18 Facts About Joe Bussard

Joe Bussard was noted for owning more than 15,000 records, primarily from the 1920s and 1930s, at the time of his death.

Joe Bussard's father managed the family's farm supply business, and his mother, Viola, was a housewife.

Joe Bussard began collecting when he was seven or eight, starting with Gene Autry records.

Joe Bussard attended Frederick High School, but left in eleventh grade without graduating.

Joe Bussard initially worked at his family's business and in a supermarket, but he was unemployed from the late 1950s onwards.

Over his lifetime, Joe Bussard amassed a collection of between 15,000 and 25,000 records, primarily of American folk, gospel, jazz, and blues from the 1920s and 1930s.

From 1956 until 1970, Joe Bussard ran the last 78 rpm record label, Fonotone, which was dedicated to the release of new recordings of old-time music.

Joe Bussard was the subject of a documentary film, Desperate Man Blues, and his collection was mined for a compilation CD, Down in the Basement.

Joe Bussard authored his own entry in The Encyclopedia of Collectibles, which was published in 1978.

Joe Bussard shared his collection, which included many only-known-copies of records, best-known copies, and numerous reissue labels, as well as work with individuals for whom he taped recordings from his collection for a nominal sum for decades.

Joe Bussard's daughter reckoned that a minimum of 150 individuals visited their home annually to hear him play songs and recount how he obtained his records.

Joe Bussard produced a weekly music program, Country Classics, for Georgia Tech's radio station, WREK Atlanta.

Joe Bussard had radio programs on other stations: including WPAQ-AM 740 in Mount Airy, North Carolina, and WDVX in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Joe Bussard disliked the city of Nashville, Tennessee, sometimes called "Music City", calling it "Trashville".

Joe Bussard visited a flea market in Emmitsburg, Maryland a month before his death to look for more 78s, but left empty-handed.

Joe Bussard worked as a hairdresser and cosmetologist to support her family.

Joe Bussard died on September 26,2022, at his home in Frederick while in hospice care.

Joe Bussard was 86, and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years prior to his death.