Early History of the Juneberry78s Roots Music Catalog and Websites.

We began making digital recordings of early American Roots Music around 1998 when CD Burners became "affordable".  At that time affordable meant the burner cost $500, blank CDs cost almost $2 each and you needed to use a $1500 Windows 95 and then Windows 98 PC. The failure rate when burning CDs at 1X (real time) was about one in three and you were limited to 74 minutes of music.

My former boss, mentor and lifelong friend Jerry Olson was already making audio CDs on his PC from his extensive LP collection. Jerry explained to me what hardware and software he used, I tried it and it worked like a champ.

I had been trading Roots Music with the late Robert Nobley of Roanoke Alabama since 1973.  I started collecting Roots Music in 1964 and Robert started about 1954.  In 1998 Robert sent me a tape of some new 78s, I burned an Audio CD and sent him a copy. When he played the CD he was in total shock not believing I could create such a CD on my PC.

We began making Audio CDs of roots music, not duplicating content on such labels as County, Yazoo, Document and other independent labels.  Most of the Blues/Jazz albums (our 14000 series) came from my collection.  The first 100 or so Old Time Music albums (our 15000 series) came from Robert.  He would send me a master tape, I would create a CD Master copy and send him some CDs.

A guy at work had a small website and showed me the basics of  HTML code.  Larry was paying Yahoo way too much money to host a site so I researched and discovered I could do it all myself.

In early 2002 I built a Linux Server using an old 386 PC and configured to be an Apache Web Server.  I was able to use a free DNS Service, Verizon DSL and began hosting the original Norms78s Website from my home.  Norms78s was used to trade/sell Public Domain CDs and I corresponded with people across the globe.   MP3s were still in the future so distributing audio CDs (.wav files) became problematic.  This was because we had well over one hundred and fifty albums in our catalog and would need to burn each CD after we received a request.  In early 2004 Verizon blocked the ports that web servers use so we chose to shut down Norms78s rather than pay them an unreasonable amount of money.

To be continued.

Health Status
As some of you might be aware Juneberry78s suspended distribution of our MP3 Discs, and trades / sales from our 78, 45 and 33 1/3 RPM Record Collections.
This was due to health issues and order fulfillment concerns.
Treatments have been successful so far and I look forward to returning to full strength.
I still have upcoming radiation treatments in Los Angeles in July.
After that I'll be on maintenance for two years.
Thanks to all for the good wishes posted to this blog, facebook, forums, e-mails, text messages, phone calls, etc.

 Juneberry78s Website Status
We have re-opened our MP3 Discs Distribution with some changes.
> We have reduced distribution of MP3 CD-Rs to 3 items.
> All of the content on the discontinued CD-Rs has been reissued on 3 new DVDs.
> The MP3s for all albums have been modified so the ID Tags now include Artist Album info and relevant JPeg images.
We will still wait a while before re-opening our Record Store.
We have found a mobile app for our website that runs great on Smart Phones.
There is no charge to you for this app and our site is now easy to use on your phone.
We also installed some Flag Counter mini windows on our home page.
In the past we received correspondence from such countries as Latvia, Japan, Sweden, Australia, France, China, Canada, as well as many other locations.
We similarly received correspondence from perhaps 25 to 30 US states.
Going forward we will have a more comprehensive picture.
It's too bad that we can't get the country, state & province counts retroactively.
Finally we are working on some MP3 Downloads featuring some interesting newly compiled albums.
Two of these albums are ready with more to come soon
Lots of great Roots Music.
Check it all out on    www.juneberry78s.com

Playing Music
I'm an amateur musician who plays for my own enjoyment.
This T Cell Lymphoma cancer I've been battling and the treatment have left my fingers a bit "spastic",so in a way I'm starting over but still having fun.
Somehow my fingers do find their way more accurately playing clawhammer & minstrel banjo than they do on guitars.
This probably is due to fewer and lighter gauge strings on my banjos.
I try to play a little each day

..

