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is part of a series of three he has spent his entire adult life searching for; the two other recordings he purchased earlier. “Now, I have all three,” he said with a smile.
One of a kind, unique recordings, complete anthologies of recordings by a single artist, gospel, pop, big band, hillbilly, old, new, “the great, the near-great and the just plain awful” are all members of Mr. Pierson’s extensive library of recordings.
“That one that is ‘just plain awful’ may have been someone, though,” he said, adding he has one record made by Rudolph Valentino. The silent screen Romeo only made one record, one of the few recordings of his voice. “Even Valentino though it was awful,” Mr. Pierson said of the record. But that one, like the others, has found a place in the Pierson library.
“Catalogued by name, title of song, and author just like a library,” he said, adding he can lay his hands on any request immediately. Mr. Pierson calls himself “the custodian for yesterday’s performers.”
Just stepping into his library of music proves his moniker.
Recordings mean far more than music to the ears; Mr. Pierson’s recordings include just recorded voices, like that of the famous poet Robert Browning and speeches by Italy’s Fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini.
His card catalogue, sitting perched upon his desk amid anthologies of music and recordings which help Mr. Pierson date and catalogue each piece, is topped with an early hand-powered phonograph with it’s dust-covered trumpet extending across the room. Nipper, Victor Recording Studios’ (now RCA) famous dog, sits in ceramic along side the recorder, at home amid the sounds which made him
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