[Who Killed Robert Johnson (WKRJ)], tape number 8

Side A: Vincent Liebler interview, December 15, 1973. Side B: Virginia Heisley interview, June 18, 1980 and June 20, 1980. Side A: Vincent Liebler interview, December 15, 1973. McCormick interviews Vincent Liebler (1910- ) as part of a historical survey of how recordings were made in his role as a consultant for the Smithsonian Institution. He mentions working on a book for Smithsonian Press and is interested in Liebler's work for the project. Liebler states that he stared his professional career as a civil engineer during construction work with bridges. He notes that he had a radio station and started working for Brunswick Records, which was owned by Warner Brothers, as chief engineer in November 1928. Liebler verifies that he was at Robert Johnson's first recording session at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio in 1936. He reconstructs the Sunday recording session for Johnson by describing the set-up, which included the use of storm doors between the rooms, the type of recording equipment used, the use of wax for recordings, and how they cooled the studio while maintaining a low level of noise. He comments on Johnson's fans and fan mail and states that he never saw Johnson perform outside the studio. He mentions other employees including recording supervisor Don Meyer, Ed Theroux, and John Hammond. Side B: Virginia Heisley interview, June 18, 1980, and June 20, 1980. McCormick interviews Heisley, buyer for the Record Shop, on the telephone as part of his research examining the way phonograph records were sold. Heisley worked for the Record Shop located at 1309 Main Street from 1937-1940/41. It primarily sold race, popular, hillbilly, and Mexican records. She discusses prices of records, dealers discount, race records sales, good time houses, and customer purchasing habits. Heisley states that it was hard to sell songs with suggestive lyrics.