After nearly 20 years of battling a low grade lymphoma - Waldenstrom's Macroglobunemia I now have two cancers. Iam optomisticthat I will go into remission The new one is T Cell Plasmoblastic Lymphoma. I will start an agressive chemotherapy in the local Kaiser Permanente Hospital. I may remain in the hospital for up to three weeks while they monitor my heart, immune system, low blood pressure and more. I am very lucky to have a loving and suportive wife,family and friends.

Bob Flesher Custom Banjos - Model "Mad Moon"

Up to date list of Juneberry78s visitors.

Over the last several years descendants of the following artists have visited the Juneberry78s.com website. In some cases we have provided original 78s from the era for a family treasure. In almost every case we have provided digital copies of the 1920s music that no one in the family had heard for many years.


Albertville Quartet
Ashley's Melody Men
Big Chief Henry's Indian String Band
Binkley Brothers Dixie Clodhoppers
Brammer Brothers (early bluegrass band)
Buffalo Ragged Five
Bush Brothers Quartet
Crowder Brothers
Deal Family
Grady Family
Happy Hayseeds
Haywire Mac's Orchestra
Bill Lamey (Cape Breton fiddler)
Fiddling Bob Larkan
Fiddling Sam Long
Emmett Lundy
Earl McCoy, Alfred Meng & Clem Garner
Moatsville String Ticklers
North Canton Quartet
Red Patterson's Piedmont Log Rollers
Payne Family Quartet
Holland Puckett
Edd Rice
Jilson Setters (J.W. Day)
Luther Strong
Taylor-Griggs Louisiana Melody Makers
Tobbaco Tags
Walburn & Hethcox
Ira & Eugene Yates
Young Brothers
Jess Young

We were also contacted by the descendant by marriage of Gervis Bloodworth from the sensational Jones and Bloodworth Murder Case. Avoline Bloodworth wrote an excellent true crime book about the case- Murder At The County Line. Both Carl Conner and Vernon Dalhart made a record about the case.

It has been an honor and pleasure to be of service to these families.

Fiddlin' Bob Larkan

Fiddlin' Bob Larkan (1870-1942) recorded in early 1928 for the Okeh Label and then again in late 1928 for Vocalion.

The Okehs incorrectly spelled his name Larkin.

Clyde Snider contacted Juneberry78s.

I have all of Fiddlin' Bob Larkan's recordings except "Paddy Won't You Drink Some Good Old Cider". Larkin was my great-great-grandfather and I would like to have that recording. Can you help?

We were able to do so.
Clyde was able to provide the following information and all pictures.
Click on any of the items above or below for a better view

Yes, Fiddlin' Bob was born in New York City.

Both his parents were born in Ireland.

Bob and his wife, Harriet, had 13 children, two of whom played on his recordings, Forrest "Bob" Larkan and Alice Sherbs.

I would guess the photo was made during the late 1930s.

Bob Larkan was called Fiddlin' Bob and also Uncle Bob Larkan sometimes.

Fiddling Sam Long

We take great delight when contacted by descendants of  Artists of the Past.  Even more so when it's an artist of the stature of Fiddling Sam Long - always a favorite of mine.  If only he was able to record more and with the Electric Process a year or so after .... oh well we are thankful for the few wonderful recordings he did make.  Sam Long was the great uncle of Hugh Long who provided the above newspaper clippings and the following narrative.

Attached are the newspaper articles re Fiddling Sam Long. I know at least one of the articles was published in the Joplin Globe in 1926. The other could have been from the paper out of Commerce, Oklahoma.

Sam's niece had worked many years to complete a genealogy on the Long family, but she passed away in 1986. She had 3 daughters who I have contacted regarding the genealogy, but all deny they have it, so I (we) are in the process of obtaining the info on our own and hopefully get it recorded with Ancestory.

Sam died in 1935 at the home of his Uncle Ransom Long in Butler County, KS of lung problems as a result of working in the lead mines in Joplin, MO.

Hugh Long
Newton, KS

NOTE: Click on the above images or any image in our blog to see more detail.

Listen to Fiddling Sam Long and Ray Kastner playing Echoes of the Ozarks from a 1926 recording.