People

Seated at the counter of the Barbara Fritchie Candy Stick Restaurant—the Frederick diner along Route 40 with the 50-foot candy cane in the parking lot—the self-proclaimed “King of Record Collectors,” who recently celebrated his 71st birthday, is more revved up than usual.

“I’m so excited. But I’ve got to contain myself,” he says, careful not to disclose too much about a record he’s hunting, only mentioning that he has a hot tip from a man in Cumberland.

For six decades, Joe has scoured warehouses, farmhouses, and henhouses in his hunt for records. His collection of rare and vintage 78rpms—1920s and 1930s country, blues, jazz, and gospel—stands at over 25,000 and is believed to be the largest in the world.

Joe is also proprietor of Fonotone Records, the last-known American 78rpm recording label, which began out of his parents’ basement on Fleming Avenue in Frederick. The label produced albums from 1956 to 1970, recording acts like Happy Johnny and Family, the Tennessee Mess Arounders, and Jolly Joe’s Jug Band. The first-ever recordings of John Fahey, the late, legendary guitarist and Takoma Park native, were laid down on Fonotone.

In 2005, Dust-to-Digital Records in Atlanta released a five-CD box set, Fonotone Records, a collection of 131 re-mastered original Fonotone recordings. Nominated for a 2006 Grammy, the set garnered praise worldwide, including accolades from the likes of Elvis Costello: “I love the things Joe Bussard puts out—he’s preserving a lot of corners of music that are precious.”

As a boy, Joe was crazy about Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy. But it was the Blue Yodeler that launched his obsession.

“The turning point was when I heard Jimmie Rogers. He was the greatest singer that ever lived. He was a hundred times better than Gene Autry.” But in the late 40s, Rogers’ 78s were hard to find. “Victor [Records] had pulled all that stuff off the market, the Bluebird labels.”

He began going around town, knocking on doors and asking folks if they had any old records. Some simply gave them to him. One record led to another; then, at 16, he got his driver’s license.

“I started venturing all around Frederick County,” Joe recalls. “Then I got over into Virginia. Oh, my God!”

Just before heading back to Joe’s home, he drops this one: “I’ve got the tie that Hank Williams was wearing the night he died.”

Come again?

The tie was given to him by Art Barrett, a former disc jockey at WSIG in Mount Jackson, Virginia, where Joe landed his first radio show in 1955, Country Classics.

Joe continues to host Country Classics, taping the program in his basement. With his distinct hillbilly flair, he provides commentary for each song. Country Classics is broadcast on four stations throughout the South; locally, he can be heard Sunday mornings on 1450 WTHU-AM in Thurmont. But, as Joe says, “It’s a kinda bad time, because most of my audience is in church.”

Down in the basement, Joe kicks off his oxfords and puts on his dancing shoes—a pair of worn-out slippers. His 78s run the length of a 40-foot wall, standing six custom-built shelves high. On a Smith-Corona typewriter, Joe pecks out handmade labels for cassettes. For $30, which includes shipping, he’ll make you a 90-minute tape of anything from his collection.