In the early 1970's my collecting took a setback when I, like many others, moved up into the hills of Oregon to "get back to the land" and live communally. We had no electricity and we made our own music. So, thinking there was no need for records... I sold my entire LP collection. That was, in retrospect of course, a big mistake. After coming back to "civilization" a few years later, I began to pick up some used jug band albums, but sadly, much of what I had previously owned was no longer in print or obtainable. Many of these 1960's reissue LPs remain elusive to the collector -- try to find a copy of the True Endeavor Jug Band on Prestige or Jolly Joe and his Jug Band on Piedmont.
Beginning in the 1980's, with the advent of the CD and the extensive reissue programs of Document, Yazoo, RST and others, vintage jug band music became available as never before. Along with availability came technologically improved clarity and fidelity (though some of my neo-Luddite friends would argue these last points).
I was, and am, very appreciative of the CD reissues and I own most of them. But several years ago something happened to take me 180 degrees in the other direction. I was at a local record meet, sifting through the tables of LP's when I spotted a pile of 78's. Of course, I knew that 78's were the pre-45 rpm and pre-LP medium for recorded music, and that most of my favorite music was originally released on 78. In fact, as a child the first records in our house had been my older sisters' 78's.
When I took those old 78's into my hands I was amazed at my immediate reaction: This was IT! The real thing! Not a reissue on LP or CD, but the actual record, which was purchased some 60 to 80 years ago for 75 cents or a dollar (about a day's wage for a working person), and played on an old wind up phonograph. It was a wonder to me that those fragile old records still existed at all.Of course there were not any jug band records in the stack that day, but there were four or five by "Blue Yodeler" Jimmie Rodgers (the early and highly influential synthesizer of country, pop & blues music), who in fact cut a 78 with the Louisville Jug Band in 1931.
I became, at that moment, hooked on collecting 78's. Still, I had no idea where to look for more 78's, what to pay for them (or what they were actually worth) or how to clean, protect and store them. In fact I didn't even have a machine to play them on! A couple of months later I happened to notice an advertisement for an auction of 78's in Downhome Music's Roots & Rhythm mail order catalog. I was soon to find out that mail auctions are the main way collectable 78's are bought and sold -- although that is changing somewhat now with the advent of on-line auctions via the Internet.
I sent for the Downhome auction sheet and I was delighted to find that it listed hundreds of records by country blues singers, classic female blues singers, country string bands, early (1920's and 30's) jazz and best of all, one 78 by the Memphis Jug Band! That was the good news. The bad news was that while the minimum bid for most of the records was $6, the minimum bid for the MJB record (Okeh 8958, My Business Ain't Right b/w Gator Wobble, in excellent condition) was $30, which at the time sounded like a whole lot to me. Still, I really wanted an original jug band 78, so, throwing good sense and the family budget to the wind, I bid $55. Within a couple of weeks I was notified that I was high bidder and that I had won the record! I also had winning bids on a Lead Belly, a Yank Rachell, and a couple of other records.
Since that time I have learned a great deal about collecting 78's and in the process have greatly enhanced my knowledge of, and appreciation for American 'roots' music.
There are a number of positive aspects to collecting 78's, among with are:
- The thrill of the hunt. I believe that collecting is a (fairly) civilized sublimation of our hard-wired biological hunter/gatherer instinct (usually you don't even need a gun).
- Unlike some hobbies, the money you spend on collecting 78's stays with you.
Collectable 78's, especially country blues, jug band, prewar jazz and early white string band music, tend to be increasing in value faster than money in the bank.
- By collecting records (and therefore acknowledging their value), you are helping to save them for future generations. Valueless records get dumped, valuable records get saved.
- And of course, you can enjoy the record each time you listen to it.
When you consider:
- The comparatively small number of copies released (and sold) of any particular record -- especially following the Crash of '29 and through the Depression of the 1930's;
- The record-destroying steel needles with which the records were played;
- The fragility of these very breakable discs; and
- The fact that these records have been kicking around for 60 or 70+ years;
...it is no wonder that these records are scarce, valuable and fairly difficult to obtain. Try as I might to collect them, jug band 78's comprise only 55 or 60 of my approximately 2000 records. The remainder are blues singers, songsters, string bands, washboard bands, prewar jazz and country, along with a little early R&R and R&B.
Proceed to Part Two, you jug band junkie.
