Great news for anyone that missed it the first time around, Brooklyn based photographer Eilon Paz’s 436-page coffee-table book ‘Dust & Grooves – Adventures in Record Collecting‘ has been updated and re-issued. This is a great book for those that love the act of collecting or are fascinated by vinyl obsessives and those serious record collectors out there. The range of collector covered goes from from those that go out seeking a very specific spectrum of sound to those that buy every record they can. In-depth interviews dig into what feeds the collecting bug for the likes Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) and Jonny Trunk (writer, broadcaster, DJ and owner of Trunk Records).
As you’d expect, there are some pretty eccentric characters covered, including the wonderful Joe Bussard (image above), a 78 collector who was a friend of John Fahey of whom he made the first recordings. For anyone who has watched the documentary ‘In Search of Blind Joe Death – The Saga of John Fahey’ the interview with Joe was pretty unforgettable and a personal highlight of the film which led to me recently getting hold of that wonderful Dust to Digital release ‘Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You‘ featuring the Fonotone recordings, tracks from which will soon be in our FRUK playlist. He was also the subject of a documentary called Desperate Man Blues. Here is a video I came across recently of Joe in his famous basement sharing a 1920’s 78rpm recording pf Clarence Ashley’s “Little Sadie”.
The book promises readers “an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. The book is divided into two main parts: the first features 250 full-page photos framed by captions and select quotes, while the second consists of 12 full-length interviews that delve deeper into collectors’ personal histories and vinyl troves.”
Find out more here: www.dustandgrooves.com
