JT says:
"Your Joe Bussard entry reminded me of another, similar story that was pretty big news in DC last summer: Leon Kagarise of Baltimore, who recorded around 4,000 hours of artists like Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Ernest Tubb, etc. during the late 50s through early 70s on a reel-to-reel tape deck at the outdoor music festivals prevalent in the vast rural area that previously surrounded Washington."
NPR's Morning Edition did a piece on Kagarise last summer. He's working with Joe Lee, a friend and local record store owner, to sell the recordings. Not surprisingly, the Library of Congress, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and others are apparently interested.
"You know, these [performers] were people from the mountains and from the rural South," Lee told NPR. "And once they were put in a studio, and they had a producer looking down at their snoot at the guy. And an engineer telling them, 'Well, if you make one mistake, we have to stop and start all over again.' It lost the atmosphere. It's like trying to play guitar in a straightjacket on… It's sort of like being in the zone. When you're really at ease, when there's no intimidation factor, then it really soars. And the proof is in these tapes here."
I hope someone releases a "best of" box set! Link
