Even by the standards of independent record labels, Fonotone was a maverick. Founded in 1956, this tiny imprint made K Records look like K-Tel in comparison. For 14 years, proprietor Joe Bussard operated Fonotone from his parents' basement in Frederick, Maryland, preserving authentic mountain music of the region via bare-bones recordings—one microphone, no overdubs or splicing—that he cut individually and sold for a dollar apiece. While audiophiles were discovering the double gatefold LP and home tape players, Bussard limited his releases to a single medium: 78-rpm records.

Fortunately for roots music fans trapped in the 21st century, Dust-to-Digital Records (the folks behind the Grammy Award–nominated Goodbye Babylon gospel anthology) recently teamed with Bussard, who has meticulously maintained the Fonotone archives since shuttering operations in 1970. Now, the fruits of America's last 78 manufacturer are available again, via the five-CD Fonotone Records box set, making this treasure trove of vintage performances accessible to modern-day bluegrass, folk, and blues devotees.

The Fonotone roster features a few names that less-than-scholarly fans will recognize: John Fahey, John Duffey, and Mike Seeger all cut sides for Bussard (albeit under pseudonyms). But primarily, the bulk of these 131 tracks were played either by Bussard and a dedicated core of his cronies, or folks who lived nearby. Some, like radio personalities Lee Moore and Happy Johnny, were known entities; others came to Bussard's attention on the collector's regular expeditions in search of second-hand 78s languishing in backwoods hollers.

Big-name stars? Hit singles? Fonotone didn't need them. Only a cretin could turn a deaf ear to titles such as "We Need More Rattlesnakes," or artists like the Tennessee Mess Arounders and the Bald Knob Chicken Snatchers. And the rudimentary recording techniques only heighten the vibrancy of the performances; your fingers will throb sympathetically to the rapid-fire mandolin picking and washboard percussion of the Georgia Jokers' "Rome Georgia Bound."

Bussard's operation wasn't an out-and-out anachronism. Occasionally, he would commemorate a notable current event, such as "The Death of John F. Kennedy." But musically, Fonotone remained rooted in a pre-WWII era. In 1968, when Teen Rocker descended on Frederick to seek Bussard's opinion on the fleeing jug-band craze (commemorated in the Lovin' Spoonful hit "Do You Believe in Magic?"), the Fonotone impresario declared "rock is a cancer of music, eating away at everything."

The labels on Fonotone 78s were typed by hand, and the packaging of the Dust-to-Digital retrospective reflects that attention to personalized detail. Packaged in a cigar box, the set includes five CDs, a 160-plus-page booklet full of first-hand observations and hand-tinted images, 17 postcards made from carefully preserved Kodak slides, sample labels... and a bottle opener. For soda pop only. Bussard eschewed booze, even beer. Music was his intoxicant. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more invigorating contact high than the Fonotone Records box.

kurt@thestranger.com