The first CD I ever bought was a reissue of recordings done by Charlie Christian. I was so excited when I saw it that I bought it, even though I didn't yet own a CD player. As the years have gone by, I find that most of the CDs that I buy are reissues of older recordings. Being a folkie, I suppose that's not surprising. Even more exciting to me than the Charlie Christian reissues (which were and are VERY exciting) was when they reissued Old Time Music At Clarence Ashley's, Volumes I and II. Equally exciting was when they reissued The Anthology Of American Folk Music and The Carter Family Recordings. Many companies have participated in reissuing the great old folk, blues and early country music classics, and there's a whole "Oldies" industry for early rock and roll, rhythm and blues and soul. Even Jazz has done a pretty good job, and classical music is basically golden oldies with a bow tie.

Recently, I've finally found some individual recordings I've been looking for on CD for years... Don't Go To Strangers by the Orioles, which until recently was only reissued on a ten CD set. I was excited when they reissued a favorite album of mine by Sal Salvador, jazz guitarist with Stan Kenton, among others. I've been waiting for a reissue of the Arhoolie album of Mississippi John Hurt, which I have on record and far surpasses all the available reissues of recent years, in my opinion. After I post this, I think I'll check CD Universe and Amazon.com to see if they've reissued the Arhoolie album since the last time I checked.

Recordings that still have not been reissued that I'd love to get are Oh Happy Day (not the gospel song) by Don Howard, and Junco Partner by James Wayne. I'm surprised in a way that they haven't reissued the Don Howard song, because it was a very pivotal recording in the history of popular music. Howard was a minimally passable guitarist and recorded the song he wrote in a Record Your Own Voice for $1.00 booth, and managed to get it released. It became a big hit, despite the poor recording quality (even the speed wasn't steady on the original recording.) I remember how much my parents and older sister hated the recording (which made me love it even more.) Tennessee Ernie Ford and others recorded covers of the song, but Howard's version was still a big hit. It opened my eyes because it made me realize that you could make music, even if you weren't particularly good, and had no musical training. I even gave a speech in college on the importance of the record in opening doors for other untrained musicians. I still have my 45 and it's in pretty good condition, but if I ever find a CD collecion with it on, I'll buy it, even if every other track is by Pat Boone.

So, what recordings were you really excited about when they reissued them? Any material you're still anxiously waiting for, to be reissued?

Jerry