BLUE BIRD – The World’s Finest Low-Priced Hill Billy and Race Records (Jul 1938) Catalog

Camden, NJ: RCA Victor, Jul. 1938. Vintage original 8 7/8 x 6″ (22.5 x 15 cm) catalog, self-wrappers, opens up to 6 pp. Minor dust soiling in margins, near fine.

This subsidiary of RCA Victor Records specialized in the music of Black and white southerners. Among the Black musicians included in this catalog are: the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, Rev. J. M. Gates, Ruby Smith and Tampa Red. The so-called “hill billy” artists include Bob Skyles and His Skyrockets, the Tune Wranglers, Bill Carlisle and Jimmy Revard and His Oklahoma Playboys. There is also a separate small section devoted to Cajun music, including J. B. Fuselier.

Although there were presumably monthly issues of this catalog in the 1930s, I cannot find a single example of any of them listed in WorldCat. As for auction, I can trace exactly one issue — from September, 1935, which appeared on ebay in 2012 — and nothing else.