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He said that
he hadn’t even tried to play it because the disc was warped
due to the heat of the fire. At that moment, I begged him to
make a trade for it. Driven by a force beyond any normal
passion for collecting, I
offered up a rare, 1927 Vocalion recording
by Rev. A.W. Nix titled “Death Might Be Your Christmas Gift”
which I knew he wanted from me in a previous trade. After a
little regular haggling, the deal was struck and an Express
package arrived in my hot hands a few days later. I began to
sweat again as I ripped at the cardboard box that possibly
contained the only remaining copy from an artist’s entire
recorded output. I finally got it open and carefully examined
my prize. Realizing first that only one side of record was
grooved, I came to the obvious conclusion that it must be a
test pressing. The paper label
was bright red with a solid black print. The title of the record
was “Devil Dealin’” written by N. Hades and the release number was
666. With no matrix number on the label itself, I noticed that the
number N999S was scratched into the inner wax around the small
paper circle. Now, I decided was the moment to give the disc a
revered spin on the turntable. No luck. The record was so warped
and worn that every time I placed the needle on the scarred
surface, even with extra weight, all I got was what appeared to be
sparks shooting up from the shellac. After many unsuccessful
attempts, I decided to slow down the original speed of 78 RPM for
this disc on the platter, hopefully, just to get the needle to
track. The needle made contact a little into the playing groove so
I rotated the record backwards to cue up the beginning. And what
did I hear? All I’ll say is that the hi-fi revealed, from the
wavering valley of that disc, words that cannot be repeated right
now. But I will tell you, since that day, I have been scared to
death of that black ten-inch record. With all of the strange and
complex sagas and hearsay in the Blues world, it makes me wonder
whether this controversial and timeless being resurface again?
Will this ominous figure again sing and play once for a select
few? Will this obscure individual record once more to continue a
legacy with even more soulful talent in the future? And what if
this cunning and mysterious character were to approach you and
attempt to make the perfect deal with you?
Beware of the
name Brimstone Red. To add credence to this story, over the years it has been said
that many recall someone by that name talking to historical
musicians including the likes of Charley Patton in the early
1920’s, Robert Johnson and Big Bill Broonzy in the late ‘20’s,
Jimi Hendrix in the late ‘50’s and even more recently, Stevie Ray
Vaughan and John Campbell. Any observations were fleeting at best,
however. Lately some say that someone using the name Red Brimstone
has been lurking around numerous Blues hangouts involving some of
the new flames of the Blues such as Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne
Shepherd and possibly others. -by Eddy
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