American delta blues musician, Tommy Johnson, was renowned and revered for his uniquely eerie falsetto voice. This artist might not have been as popular as blues legends Eric Clapton or B. B. King, but that certainly hasn’t kept a rare and expensive 78rpm recorded by him for the Paramount label from being sold at an extraordinary sum of $37,100! The artist had recorded just five singles for the label and was better-known in the 1930s in Mississippi. British collector John Tefteller was the buyer of this record, making Tommy Johnson the producer of the most expensive 78rpm release ever! Tefteller paid this hefty sum on his eBay purchase to add to his collection of 75,000 blues and rock n’ roll 78rmp records.
Tefteller’s collection is housed at the British Museum Of The Blues, and this ‘Alcohol and Jake Blues’ Paramount Records album he picked out is being called the ‘holy grail’ of vintage Paramount recordings. The Oregon-based collector has been shuffling through old records being sold online as he still seeks to get his hands on a few from the 30s that are yet to be found.
[Via – Tonedeaf]
