Plateprat med John Heneghan

Describe yourself using at least five words.
Neurotic, obsessive, compulsive, record collector.

What are your five favorite albums?
I am a 78 rpm record collector primarily, but here are some LP/CD compilations of 78 rpm music that might be of interest to your readers:

1. 🔊 Before The Blues - Yazoo Records

One of the many fantastic comps compiled by Richard Nevins of Yazoo Records. These are not only full of fantastically rare masterful performances of music from the early 78 rpm recording era of the 1920’s and early 30’s, but it’s a great introduction of Old-Time music to those that are unfamiliar with it.

2. 🔊 Good For What Ails You - Old Hat Records

A top notch compilation of songsters and sideshow acts from the 1920’s & 30’s by Marshall Wyatt.

3. 🔊 The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of - Yazoo Records

Another fantastic comp by Rich Nevins of some of the greatest & rarest records on earth. Some, the only know copies.

4. 🔊 Rich Man, Poor Man - Rounder Records

Great compilation of early American protest songs. many of which sound as if they could’ve been written today.

5. 🔊 Wait For Me - East River Records

This is compilation I did for my label, East River Records, of songs of love, lust and discontent. It’s a follow up to a comp with the same theme that I did for Dust-To-Digital, “Baby How Can It Be?”.

What are your five favorite songs?
It’s impossible for me to pick my five favorites songs, but because some people out there may be interested in checking out some good Old-Time music, here are five great records to listen to.

1. 🔊 CAIRO BLUES - Henry Spaulding

2. 🔊 HARD TIME KILLIN’ FLOOR BLUES - Skip James

3. 🔊 STONE MOUNTAIN TODDLE - Walker’s Corbin Ramblers

4. 🔊 LADY MINE - Ross De Luxe Syncopaters

5. 🔊 I FOUND A FOUR LEAF CLOVER - Al Miller

What are your three favorite album covers?
This is a bit awkward to answer because Robert Crumb plays in my band, Eden & John’s East River String Band, and we’re fortunate enough that he does all our covers for us. So it may sound a bit braggy, but some of my band’s cover’s are my favorites..

1. 🔊 CONEY ISLAND BABY - Eden & John’s East River String Band (R. Crumb)

2. 🔊 “EVER FELT THE PAIN?” John Heneghan & His Henpecked Husbands (R. Crumb)

3. 🔊 STRING RAGTIME “TO DO THIS YOU GOT TO KNOW HOW” (Robert Armstrong)

Do you collect records – and if so, why?
Yes, I do collect records. Isn’t that what this blog is all about?

Why? Because I have an horrible illness. It’s obsessive compulsive behavior, collecting. It’s a sickness!

But, I mean collecting records, it could be worse right? Especially collecting old 78 rpm that often don’t exist in any other format except the record that you’re holding in your hand when you play it. It’s like being an archeologist for beautiful old forgotten music.

There’s worse things you could do with your shameful obsessive tendencies.

And, I have some pretty sweet records!

What’s the biggest difference between when you started collecting and how it is today?
The biggest difference is the prices of course. Collecting old 78 records, especially old Blues 78 rpm records, has unfortunately crossed over into the mainstream zeitgeist and people who have little to no interest in music have become interested in collecting old 78 records. This makes the prices skyrocket, which is a shame when your primary motivation for collecting is listening to fantastic old music.

Favorite physical record store?
There are no 78 rpm record stores. Lord knows I wish there were. The last record store I used to go to was my friend Dan Cook’s East Village NYC store, Gimmie Gimmie Records, but alas, he moved it out to the West coast.

Foto: James and Karla Murray

What was the last record you bought?
WAKE UP IN THE MORNING by Willie Stoneman.

What’s the best record purchase you’ve ever made?
Dude! I mean, come on…
Okay, okay, I guess I’d have to say…man this is hard… there’s been SOOOOO many…

Well, once I bought a record lot, about 125 records which included CHARLIE PATTON 🔊“Poor Me”, WILLIE BROWN 🔊“Future Blues” and KING SOLOMON HILL 🔊“Gone Dead Train”.

