WGXC-90.7 FM
The Blue Amberol Hour: Home Recordings (Re-air of April 29, 2025)
90.7-FM in NY's Upper Hudson Valley and wgxc.org/listen everywhere
http://www.wgxc.org/
Produced by Hali Palombo.
This episode of The Blue Amberol Hour is dedicated entirely to home recordings in their many forms.
As a disclaimer, some of these recordings are a little distorted. Some of them are recorded onto cylinders that have been shaved down, so the quality is not exactly what I would call pristine. Some of them are of pretty good quality. It varies from cylinder to cylinder. If some of them seem more quiet than others, it’s because if I play them any louder there will be distortion that will be unpleasant to listen to.
Track listing:
Brown wax home recording of Stars and stripes forever on piano by Professor Jones (?)
Brown wax recording of group singing with organ
Brown wax home recording of Catholic prayers spoken by Father O'Brien
Black wax home recording of cornet and accordion
Brown wax home recording of banjo solo ending in Carmen overture
Brown wax business dictation recording
Brown wax home recording of interview with Winnifred about her travels in Wisconsin by Father O'Brien
Brown wax home recording of Morse code transmission
Brown wax home recording of Swanee river with variations, played on banjo by David Milner
Baritone Vocal Solo by Carmi Vaughn
Bring Back My Kitty To Me by unknown children's choir
Brown wax home recording of vocal duet of Plant some flowers by my grave, with bluegrass band
Brown wax recording of telephone conversation about the purchase of farm animals
Black wax home recording of banjo duet of Marching through Georgia and Jingle Bells
Black wax home recording sung by Philomena and Belinda Strandberg
Brown wax recording of unknown man singing and saxophone solo
Black wax home recording of brass solo and duet with accompaniment from commercial recordings
Black wax home recording of brass solo and duet
Black wax home recording of brass duet, male conversation in English, and man singing in French
Black wax home recording of banjo solo
Black wax home recording of banjo solo
Black wax home recording of brass solo with dog howling and man whistling and calling Muggsy
Black wax home recording of bridal song (Brautlied) sung in German by Resi Fitzinger, Agnes Albrecht, and Resi Ledermller, November 22, 1912
"Thoughts of home" polka played by Issler's Orchestra
Original composition by Hali Palombo
The Blue Amberol Hour is a program dedicated to one of the earliest forms of recorded media - the wax cylinder. You will hear roughly two carefully curated hours of rare wax cylinder recordings from the late 1800s and beyond that center around a particular theme - a time period, country, specific instrument and more.
Hali Palombo is a composer, visual artist, filmmaker, shortwave radio enthusiast, and amateur historian from the Midwestern United States. Born in Northfield, Minnesota, she has had a natural curiosity about radio and the Midwestern United States from a young age. Her work often weaves the absurdity and mundane beauty of Illinois into her records, short films, drawings, and paintings.
Playlist:
- The Belldog / Eno Moebius Roedelius
- Swimmer's Ear / Roy Orbitron
- Brown Wax Business Dictation Recording / Death Is Not The End
- Hoala / Ivan Gerlado Recas
- Black Wax Home Recording of Banjo Duet / Death Is Not The End
- Black Wax Home Recording of Brass Solo with Dog Howling and Man Whistling and Calling Muggsy / Death Is Not The End
- Brown Wax Home Recording of Mother and Father Trying to Get 'billy out of Bed, Followed by Whistling Solo / Death Is Not The End
- Poco Rain / Double Celled Organism