12.21.2009

Radio Killed the Victrola Star

My latest addition to the reel-to-reel recordings is a two-parter on the player to your right.

The first is an excerpt from a radio interview my grandfather gave on KFJB radio in Marshalltown, Ia. I'm not sure of the exact date of the interview (yet), but based on the DJ's talking about Loretta Lynn's new hit single "One's on the Way" early in the show (not in this excerpt) it must be sometime in 1971.

My grandfather, Wendell Willard, and his country music buddy, Warren Riesinger (Not sure of the spelling on that) came on the show and talked about country music, their jam group that met on Tuesday nights in Clemons, IA at Warren's house, and about some recordings Wendell made.

The interview, I can only assume from some of the noises made at the very beginning of the tape (not included in my excerpt), seems to have been recorded by setting up the ol' reel-to-reel next to the radio and letting it run. The recording includes the interviews with Wendell and Warren, as well as all the songs KFJB played during the program that day. Flatt & Scruggs, Loretta Lynn, and Bob Wills to name a few...

The part that I uploaded today is a part of the interview where my grandfather talks about playing the 5-string banjo. I love the line, "The only background I had was the fanatic desire to learn to play a banjo and the great admiration for anyone who was able to play the banjo." Sounds like the way I would phrase an answer...

The second part/song is the tape my grandfather brought in. I separated it so I could do a bit different EQ on the song part than the interview part. I haven't found the actual tape (yet), so the quality isn't very good. Recording a song played on a reel-to-reel on a radio show by placing a reel-to-reel next to a radio doesn't lend itself to very high quality. I think the actual tape will turn up on one of the numerous tapes I haven't listened to yet.

Enjoy!