Finally.

Johnny Woods’ Mississippi Harmonica, digital MP3 transfers, from the original masters: 
1. Long Haired Doney
2. Three O’clock in the Morning

Finally, after several years of only having vinyl to digital transfers of our Johnny Woods single, I’ve been able to locate the original master and make clean digital files for you. 

Here’s a bit of the backstory. Tom Pomposello was the careful keeper of the Oblivion masters in the decades after we closed the company in the mid-1970s. Unfortunately, after his untimely passing in 1999, his tape library was quickly moved into a netherworld of some family disagreements. When I started this blog about five years ago the only option for posting Johnny’s record was taking one of the original vinyl 45rpm singles and making as clear a digital copy as possible; luckily, they were Dick Wakefield pressings, the cleanest in America at the time. There were some clicks and pops, of course, but the “master” tape was a pretty crummy cassette recording, so it wasn’t a completely horrible option.  

Recently though, his son Travis was able to locate the original 5” tape reel we used to master the single in the first place. In short order we dialed up a great waveform audio file (WAV), and then an MP3.

If you’re a comparing type of person, these are the vinyl transfers to compare:

1. Long Haired Doney (MP3 from the vinyl single)
2. Three O’Clock in the Morning (MP3 from the vinyl single) 

Here you go then. Sure, it’s a funky recording. But, now it’s a really clean, really clear, funky recording. Better yet, it’s a truly funky record.