The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Starting September 15th PBS will air the documentary series about the history of Country Music. His 2001 Jazz documentary is my favorite documentary of his so I’m really excited.

https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/country-music/

I’m excited for the first few episodes for the possibility of seeing some machines in the documentary plus the pioneer artists we love to collect on 78s.

BTW Anybody remember PBS’s “American Epic” a couple of years ago and the shots of a Credenza machine shown throughout the documentary?

Ironic that they would use a Credenza motif, since the rural people who bought those early country and blues records would have used more modest machines.

I find Ken Burns a bit of a snooze, honestly. He's been coasting since the Civil War series. But I'm sure I'll get around to seeing some of this some time.

Wolfe wrote:Ironic that they would use a Credenza motif, since the rural people who bought those early country and blues records would have used more modest machines.

I find Ken Burns a bit of a snooze, honestly. He's been coasting since the Civil War series. But I'm sure I'll get around to seeing some of this some time.

Not to mention these rural folks didn’t have the money to swap out needles on their modest machines with every play, and that’s why we usually find these desirable records in horrible condition. It’s the opposite with red seals, I always find those in great condition.

I read an old article about Joe Buzzard and he said people bought red seals for snob appeal and barely played them or something like that... Or maybe that was R. Crumb that said that... I don’t remember.

Anyway, on American Epic (which is available on Amazon Prime) this Credenza Machine is featured twice an episode.

One of these might have been more accurate.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNxx1Li7OYk[/youtube]

With a resused steel needle and a bunch of friends, neighbors and chillun' sitting around listening to it, because the machines owner was one household that had such a thing. Then they may have only had a few records so you played the same ones over and over.

Wolfe wrote:One of these might have been more accurate.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNxx1Li7OYk[/youtube]

With a resused steel needle and a bunch of friends, neighbors and chillun' sitting around listening to it, because the machines owner was one household that had such a thing. Then they may have only had a few records so you played the same ones over and over.

I think Credenzas were originally bought by the affluent Red Seal crowd and probably wouldn’t allow such “lowbrow” music to be played on their machines. Or that’s what I imagine people thought then. I imagine the Credenza owner of 1926 looking like the guy in this picture:

I bet this scene made some 78 collectors cringe.

“WHAT!? Playing a Charley Patton Paramount with a STEEL NEEDLE? This record is completely destroyed!”

(To be honest they’re sort of have a point because I read Paramount didn’t have the best shellac and the shortsighted workers threw the masters in the river.)

Sorry for going off topic on my own subject for a second.

Wolfe wrote:I find Ken Burns a bit of a snooze, honestly. He's been coasting since the Civil War series. But I'm sure I'll get around to seeing some of this some time.

Amen! Ken Burns is history lite, IMO.

Ken Burns is who got me into this hobby in the first place. When I saw his Jazz series in 2000, I saw them playing some old phonographs and that got me hooked, first on 78s, and then on the old phonos.

believe that most rural families with the means to buy a talking machine would own a Silvertone, or some other machine found in a mail order catalog. Sears pitched a lot of its merchandise toward customers on farms. Their WLS radio station was the source of the "National Barn Dance" program.

If a rural family had a machine from before WWI, chances are it was an Edison.