78 RPM Shellac Records

Database of the 78 rpm records I own. As of July 2023, I have 80 distinct records from 1908-1955 across 16 labels. There are over 40 acts represented (harder to count and identify than you'd think. I'm looking at you, Mainers and Morrises!) For an alternate, sexy way of browsing records, you can view by grid. Circles never looked so good!

Wanting more recent records with bigger holes? You're seeking 45s, friend. Wondering why the flip flap dingle dangle dippity dap I'm talking numbers, here's info about record formats.

	B&S B-DISC-S Lee Babcock and His Black Hills Cowboys (1949) Beautiful Hills of Dakota / Deadwood Dick If you need a fixing of South Dakota pride, look no further! Recorded by a local label in Deadwood, recording local South Dakota artists, with references to the Black Hills and the legendary moniker of Deadwood Dick, this is a jackpot of Black Hills beauty. And signed!!!! Signed by Lee Babcock!
	COLUMBIA A228 Walter Biedermann / Vess. L. Ossman (1908) Jigs And Reels Medley / Maple Leaf Rag Equipment used for early commercial recordings could not capture instruments equally well. This was due to sound spectrum constraints. The banjo's mid-range tone was optimal, and thus banjo artists were widely recorded. Virtuouso Vess L. Ossman, dubbed King of the Banjo and performing in the fingerpicked classical banjo style, was one of the most widely-recorded and popular banjoists at the turn of the Twentieth Century. An early white proponent of ragtime, his performances brought more white interest and respect to the genre.
	COLUMBIA 15122-D Burnett and Rutherford (1927) Lost John / I'll Be With You When The Roses Bloom Again Old-time music duo Burnett and Rutherford consisted of Dick Burnett, blind guitarist/banjoist (he lost his eyesight in a gunshot explosion while fighting off a mugger), and the younger Leonard Rutherford, one of old-time's prettiest-sounding fiddlers. Their recorded performances show careful coordination between themselves. Lost John was the first song recorded by the duo in their first session on November 6, 1926. Burnett was also a composer, though his most famous work, future bluegrass standard Man of Constant Sorrow, was never recorded by its creator.
	BRUNSWICK 6074 Cab Calloway and His Orchestra Minnie The Moocher (The Ho De Ho Song) / Doin' The Rumba
	OKEH 40020 Fiddlin' John Carson (1923) When You And I Were Young, Maggie / Billy In The Low Ground John Carson's inaugural release in the summer of 1923 became the first successful, trend-starting country music record in history. By the time Carson's national sales hit half a million, other record labels were seeking out country artists to record, and Carson was brought back to the studio for his second session. OKeh 40020 comes from the second session and contains the first song recorded, When You and I Were Young, Maggie.
	VICTOR 21074 Carter Family (1928) Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow / Little Log Cabin By The Sea The 1927-1928 Bristol Sessions, the "Big Bang" of country music, launched the genre into a viable consumer industry and brought about its first star (Jimmie Rodgers) and star band (Carter Family). Victor 21074 is the third and final Bristol Sessions release by the Carter Family and features the first song they ever recorded, Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow.
	VICTOR 21434 Carter Family (1928) River Of Jordan / Keep On The Sunny Side The first release from the Carter Family’s second studio session and their fourth overall record. Features one of their most well-known, enduring songs, Keep on the Sunny Side, as well as Black gospel song River of Jordan.
	COLUMBIA 21023 The Colwell Brothers (1952) Mountain Valley Blues / Bluebonnet Lake
	VOCALION 00413 Coon Creek Girls (1938) Banjo Pickin' Girl / Little Birdie A rare, early instance of a successful all-woman hillbilly band. The band was created and named by John Lair for his Renfro Valley Barn Dance show in the mid-1930s. They were honored by being the only country group invited to the White House for a June 1939 performance for President Franklin Roosevelt, King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth. This record captures the original lineup. Lily May Ledford sustained a long career, helped by the Folk Revival, and received the National Heritage Fellowship in 1985 shortly before her death.
