Episode 25: Recording History

In this special edition of B-Side, which originally aired in November 2003, learn how one man’s private music collection became a national treasure. This radio documentary examines the amazing recording collection of Leon Kagarise, an audio technician from Baltimore, Maryland. On his tapes are nearly 4000 hours of music from the Golden Age of country music including unedited performances complete with hootin’ and false starts from country and bluegrass legends such as Patsy Cline, The Stanley Brothers, Johnny Cash, and the Stoneman family before they became stars. 

Liner Notes:

For the last forty years, Leon Kagarise’s music collection lay dormant in his over-packed 3 bedroom ranch home in Baltimore. But two years ago, a record collector came to Leon’s house and discovered his stacks of live recordings on reel to reel tapes dating back to the late fifties. Geoff Brady produced this story. It’s narrated by Ruth White.