trips

cause somebody watch the car when I was in the house

you know and we had the tape player going

he's all you getting that on the radio

I said no

he said yeah

that makes sense he knew better

but nothing like that on the radio

and I told him he's looking for old records

and he said I got a bunch of them back at the house

so we went to the flea market

which was nothing so we went back to his house

and about 20 miles

he lived up the back of an old trailer court

you all seen that place

I would have never found that road anyway

he had to live in a shotgun shack

you know what that is don't you

and we walked halfway through

and went a right turn in the bedroom

and he pulled this box out from under the bed

it must have had 3 feet of bed during dust

look like snowing like a blizzard

you know

and there was a Uncle Dave making a Bocian

pretty worn a Carter Family

a few other Charlie Pool

and then I hit the first black Patty

I was oh my lord

I said Jeez

I laid it aside

got picked out two three

I reckon there was two black patties

there was three there was four

oh god

I got 15 out there he said

you kind of like them don't you

I said yeah

they're really weird I said

where'd you get those he said

some man gave them to my daughter or my sister in 1920

so we didn't like them so

they shove them in a box and shove them under the bed

waiting for me to come along

80 years later and get them

anyway I

I got back home and I called Mike Stewart

he was a good friend of mine

ex the guitar player

he passed away couple years ago

and he was dealing in records

had auctions I said Mike

I hit it this time 15 black Patty

I'll give don't give me any of that boop hahaha

he what are they

and I started reading them off

and I got to the long Cleveland papa Harry Hall

and I didn't hear anything

Mike you still there

he says I'll call you back

About 10 minutes later phone ring

hi Joe

this is Bernie Klatzko in New York

he said I heard about your terrific fine

says you gonna be home tomorrow

I wanna come down I gotta hear this record

I said yeah

so he came down and he like

oh my god

oh my god

you know

he said here's $10,000

would you sell it for that

I said no

so he he said

well take 800 of it and put it on tape

I want to put it out on my LP

so I I taped it for him

and the next day

Don Kent called

I heard you about your beautiful fine

I said yeah

Bernie's been down here what do you

what do you offer you hahaha

I said 10 grand

he said I'll double it

I said no

I don't want to sell it I said

Bernie gave me $800 $400

decided to put it on LP he said

I'll give you $800 I said

I'll wait put it out later

so they did and then other people got to hear it

and now it's way up and way up

well the black patties

there were like three or four really great ones

Jeanette Records pressed them from Maya Williams

he wanted them named after Black Patty

which was a black opera singer

I got a beautiful picture for it

and when she performed she wore peacock feathers

so the label which Fred Jeanette pressed

Jeanette Pressman Indiana

had the top of the label you ever seen one

yeah you

know the top was a whole peacock

with his feathers spread out beautiful

unbelievable label they had real artists

it's one of the prettiest labels

and there were 55 different ones

and a lot of them came out on Jeanette and champion

as well they're still rare on Black Patty

but the one I have is only on Black Patty

Original Stack Lee Blues about e minus

they never played them that was a fine of a lifetime

that's like finding the rarest thing you collect

and it's the only one Pete Willin

he had a big collection but he put this magazine out

he said that he checked with every collector he knew

nobody's ever seen that record in any condition

and he believes that it is the only copy

now one may turn up

you never know

it's been 50 years since I found this one

that's my baby

I like that but it's a fantastic hobby

I mean it to me

it's the best hobby you there the labels work of art

and you can look at them

you can see them spinning around

but you can drop that needle down

and hear all that good music

no we could go on all day

we could go on all day

I really appreciate you sharing stories with me

no problem at all it's

it's fun it's beautiful to

we could go on for I got a

I I got enough for another air

you're gonna go looking for records right now

yeah I casually

you know me and Bernie here

uh or Benny

we went out a few places and everything's closed today

now you know

I wish you guys luck on the

I did find a couple down here

I got them over here in the box