Joe Bussard Cause of Death

Joe Bussard, the record collector and American roots music historian has died. He died at age 86. Bussard died after battling pancreatic cancer for almost three years.

The news of his death was confirmed by Lance Ledbetter, founder of Dust-to-Digital.

Bussard produced a weekly music program, Country Classics, for Georgia Tech’s radio station, WREK Atlanta. He had radio programs on other stations: including WPAQ-AM 740 in Mount Airy, North Carolina, and WDVX in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Bussard disliked the city of Nashville, Tennessee sometimes called “Music City”, calling it Trashville.

He was interviewed in 2022 and cited the recording, Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground, by Willie Johnson as one of the greatest recordings of all time.