LEON REDBONE

folk-blues singer-guitarist

“No, they didn’t even have albums when I was around -- 6,000 years ago they didn’t have things like that.

“Actually though, you know, I reached for my favorite album of gypsy recordings on 78 RPM records, and they were all broken. But the funny thing is that the one song that I was looking for wasn’t in the album, which was really strange, but it offers me a glimmer of hope that maybe that one survived.

“I don’t have a lot of records, although there are some select things that I bought that I probably still have around somewhere. I remember listening to the obvious selections which were available in the earlier part of the century. They were mainly classical selections, which I liked quite a bit. They encouraged me greatly, especially the recordings of Enrico Caruso.”