For those who don't know, Joe Bussard's a longtime (40+ years) collector of early jazz, blues, folk, gospel, and country 78s. His collection has been sourced for all sorts of comps including the recent Goodbye Babylon set from a few years ago.

Pitchfork did a review of the Fonotone box set which didn't really go too in depth, but kinda hinted on what's so cool about it. It's a collection of the label Bussard ran out of his basement in the '50s and '60s comprised of old time American music loyalists. John Fahey fans here might be interested to know that some of his earliest recordings are on this (as Blind Thomas and part of the Mississippi Swampers), and there's a decent interview with him in the included booklet (which is pretty awesome in itself).

Last night was the Fonotone release show at The Earl here in Atlanta, and it was lot of fun. It was comprised of a 45 min. documentary about Bussard as a collector (nothing about the Fonotone label itself), and music by the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, a group comprised of three old, very authentic hillbilly-types and one young guy (probably pretty similar in spirit to Bussard and Fahey 40 years ago). I was a little disappointed because Bussard himself didn't perform (and neither did "Backwards Sam Firk" as far as I could tell), but the two lengthy sets by the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers were a blast. At the end of the show a bunch of hipsters actually got up and gave their best effort at hillbilly dancing. I picked up a supposedly OOP comp from Joe's collection called Down in the Basement which I could probably YSI to anyone interested. It's a great single-disc mix of the variety of styles in his collection.

So I've just been feeling the Joe Bussard love lately and just thought I'd share. I bought the Fonotone box for my girlfriend, and I would totally recommend it. The packaging alone nearly makes it worth the price.

He's also going to be at Criminal Records from 6 to 7 pm today to "answer questions" and stuff. Don't know of anything that I'd ask him, but I might go just to see if he's still selling homemade CD comps from his collection like he was last night at the show (which I didn't realize until someone told me about it later). I'd love to be able to get a CD of just his jazz stuff if he had one.

That Fonotone set is at the top of my buy-list.

When you have the YSI link available, I'd love to poach this.

I'll try to get it uploaded this afternoon.

Done. PM me if anybody else wants it.

One last bump while the YSI is still up.

This is good stuff, guys. It's a comp of early blues, jazz, and country (string music). It's fun.

Some gems on that comp - can't seem to get Charley Jordan's Keep It Clean out of my skull.

Yeah, that song, "You Got to Go Down" and "Song From a Cotton Field" are particularly awesome.

Just a good mix as a whole, really.