	RICH-R-TONE 415 Stoney Cooper and His Clinch Mountain Boys (1947) The Little Rosewood Casket / What Will I Do
	VICTOR 20293 Five Harmaniacs (1926) Sadie Green Vamp Of New Orleans / Coney Island Washboard
	MERCURY 6181 Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys (1949) We'll Meet Again Sweetheart / My Cabin In Caroline After leaving Bill Monroe in early 1948, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs formed their own band, the Foggy Mountain Boys, which would grow into one of the most well-known and successful bluegrass bands of the genre. Mercury 6181 comes from their first recording session, where they cut four sides. It is their second record. Note the rudimentary ensemble sound: the musicians play on top of each other during instrumental breaks. This old-time feature would quickly disappear from the band as the budding genre’s features stabilized.
	MERCURY 6200 Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys (1949) Baby Blue Eyes / Bouquet In Heaven
	MERCURY 6247 Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys (1950) No Mother Or Dad / Foggy Mountain Breakdown The initial 1950 release of one of the most well-known banjo pieces in history, showcasing then-revolutionary skill levels that could be achieved on the instrument. Groundbreaking 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde would later use Foggy Mountain Breakdown as its soundtrack’s theme, bringing Flatt & Scruggs to win their only Grammy. Foggy Mountain Breakdown was inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2004 during its third year of nominations to recognize works of unusual cultural, historic, or aesthetic merit from United States history.
	MERCURY 6317 Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys (1951) Pain In My Heart / Take Me In A Lifeboat Vintage Flatt & Scruggs. Having recently made a deal with Columbia, the band crunched their final contracted sides for Mercury. Their recording marathon occurred while Hurricane King made landfall. At first planning to flee the area, the band was convinced to shelter in the WDAE radio station building. What came out of the ‘Hurricane Sessions’ is among the best of the band’s output and produced many classics.
	MERCURY 6333 Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys (1951) Doin' My Time / Farewell Blues A Hurricane Sessions record featuring creative banjo accompaniment on one side and a novel bluegrass arrangement of a big band piece on the other. Farewell Blues is a 1922 jazz standard first released by the Friars Society Orchestra and covered by many jazz bands.
	MERCURY 6372 Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys (1951) Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms / I'll Just Pretend Hurricane Sessions material with one of the band's most enduring classics (and one of my favorites), Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms.
	COLUMBIA 20886 Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys (1951) Tis Sweet To Be Remembered / Earl's Breakdown Debuts peg detuning banjo technique pioneered by Scruggs. Earl’s Breakdown, unlike later pieces displaying this effect, was recorded with unaltered tuning pegs. Later, Scruggs would invent a crude cam device that allowed him to twist his pegs reliably to the target pitch.
	VICTOR 18956 Henry C. Gilliland, A. C. (Eck) Robertson (1922) Sallie Gooden / Arkansaw Traveler Widely considered the first commercial country record released in history. Limited distribution started September 1, 1922 and was brought into full circulation by April 1923. Arkansaw Traveler was the first song recorded the first day of their first session and Sallie Gooden was the first song recorded by Robertson for the second day of the session. Henry C. Gilliland, a Civil War veteran born in 1845, is one of the earliest-born Southern old-time musicians captured on record.
	VICTOR 19149 Henry C. Gilliland, A. C. (Eck) Robertson (1923) Turkey In The Straw / Ragtime Annie Contains material from the first day of what may have been the first recording session in the history of a genre. Fiddlin’ John Carson’s inaugural release in August 1923 is considered the first successful, trend-starting record in country music, but the honor of first record is often accredited to Gilliland and Robertson with Victor 18956. These men also predate Carson in the studio. They recorded June 30 and July 1, 1922, a year before Carson’s June 1923 sessions. Turkey In The Straw / Ragtime Annie is Gilliland and Robertson’s second record and was released in response to Carson’s first record success.
