Deperate Man Blues: Discovering the Roots of American Music

"Record collector, musical historian, archivist and wildly enthusiastic music fan Joe Bussard is the sort of personality who seems born to be in a movie, and this documentary by Edward Gillan captures his passion, charm and eccentricity in all its glory. Dust To Digital's DVD release of Desperate Man Blues -- Discovering The Roots Of American Music presents the film letterboxed at the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16x9 monitors), and the image looks colorful and sharp throughout. The audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Stereo, and captures the details of the audio quite well (especially Bussard's beloved 78's). The interviews are in English, with no subtitles or multiple language options included. Among the bonus features is another documentary on Bussard, Joe Bussard: King of the Record Collectors, which covers similar ground but does feature some distinctive content of its own. Also included is a commentary track for Desperate Man Blues from Bussard (which tends to cover much of the same material already presented in the movie), a number of deleted scenes, a rare film clip of Son House performing ""Death Letter Blues"" in 1968, three galleries of still photos with commentary from Bussard, an audio-only presentation of one of Bussard's radio broadcasts, and another five audio-only chapters of music from Bussard's collection. Desperate Man Blues is a fascinating document of a cheerful obsession as well as a side of American's cultural history that people like Bussard have helped preserve despite the ignorance of the record business, and music fans will find it marvelously entertaining."