Chasing The World's Rarest 78 RPM Records

 For a great many people, music is already a very serious thing. But for a very small – and influential – group of music aficionados, there’s nothing more serious than the 78 RPM record. It's one of popular music's earliest recording formats, and some of the most famous (or most obscure) performers of the early 20th century committed their known catalogs to these small, flimsy discs. But their very flimsiness means that a plurality of them have ceased to exist; it is thought that only two or three copies remain of Skip James' recording of "Devil Got My Woman," for example. And even the records that do remain are not always in decent condition.

Enter the collectors. Some are treasure hunters, others are dedicated preservationists.

Music writer Amanda Petrusich has just written a book about both camps, Do Not Sell at Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78 RPM Records. In a conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Petrusich shares stories from her globe-trotting, scuba-diving adventure into the realm of the 78 RPM fanatics. One of the book's subjects is record producer and 78 RPM archivist Chris King, and he joins the conversation as well, from his home in Virginia.

Hear a few notable recordings from the 78 RPM era, as picked by guests Amanda Petrusich & Chris King:

Geeshie Wiley, "Last Kind Word Blues"

 Willie Brown, "Future Blues"

Skip James, "Devil Got My Woman"

Blind Uncle Gaspard, "Sur Le Borde de L'eau"

Sylvester Weaver, "Guitar Rag"

Alexis Zoumbas, "Tzamara Arvanitiko"