	KING 880 Shannon Grayson and His Golden Valley Boys (1950) I'm Gonna Walk On / I Like The Old Time Way
	KING 892 Shannon Grayson and His Golden Valley Boys (1950) Since His Sweet Love Has Rescued Me / Let Me Travel Alone
	OKEH 40336 The Hill Billies (1925) Cripple Creek / Sally Ann
	BRUNSWICK 175 Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters (1928) Black Eyed Susie / Cluck Old Hen
	RCA VICTOR 20-4251 Johnnie and Jack and the Tennessee Mountain Boys (1951) Humming Bird / Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide
	RCA VICTOR 20-4857 The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers (1952) You Broke Your Promise / Nobody Cares (Not Even You)
	MONTGOMERY WARD M-7006 Mainer's Mountaineers (1936) Watermelon On The Vine / Johnson's Old Grey Mule
	MONTGOMERY WARD M-7008 Mainer's Mountaineers (1936) On A Cold Winter Night / John Henry Was A Little Boy
	MONTGOMERY WARD M-7129 Mainer's Mountaineers (1937) Always Been A Rambler / Train Carry My Girl Back Home
	MONTGOMERY WARD M-7130 Mainer's Mountaineers (1937) Starting Life Anew With You / A Change All Around
	MONTGOMERY WARD M-7456 Mainer's Mountaineers (1938) I Once Loved A Young Man / If I Lose, Let Me Lose
	BLUEBIRD B-6440 J. E. Mainer’s Mountaineers (1936) Behind The Parlor Door / Goin' Back West In The Fall
	BLUEBIRD B-6479 J. E. Mainer’s Mountaineers (1936) Take Me Home To The Sweet Sunny South / The Old And Faded Picture
	BLUEBIRD B-7289 J. E. Mainer’s Mountaineers (1937) Don't Get Trouble In Your Mind / Kiss Me Cindy Ten years before bluegrass began, this record demonstrates markedly similar sounds: high-energy harmonies, blazing tempos, a three-fingered banjo roll taking lead, and an ensemble of violin, mandolin, banjo, and guitar. The music of Wade and J. E. Mainer, the Morris Brothers, and their interrelated bands during the 1930s directly impacted Bill Monroe, who was concurrently in the area working with his brother as the Monroe Brothers. Snuffy Jenkins, the banjo picker in this recording, was the first to be heard on radio with this banjo style and arguably the one who developed it; his sound influenced Don Reno and Earl Scruggs, the latter of whom joined Bill Monroe’s band in December 1945 as the final piece to mold bluegrass into a distinct genre.
	BLUEBIRD B-7249 Wade Mainer and His Little Smilin' Rangers (1937) Wild Bill Jones / I Want To Be Loved
	MONTGOMERY WARD M-7559 Wade Mainer and Sons of the Mountaineers (1938) She Is Spreading Her Wings For A Journey / Life's Evn'nin' Sun
	MONTGOMERY WARD M-7560 Wade Mainer and Sons of the Mountaineers (1938) Farther Along / Home In The Sky
	MONTGOMERY WARD M-7565 Wade Mainer and Sons of the Mountaineers (1938) You're Awfully Mean To Me / More Good Women Gone Wrong
	BLUEBIRD B-6596 Wade Mainer - Zeke Morris, J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers (1936) Shake Hands With Mother / Walk That Lonesome Valley
	BLUEBIRD B-6993 Wade Mainer - Zeke Morris (1937) A Change All Around / Little Rosebuds
	BLUEBIRD B-8568 Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1940) Mule Skinner Blues / Six White Horses In 1939, Bill Monroe formed a band, the Blue Grass Boys, which he would head until 1996. Approximately two hundred musicians would be officially hired as Blue Grass Boys over the decades; many would take the music they learned through Monroe and then strike out on their own, spreading the central sound of bluegrass. However, Bill’s first record here, recorded and released in 1940, demonstrates the earliest stages of Monroe’s development, not yet the style or sound for which he’d become the Father of a genre. Not only was Mule Skinner Blues the first studio recording and hit for Bill’s new band, but it was the key song that cinched Monroe’s audition onto the Grand Ole Opry in October 1939, as well as the first song he performed on his debut.
