Obscure Find Caps a Rare Collection of Race Records | 27Speaks Podcast
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Obscure Find Caps a Rare Collection of Race Records | 27Speaks Podcast

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Joe Lauro, with a copy of the Reverend W.M. Mosley and his congregation singing

Joe Lauro, with a copy of the Reverend W.M. Mosley and his congregation singing "Oh Death, Spare Me Over Till Another Year." The record completes his collection of the entire series of Columbia "race records," 78s that were marketed to Black audiences during the 1920s and '30s. STEPHEN J. KOTZ

27Speaks on Feb 20, 2025

Sag Harbor's Joe Lauro, whose interests tend toward jazz, blues, jug and country, is a keen collector of music that was marketed by record companies from the 1920s to early 1940s to an emerging Black audience as “race records.” Recently, he acquired an important piece for his collection: a copy of the Reverend W.M. Mosley singing “Oh Death Spare Me Over Till Another Year.” The shellac record was one of more than 800 race records issued by Columbia Records from 1923 to 1932. And for years it was the only one of the Columbia releases that Lauro — or just about anyone else for that matter — did not own. Lauro joins the editors to discuss his collecting journey and the significance of the music.

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