I mean, it’s doesn’t get much better than that!

In your opinion, what’s the greatest guitar solo ever recorded?

Tough one.
Either “Blind Arthur’s Breakdown” by Blind Blake or “To Do This, You Got To Know How” by Lonnie Johnson.

Or “Jail House Rag” by Davey Miller? “Buck Dancer’s Choice” by Sam McGee?
Too difficult to pick just one.

Who’s your favorite lyricist of all time?

Chubby Parker

“Bib-A-Lollie-Boo”

Now folks, I'll sing you a funny little song
This-a whole thing won't detain you long
I sang it all the way from here to Hong Kong
So bib-a-lollie-boo, so lowly

Shoo-rye, shoo-rye, shoo-rye-roo
Shug-a-rack-a shug-a-rack-a shoo-rye-roo
Rim-sam-a sim-sam-a sama-rama-roo
So lib-a-lollie-loo, so lowly

I'm goin' to buy an old grey hoss
The Alleghenies I will cross
To try and find my Pula that I lost
So bib-a-lollie-boo, so lowly

Shoo-rye, shoo-rye, shoo-rye-roo
Shug-a-rack-a shug-a-rack-a shoo-rye-roo
Rim-sam-a sim-sam-a sim-a-rama-roo
So lib-a-lollie-loo, so lowly

When I was down on the South Sea Isle
Where the ladies greet you with a smile
I wrote back home "I think I'll stay a while"
So bib-a-lollie-boo, so lowly

Shoo-rye, shoo-rye, shoo-rye-roo
Shug-a-rack-a shug-a-rack-a shoo-rye-roo
Rim-sam-a sim-sam-a sim-a-rama-roo
So lib-a-lollie-loo, so lowly

Dad went out in a Ford machine
He dropped a match in the gasoline
He went so high he's never been seen
So bib-a-lollie-boo, so lowly

Shoo-rye, shoo-rye, shoo-rye-roo
Shug-a-rack-a shug-a-rack-a shoo-rye-roo
Rim-sam-a sim-sam-a sim-a-rama-roo
So lib-a-lollie-loo, so lowly

An old maid had a beau it is said
She grabbed him and said "Now we'll get wed"
He looked at her and then he dropped dead
So bib-a-lollie-boo, so lowly

Shoo-rye, shoo-rye, shoo-rye-roo
Shug-a-rack-a shug-a-rack-a shoo-rye-roo
Rim-sam-a sim-sam-a sim-a-rama-roo
So bib-a-lollie-loo, so lowly

Man came from monkey, Darwin said
Where women came from, I never read
But I know where some are going when they're dead
So bib-a-lollie-boo, so lowly

Shoo-rye, shoo-rye, shoo-rye-roo
Shug-a-rack-a shug-a-rack-a shoo-rye-roo
Rim-sam-a sim-sam-a sim-a-rama-roo
So bib-a-lollie-boo, so lowly

What’s your favorite movie or TV series?
Planet Of The Apes (1968)

Rod Serling’s masterpiece screenplay based on the book by Pierre Boulle. It’s like a great long format Twilight Zone episode!

Vinyl, CD, cassette, or streaming – what’s your preferred format?
Shellac!!! 78 rpms! The need for speed!

Would you describe yourself as an audiophile?
Don’t know what that is, but it sounds bad.

What kind of setup do you use to play music at home?
Rek-O-Kut turntable with a 30 watt class A tube amp.

If you were to create a mixtape or Spotify playlist to celebrate love, which three songs would you include?
check out some of my LP/CD comps of my old records:

1. Baby, How Can It Be? (Songs Of Love, Lust And Contempt From The 1920s And 1930s) - Dust-to-Digital

2. Wait For Me: Songs Of Love, Lust And Discontent From The 1920s And 1930s - East River Records

3. My Soul Is Lost: Unknown & Forgotten Rural American Musicians - Jalopy Records

Do you have a playlist you’d love to share? What makes it special?