	COLUMBIA 37960 Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1946) Blue Grass Special / How Will I Explain About You? The A and B sides of this record demonstrate the constantly shifting lineup of the Blue Grass Boys. Blue Grass Special highlights the brief period Monroe experimented with accordion, hiring one of two women to be part of the band in its nearly 60 year history. Monroe’s first banjo picker, Stringbean, is also present and plays a brief break. The B side, recorded a year and a half later, is the fourth record released featuring the ensemble now considered the seminal bluegrass band.
	COLUMBIA 20488 Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1948) That Home Above / Little Community Church This Blue Grass Boys Quartet gospel music performed by the seminal bluegrass band, the lineup’s eighth release. I have a soft spot for this record because, on That Home Above, baritone Scruggs sings an unusually exposed vocals part for his career. The future influential bluegrass songwriter Lester Flatt’s name is seen with an early composition credit on Little Community Church; Monroe’s name is only present due to a common contemporary arrangement: a boss’s name would be added in exchange for allowing a sideman to record his own work.
	COLUMBIA 20503 Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1948) Summertime Is Past And Gone / Wicked Path Of Sin Ninth record released for the seminal bluegrass band. Though the A and B sides were recorded a day apart, the bass vocalist switches between Howard Watts and Birch Monroe, showing Bill’s brother’s current inclusion in the group.
	COLUMBIA 20552 Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1949) Toy Heart / Blue Grass Breakdown Eleventh record released with the seminal band. Although both sides are labeled Monroe originals, they likely came through collaborative efforts. Toy Heart contains unique wordplay suggesting bandmates had a hand on the lyrics. Monroe would have considered these contributions par for course and ergo unnecessary to give shared composition credit. However, Blue Grass Breakdown has disputed authorship. Earl Scruggs stated he wrote Blue Grass Breakdown and expected to receive half credit as Monroe had done for several Flatt compositions. After founding his own band with Flatt in 1948, Scruggs composed the iconic Foggy Mountain Breakdown, which curiously contains only one chord difference from Blue Grass Breakdown: a shift half a step down from F major to e minor. Bill Monroe countered that he composed Blue Grass Breakdown and Scruggs borrowed material for Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Each man would maintain he wrote the piece for the rest of his life. Likely, the truth is somewhere in the middle of these two accounts.
	COLUMBIA 20595 Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1949) Along About Daybreak / Heavy Traffic Ahead The thirteenth record featuring the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup. Contains the first song they cut in studio, Heavy Traffic Ahead. Heavy Traffic Ahead may have been the result of group collaboration, evident by inside jokes appearing in lyrics that reference their inability to arrive promptly to an engagement and which mock a sign outside Lester Flatt’s hometown. The sign warned of heavy traffic on a street which may have seen two cars a day. Given as Scruggs never recorded with the Morris Brothers, this also represents his first studio recording.
	COLUMBIA 20612 Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1949) I’m Going Back To Old Kentucky / Molly And Tenbrooks (The Race Horse Song) This record of the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup demonstrates an essential element of the budding bluegrass genre: banjo played as a lead break instrument. This release’s label, like several other Blue Grass Boys records, credited Lester Flatt’s singing. However, by the time the record was released, Flatt & Scruggs had formed their own ensemble; Monroe’s credits ergo assisted his competition, a potential early factor in what became a well-known and long-lasting rivalry. Monroe singles would never again list a lead singer by name, with the exception of his son James.
	DECCA 46392 Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1952) Letter From My Darlin' / Raw Hide One of Bill Monroe's most well-known showstopper mandolin solos.
