JOHN FAHEY BACKWARDS FIRK ACETATE FONOTONE 4 FOLK BLUES

$

313

SIDE ONE: John Fahey: "John Fahey - Guitar Solo's Titles Unknown From 7002" SIDE TWO: John Fahey & Backwards Sam Firk: "Mississippi Swampers" 198?, USA/Fonotone 4. Disc is in beautiful EX to M- shape, it's like new. Labels are typed and hand-applied, with a "FONOTONE" logo applied separately on top of the typed label. This is an expertly-made 12" metal acetate LP that was hand-cut on a lathe. The sound is excellent, it's comparable in fidelity to a standard vinyl pressing. It has a manila slipcase for a cover.

Frederick, Maryland musicologist Joe Bussard, Jr. recorded several local artists in his home studio, including John Fahey as a solo artist, and as a duo called "The Mississippi Swampers" with Backwards Sam Firk. The Fahey recording sessions began in 1959, and continued through 1962. The Mississippi Swampers recordings took place on June 15, 1962. Fahey left these early masters with Bussard, asking only that if he was going to make the music available to collectors, he do it himself on his Fonotone imprint and never license the material to another label. Bussard had the equipment for making acetates at 78 rpm, and this was how he shared Fahey's early recordings with interested collectors for many years. These were usually 7" acetates, with one song on each side. They were expensive to produce, and correspondingly they were expensive for Fahey collectors to purchase from Bussard. As a result very few were ever made. A small number of these handmade Fonotone 78s have turned up on ebay and have fetched considerable sums.

By the 1980s, Bussard had upgraded his cutting equipment to be able to produce a 10" disc or a 12" disc at 33 1/3 rpm. He only made one "official" 10" disc available to Fahey fans, Fonotone 70002, labeled "Guitar Solo's". At the same time, he made a 12" disc available to Fahey fans, Fonotone 70001, also labeled "Guitar Solo's". The two discs did not have any overlapping tracks. If you wanted all of Fahey's untitled instrumentals, you had to commission him to cut one of each. Beyond Fonotone 70001, it has been widely believed that Bussard never produced any other 12" discs, but I recently found four different ones in a collection! The discs are numbered FONOTONE 1, FONOTONE 2, FONOTONE 3, and FONOTONE 4. Predictably, there is a story about how they came to exist that I will relate below. On offer this week in separate auctions are FONOTONE 3 and FONOTONE 4, which as a set contain 23 instrumental guitar tracks that John Fahey recorded in Joe Bussard Jr.'s home studio between 1959 and 1962, and six blues tracks Fahey recorded with Backwards Sam Firk as "The Mississippi Swampers" in Joe Bussard Jr.'s home studio on June 15, 1962. Many, if not all of the tracks on these LP acetates were made available by Bussard as Fonotone 78 rpm acetate singles early-on, and the Fahey instrumentals could be purchased on the 10" disc outlined above. But I have reason to believe that these acetates in my possession are unique, in that they are the only 12" discs playing at 33 1/3 rpm (LPs) of any of this material.

The collection I recently purchased had a lot of folk guitar records. Many early rare ones, like the Harry Taussig on Talisman and the Steve Mann on Custom Fidelity, the Fred Gerlach, stuff I'd never seen before. There was a lot of Fahey, and then I found the acetates. I asked the owner how he came to possess them and here's what he told me: I wrote to Joe Bussard Jr. in the early 1980s, and I asked him if he still had the early John Fahey recordings for sale. He wrote back that yes, he was still offering them on cassette. I wrote again and told him I really would rather have records, and he wrote that he could make me a set of 78 rpm acetate singles. But I didn't want 7" records, and I certainly didn't want anything that played at 78 rpm! I asked him if he could cut me 12" LPs at 33, and he refused to do it. I waited a year or so, and I wrote him again. By then he had the "Guitar Solo's" LP acetate available, and I bought one. It sounded great, which made me want the other tracks on 12" LP even more, so I asked him again. He told me he'd never made custom 12" discs to order for anyone EVER, because cutting full LPs by hand was a lot of trouble. I wrote him back right away and told him that I'd pay him whatever he asked, but I had to have LPs. I think it was another year before we closed the deal, but finally we agreed on a price and he sent the four LPs. He enclosed a note with them that said, "I can't believe how difficult it was to make these, I will never do this again for any amount of money!"  I asked him if he thought they were in fact unique, and he said Oh, I have no doubt that they are. I chose the songs that I wanted from his master list and the order I wanted them in, and he cut the acetates. He custom made these LPs for me and told me flat out that he would never do it again for anybody!

You should be able to see the song titles on the scans below. For your further information, here is a list of the Fonotone label 78rpm acetate singles that are collected on this LP, directly cut from Joe Bussard Jr.'s masters: #6219, #6220, #6221 (these are the numbers given to the Mississippi Swampers singles). The Fahey side of the disc contains most, if not all, of the tracks made available on the 10" disc Fonotone 70002 (note that the acetate label has a typo, it should read "Guitar Solo's Titles Unknown From 70002").

The winning bidder will also receive copies of Bussard's mid-1980s catalog of early recordings of Fahey and several other artists.

Be sure to look at my other auctions to see the companion disc with the other fourteen Fahey instrumental guitar recordings.

Look below for some pictures of the actual item up for auction.

All my records are guaranteed. I try to grade strictly enough to please all potential bidders and will note any found flaws with the disc or cover specifically. If you need any more information, feel free to e-mail me at iamthewitch at earthlink.net.

I pack/ship once a week, usually on Friday. I use sturdy cardboard boxes designed for shipping records, and I remove the disc from the cover to prevent seam splits during shipment. This disc will require double-boxing, hence the higher-than-normal shipping rates. I'm required by ebay to offer a $4.00 shipping rate. If you opt for media mail on this rare/fragile item, I would seriously question your sanity!

IF YOU ARE IN THE USA: I can ship this LP by Media Mail for $4.00, or by Priority Mail for $10.50. Insurance or Registered delivery is available on all shipments at my cost.

IF YOU ARE IN CANADA: I can ship this LP to you by Airmail for $10.00. Registered service is available for an additional fee.

IF YOU ARE IN MEXICO: I can ship this LP to you by Airmail for $15.00. Registered service is available for an additional fee.

IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA: I can ship this LP to you by Airmail for $20.00. Registered service is available for an additional fee.