Check out my podcast,🔊 “John’s Old Time Radio Show”. It’s me and other 78 rpm collectors spinning their favorite records. Guests include R Crumb, Robert Armstrong and Don Kent.

Are there any music books you’d recommend, and what makes them stand out to you?
check out:

Treasures Untold A Modern 78 RPM Reader - Tompkins Square, it’s essay’s written by collectors, including yours truly,

or Do Not Sell at Any Price – The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records by Amanda Petrusich, a study of record collectors.

Which novel has left a lasting impression on you, and why?
1984 - George Orwell because he time traveled to our time and wrote a work on non-fiction, went back in time and called it fiction. No wait, it’s worse now.

If you could travel anywhere to experience music, where would it be?
I guess I’d go back to around 1929, but where? Chicago? Mississippi? I mean I’d have travel around the United States to hear all the great Jazz, Blues, Country and the great Ethnic music that the American emigrants were creating back then.

How do you think your friends perceive your taste in music?
I’m known as the guy who only understands old-time music, which is, full disclosure, pretty much all I listen to these days, however I grew up in the 1970’s and was into and checked out nearly everything as far as music is concerned.

I mean I started with Hendrix, Zeppelin. Got into Captain Beefheart, Devo, Minute Men, Butthole Surfers, Primus, Funkadelic, Miles, Ornette, Metheny, Jim Hall, Scofield, Nirvana, Peppers and on and on and on…

I went to the New School for Jazz and got a BFA in Jazz performance.

I mean, I work in entertainment and I hear every popular music act out there… so it’s not like I don’t understand modern music, I just don’t like it. Mostly… Mostly they come at night, mostly.

Is there a music genre you wish you had explored more or gotten to know better?
Persian Gulf throat singing fisherman. I only have two records by them. Would like to get more.

Is there something you'd like to learn?
I’d like to learn about unified gravity and particle physics.

I’d like to learn why the human race doesn’t seem to think it’s important that it will soon be replaced by artificial intelligence and quantum computers.

I’d like to learn why the human race doesn’t seem to think it’s important that we are being visited by extraterrestrial or inter-dimensional beings on a daily basis at alarming rates.

These beings seem very interested in our violent warlike nature and our barbaric need to be in a constant state of conflict with ourselves, with nature and with the universe itself.

The human race is in a deep state of existential crisis and we are currently facilitating our own extinction, and these beings seem aware and interested in this, yet the average human has little to no interest in them, or their constant presence on our planet.

I’d like to learn why this is. I cannot figure it out. I find it baffling.
The other day, Ace Frehley of Kiss died and my social media is still being bombarded with people venting their deep rooted sadness and inability to process it.

I mean he was a rock star, who probably partied excessively, who lived to like 74 or something. Why are we so sad about this? For days it was like, all, people of my age group could think about, but when Harvard physicist Avi Loeb and theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku state that an object they call 3I/ATLAS has entered our solar system, emitting and alloy not seen in nature, and is traveling in a perfectly straight line faster than the speed of light, they have absolutely no interest.

Does this seem strange to you? I’d like learn why this is.

Who do you think is the best-dressed musician?
Peg Leg Howell and His Gang

Do you have a relationship with religion?
I’ve evolved past the need for such myths.

If there is a God, what do you think He would say to you when you meet?
Dude, I’m sorry. I mean, that was such a cool planet, but the people, the humans, what awful, hateful creatures. Sorry you had to deal with them.

What would you want Him to say?
If you don’t exist, how are you talking to me?

Is there something you’d like to ask yourself?
Why did I agree to do this interview? Do I actually have a massive ego and need constant attention this badly?

I mean it’s taking up a lot of my time. I could be practicing guitar, working on my chord tones and scale exercises and learning new tunes.

So why have I chosen to do this? I guess I must have self-esteem issues and I’m seeking validation.

I’d like to ask myself, Did this help?