	DECCA 28878 Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1953) Memories Of Mother And Dad / The Little Girl And The Dreadful Snake In the early 1950s, Monroe assembled a genre-influential lineup that included Jimmy Martin on lead vocals. Their music helped define key bluegrass stylistic elements like the high lonesome sound of singing. Bill Monroe, credited here by pseudonym, contributed two early autobiographical songs, which would become a staple of Monroe’s vast artistic output.
	BLUEBIRD B-6309 Monroe Brothers (1936) What Would You Give In Exchange? / This World Is Not My Home This represents the start of Bill Monroe’s recording career, a man who would become credited with creating his own genre of music. Albeit my label’s design is not the original pressing, this is the first record released by Charlie and Bill Monroe, their first hit, from their first recording session. What Would You Give In Exchange? was also their act’s theme song.
	BLUEBIRD B-7967 Morris Brothers (1938) Let Me Be Your Salty Dog / Darling, Think What You Have Done Although Let Me Be Your Salty Dog was an older song and already recorded by several jazz and blues musicians, the Morris Brothers consistently claimed they were the composers. They recorded the song twice, in 1938 and in 1946. This 1938 recording was done months before teenaged Earl Scruggs joined the band. The later 1946 recording contains similar lyrics to the 1938 version as well as instrumental breaks and song structure markedly similar to the 1950 Flatt & Scruggs Hurricane Sessions recording. The Flatt & Scruggs version, seemingly banking on the Morris Brothers, would lead to Salty Dog Blues becoming a bluegrass genre staple.
	COLUMBIA 37938 Molly O'Day and the Cumberland Mountain Folks (1947) The Drunken Driver / Six More Miles
	COLUMBIA 20514 Molly O'Day and the Cumberland Mountain Folks (1948) Singing Waterfall / Beneath That Lonely Mount Of Clay
	DELUXE 5018 Byron Parker (The Old Hired Hand) And His Hillbillies (1946) Can The Lord Depend On You / Gethsemene
	MERCURY 6360 Paul and Roy the Tennessee River Boys (1951) Every Dog Must Have His Day / You're All Alone, Tonite
	MERCURY 6374 Paul and Roy the Tennessee River Boys (1952) You've Been Cheating On Me Darling / Spring Of Love
	COLUMBIA 15307-D Charlie Poole with the North Carolina Ramblers (1928) I Cannot Call Her Mother / What Is A Home Without Babies
	VICTOR 19434 Fiddlin' Powers and Family (1924) Ida Red / Old Joe Clark
	VICTOR 19448 Fiddlin' Powers and Family (1924) The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane / Sour Wood Mountains
	VICTOR 19449 Fiddlin' Powers and Family (1924) Cripple Creek / Sugar In The Gourd
	VICTOR 19450 Fiddlin' Powers and Family (1924) Callahan's Reel / Patty On The Turnpike
	COLUMBIA 21442 Ray Price (1955) I Can't Go Home Like This / I Don't Want It On My Conscience
	KING 1235 Don Reno, Red Smiley and the Tennessee Cutups Choking The Strings / I'm The Talk Of The Town
	VICTOR 20864 Jimmie Rodgers (1927) Sleep Baby Sleep / The Soldier's Sweetheart
	VICTOR 21142 Jimmie Rodgers (1928) Blue Yodel / Away Out On The Mountain Jimmie Rodgers was the first solo country musician to achieve stardom and is widely regarded as the Father of Country Music. His second record, recorded at his second studio session, sold over half a million copies. On later copies of Victor 21142, the A side would be labeled Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas). This is because Jimmie Rodgers began a series of thirteen blue yodels based on the twelve-bar blues and containing risqué lyrics. Several of these, including T for Texas, became enduring standards of country music.
	CAPITOL 2121 Carl Sauceman and the Green Valley Boys (1952) Handy Man / Down The Road To Love
	MERCURY 6130 Carl Sauceman and His Hillbilly Ramblers (1948) Your Trouble Ways Keep Us Apart / Please Don't Make Me Cry
	OKEH 4113 Mamie Smith (1920) That Thing Called Love / You Can't Keep A Good Man Down
	COLUMBIA 20577 Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys (1949) The White Dove / Gathering Flowers For The Master's Bouquet An early example of Carter Stanley's songwriting.
	MERCURY 70546 Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys (1955) Hard Times / I Worship You The first major band to imitate Bill Monroe’s style, the Stanley Brothers became a heavily influential staple of first generation bluegrass alongside the Blue Grass Boys and Flatt & Scruggs. They recorded first with Rich-R-Tone, then Columbia, before moving to Mercury. This Mercury period record contains two compositions by Ralph Stanley, both favorites of mine. The instrumental Hard Times contains a harmonic peculiarity that has disappeared with the increased average talent of country music performers; the guitar plays major chords concurrently with the band’s minor chords.
	OKEH 40213 Roba Stanley - William Patterson (1925) Devilish Mary / Mister Chicken Roba Stanley has the honor of being one of the earliest female singers recorded in the history of country music, second only to Samantha Bumgarner and Eva Davis.
	COLUMBIA 15091-D Gid Tanner and His Skillet-Lickers with Riley Puckett (1926) Hand Me Down My Walking Cane / Watermelon On The Vine A well-selling record from an influential early string band, organized by Columbia, of well-known regional players. Gid Tanner, a trick fiddler moreso than a nuanced performer, competed against Fiddlin’ John Carson at conventions; with Carson’s 1923 record’s success at OKeh, Columbia strategically signed his rival. Talented performers like Clayton McMichen and blind guitarist Riley Puckett were assembled to round out the band. The first song in the first session the band recorded together is Hand Me Down My Walking Cane.
	COLUMBIA 15108-D Gid Tanner and His Skillet-Lickers with Riley Puckett (1928) Dance All Night With A Bottle In Your Hand / Old Joe Clark A pair of widespread American folk tunes. The Gid Tanner recording of Dance All Night with a Bottle in Your Hand was very influential and also a hit for the band.
	COLUMBIA 15158-D Gid Tanner and His Skillet-Lickers with Riley Puckett (1927) Dixie / Run Nigger Run Contains an early recording of an African American folk tune written sometime between Nat Turner’s 1831 Rebellion and the American Civil War, first documented in 1851 and said to be one of the oldest Southern plantation songs. Lyrics cheer a slave running from slave patrols. Beyond placing the escapee as the protagonist and the slavers as the villains, it allowed singers to spread awareness of dangers for anyone intending escape. By the late 1800s, the song was adopted by the minstrelsy circuit and reinterpreted by whites for racist ends. During the twentieth century, the racial epithet was dropped in favor of titles like “Run, Johnny, Run,” “Run, Jimmy, Run,” and “Run, Boy, Run.” Collecting this item is to respect the Black narrative and remember the United States’s complicated racist history.
	COLUMBIA 36901 Texas Ruby with Curly Fox and His Fox Hunters (1946) Don't You Lie To Me / Don't Let That Man Get You Down
	MODE 101 Tennessee Valley Boys (1952) Bitter Feelings / I'm Wondering Now By far the rarest record in this collection.
	VICTOR 20862 West Virginia Coon Hunters (1927) Greasy String / Your Blue Eyes Run Me Crazy Although Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family gained success during the Bristol Sessions, which is considered the Big Bang of country music, most musicians who participated did not find fame. Their records sold poorly; many never returned to the studio. In the case of the West Virginia Coon Hunters, this is their only record. I love both sides. In a fun demonstration of folk music’s variability, Your Blue Eyes Run Me Crazy melodically is the same as some versions of Shady Grove.
	OKEH 40320 Whitter's Virginia Breakdowners (1925) Black-Eyed Susan / 'Round Town Girl
	COLUMBIA 37313 Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (1947) Sugar Moon / Brain Cloudy Blues
	DOT 1091 Mac Wiseman (1952) I Still Write Your Name In The Sand / Four Walls Around Me